JEDDAH: There has been mixed reaction from students and teachers to the continuous evaluation method introduced by the Ministry of Education at elementary and intermediate schools in the Kingdom. The new system will see students being evaluated on their performance throughout the year, instead of having the bulk of marks coming from mid-year or end-of-year examinations. The new method has already been implemented for certain subjects. There was a mixed reaction this week from teachers and students on the changes. Asem Al-Ghamdi, an English teacher, said that the new system must ensure that knowledge is gained throughout the year. He supports it, as long as it is applied correctly and makes students work consistently. Saeed Al-Ansari, a student, said he was happy with the new system because it meant that students would not be burdened with studying a huge amount of work at the end of the year. Another intermediate student, Ahmad, who only wanted to give his first name, welcomed the mechanism because he believes it will make students work throughout the year. “Students at this age usually don't study and don't follow up on their lessons unless it is compulsory when they have exams.” A supervisor at a school's Arabic department, Ali, has another suggestion. He said the evaluation system should include credit-accumulation – which means that students would get extra credits for certain work produced throughout the year. This includes submitting some research papers, extra homework and special projects. According to the media relations department at the Directorate General of Education in Jeddah, the new mechanism specifies that the Qur'an and Tafseer (interpretation of the Qur'an) will be dealt as two separate subjects if a student fails one of them. The Arabic subject called “Lughati Al-Khalida (My Eternal Language) will be subject to continuous evaluation and will be excluded from the final exams and included only in the make-up (remedial) exams. The new system also includes new minimum and maximum grades in some subjects. For Qur'an and Tafseer, the maximum grade is 100 divided into 25 for each semester. The minimum passing grade for Qur'an and Tafseer is 25. The Arabic subject and Social Studies grades of 100 are divided into 50 during each semester where the minimum passing marks are 50 and 40 respectively. For the computer subject, marks are also a total of 100, split into 50 marks for the two semesters - 20 for participation, 20 for a practical test and 10 for a written test. The minimum passing grade is 40. Regarding the make-up exams, the student who could not achieve the minimum grade in a particular semester, will only be asked to write the exams of that semester. However, if the student failed in both semesters, the whole year will have to be rewritten. The make-up test for Arabic will see an oral evaluation, including reading, listening and criticism.
