The Prime Minister Hon.‘Akilisi Pōhiva said he was concerned the scaling of examination marks by Tonga’s Ministry of Education might not reflect the real potential of the students as it was supposed to be.
Hon. Pōhiva who is also the Minister of Education made the remarks after receiving last year’s Form 7 Economics examination results, Radio and Television Tonga reported.
The initial results showed only 9 out of 121 students who sat the examination passed.
The ministry then scaled the raw marks allowing 66 students to pass.
Hon. Pōhiva believed with the current formula the ministry is using students who got higher marks after they were scaled would suffer at tertiary levels.
Scaling of students’ raw marks after an examination was a common exercise used by many educational institutions worldwide but it has to be justified and followed certain guidelines set up by the institutions.
Hon. Pōhiva said an expert from overseas would review Tonga’s scaling methodology and assessed its effectiveness.
