In a recent meeting of the Education, Health, and Information Technology Committee on Thursday, the National Examinations Board (NEB) Chairman, Dr. Mahashram Sharma, stated that SEE should be retained but suggested a shift from a federal to a provincial-level examination system.

The ongoing debate centers around the proposed School Education Bill, which includes provisions for SEE to be conducted in classes 8 and 12.

Chairman Sharma expressed concern about the negative impact on students’ learning and evaluation caused by the proposed four-year gap between grade 8 and grade 12 exams.

“At present, students take exams at grades 8, 10, and 12. If one takes the exams directly in grade 8 and again in grade 12, there will be a gap of 4 years in between,” stated Sharma. “Our concern is that a four-year gap may negatively impact the student’s learning and evaluation.”

One key point of contention lies in the proposed removal of the class 10 board exam. Sharma also argued that this could potentially escalate the failure rate, as grade 11 exams are currently conducted by schools with a 100 percent pass rate, while only 50 percent of students passed the grade 12 board exams.