Dear Editor,
It has been brought to my attention that some schools at the just concluded Grade Six examination had their students do all the optional questions on paper 2. It was with the hope, I guess, that all would be marked and the three answers to the five optional questions with the highest marks would be taken to make up the child’s final score. Should the Ministry of Education do this they must know that they would be tilting the playing field in favour of the students who disobeyed instructions. The instructions on paper 2 are clear: the first question is compulsory and the student must choose three other questions and answer them.
I would not be in favour of disqualifying a student who was instructed by misguided invigilators/teachers to answer all questions, so some fair solution must be found. My suggestions are, mark the first four only or average the optional questions marks and multiply by three.
The invigilators and/or teachers must be dealt with sternly.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed F Khan
