Primary School Students Complete Written Synthesis Assignments After a Month of Oral Exams
After a month of oral exams, primary school students have just finished their written synthesis assignments, which spanned two weeks. This assessment of acquired knowledge covered mathematics, science, history-geography, literary subjects (Arabic, French, English), as well as civic and Islamic education.
Unlike the previous school year, when the primary school evaluation calendar was strictly structured around two weeks - one week dedicated to oral exams ("open week") followed by a week of written synthesis exams ("blocked week") - the Ministry of Education introduced a notable modification this year. Instead of concentrating oral exams into a single week preceding the synthesis assignments, students were evaluated orally over a period of almost a month.
Subsequently, they directly followed up with written synthesis exams over the last two weeks, without any formal interruption of classes. The Ministry of Education's stated goal was to alleviate exam pressure on primary school students. However, this reorganization seems to have produced the opposite effect, causing concern among parents. Instead of concentrating the evaluation period into two fixed weeks, primary school students underwent the stress of oral exams for nearly a whole month. Furthermore, the lack of predictable and clear planning for oral exams in the various subjects concerned would have been an additional source of anxiety for young students.
"The evaluation period was very long for students during the first trimester," notes a mother, parent of a fifth-grade primary school student in a school in Bardo. "It's the first time they've taken oral exams that lasted a whole month instead of being concentrated into one week like before. This was particularly stressful for primary school students who didn't know, throughout the month, whether they would be taking an oral exam or not when they went to class. This unpredictability stressed them out even more, especially since they had to revise their courses for the written synthesis exams."
This opinion is also shared by B.L, a public enterprise employee and father of a fourth-grade primary school student in a school in El Medina El Jedida. "While students have just finished their written and oral exams, which started at the beginning of November, they will again take a new oral evaluation just after the winter holidays. Instead of resting and catching their breath, they will enter a new revision phase. This relentless sequence of written and oral evaluation exams has been very trying for our children and for us," said the 40-year-old, concerned about the future course of exams and their psychological impact on students during the next two trimesters.
The attempt to relax the calendar ultimately led, according to families, to a longer and more difficult period of tension for students to manage. The Ministry of Education should consider rectifying the situation for the next school year, especially since this change has sparked more discontent than satisfaction among both students and parents.
