Doing away with exams, ushering in assessments

Nepal stands at a pivotal moment, with the government's new directive to replace traditional written exams for grades 1-5 with a more holistic assessment system. While the immediate goal is stress alleviation for our children, the true potential of this reform lies in its capacity to fundamentally reshape what it means to be a Nepali citizen in the future. As we navigate this transformative political period, we must ask ourselves: what kind of adults do we wish our children to become? If we aspire for them to be capable problem-solvers and innovators, then moving beyond rote memorization towards evaluations that foster real-world application is not just beneficial, but essential.

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If we want our children to grow into adults capable of solving real-life problems, we need to move beyond traditional examinations towards evaluations designed to achieve that outcome.

My own experience, particularly during my early days at Harvard, starkly illuminated the limitations of our traditional examination system. Despite clear assignment guidelines, I often struggled to grasp what was truly expected. The evaluations there were different; they demanded not just the reproduction of concepts, but the construction of knowledge, the demonstration of what could be created with learned information. This realization profoundly altered my own approach to learning and life. It became clear that my prior educational experiences in Nepal and India, heavily reliant on written exams, had primarily honed a single skill: the ability to memorize.

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The coursework did not demand that I reproduce concepts through tests, rather it called for me to build: To communicate the construction of my knowledge through evidence and to demonstrate what I could create with my learning.

The fundamental purpose of education should be to equip students with the ability to *use* what they learn, not merely recall it. A high-fidelity test of learning asks, 'Can you do something new with this knowledge?' not simply, 'Can you remember this?' Nepal's current system of 100-mark final written exams fails this crucial test. It actively hinders our youth's potential for creativity and innovation, trading precious years of curiosity and experimentation for the sterile pursuit of rote recall. Our ancestors gifted us a legacy of original utility and art—tools born of necessity and ingenuity. Today, however, we are increasingly surrounded by imported goods and copied innovations, a direct consequence, I believe, of our outdated educational assessment methods.

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To learn something is not simply to store it; rather, it is to be able to use it. Therefore, a high fidelity test of one’s learning is not ‘can you recall this?’ but ‘can you do something new with it?’

This reform offers a unique opportunity for Nepal to recalibrate its educational priorities. We must move beyond the 'copy and paste' mentality fostered by current exams and embrace assessments that truly measure learning and encourage critical thinking. By evaluating students' ability to apply knowledge, to create, and to innovate, we can nurture the next generation of Nepali citizens who will not only preserve our cultural heritage but also drive progress and contribute meaningfully to our society. This is about investing in the true potential of Nepali youth and ensuring our education system rewards genuine understanding and creativity, not just memorization.

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While our current testing system only rewards the ability to memorise, the true potential of Nepali youth is wasted on outdated cognitive exercises. We are trading precious years of curiosity and experimentation for rote recall.