Once again, the annual university entrance examination or Kankor is approaching and once again, the reservations and fears are high among the citizens. The entire process of Kankor examination has come under severe criticism in the last few years and if corrective actions are not taken, the whole system might lose its credibility.
Just like other spheres of life, the old system was adopted in the beginning of our democratic government in 2001 to provide our educational system with a tool to assess students willing to enter universities and help them get their desired faculties. The whole system was hastily developed and it was hoped that rational and positive changes would be brought in it with the passage of time. There were also plans to replace this system with an alternate system that might address this issue properly but until today, no action has been taken in this regard and this wound of our educational system is bleeding even after 14 years of democracy. In the meantime, millions of dollars invested in the educational system but this system remained unchanged and its flaws are becoming more evident with every passing day.
The biggest drawback of this system is the way students are allotted different departments or faculties. These departments have been categorized according to their market values and students choose these departments according to their market value, without considering their skills, aptitude and wishes. In fact, this problem is created by parents, teachers and educationists who fail to guide them properly, The overall societal attitude is also the same that people prefer departments regarding their market values and this attitude also moulds the minds and decisions of students while selecting different departments in their Kankor exam. In this ranking, medical faculty lies at the top, followed by the engineering faculty and so forth. At the bottom, there are faculties that are least demanded by students and parents like arts, literature and teaching. Due to the blessings of this system, almost all the hardworking and bright students are becoming doctors and engineers while the lackluster and lazy students are left with the options of becoming teachers, librarians or others. This is greatly affecting some important fields of our life like teaching where able teachers are rare. According to this system, there are total 360 marks. After this comes the turn of engineering and so forth and the students with low scores at the bottom are left with options to accept departments that they might not like to choose. Parents and students sustain this division of departments according to their market values as students want to become doctors and engineers to earn more and more to become respectable members of the society. Due to this strange and nonsense system, a number of complications are created. The parents and students might not realize these complications and problems but some officers of educational department are paid for the same job but they are also not interested to suggest anything different and better. Due to all these complications, we are giving birth to a generation for whom money is the most important thing in life and who have no idea of doing a work that they enjoy the most. It is also the reason that the graph of corruption in our society is soaring and eating away the benefits of all the efforts in different fields of life.
The scenario also shows absolute lack of career guidance and counseling. This responsibility is lacking at all the levels like schools, parents and the responsible people in the ministry of education. Almost 90% of students do not realize about their talents or skills and they keep working for a field in which the possibilities of their success are very low. Instead of conducting these exams, it would be better for the concerned ministry to conduct such tests or observations in the light of which they should suggest suitable career options for the students and parents.
Another drawback is the inclusion of only Kankor marks in the results of university entrance exams and not including participation and curricular and extra-curricular achievements of students at school. It is the reason why, students have developed a perception that hard work starts only after class 10 when two years are left which is considered a sufficient time to prepare for this exam.
The format of Kankor exam is also strange and requires special information instead of hard work or knowledge of subjects. There are large numbers of Kankor preparatory centers where students go not for seeking knowledge but for learning tips to attempt the Kankor exam. It is the reason why, students with better skills and knowledge about the format of exam score more than those who actually have more knowledge.
The system of Kankor has also given birth to another problem. Students of Kabul might secure hundreds of seats of medical and other important faculties while students of a backward province might fail to be successful even on one seat of these important faculties. Due to this, the complaints of unequal treatment are increasing and might be a reason of strife between different provinces if the conditions remained the same. And the most importantly, this system does not encourage our students to work hard for gaining knowledge. Rather it makes them work to gain more marks only. It is the reason why, we are facing with the frustrating situation that our university graduates are in terrible condition and they are terribly weak in their fields. In the short run, these problems are frustrating but in the long run, it might cause much harm to Afghanistan by weakening our coming generations. Kankor exams are an essential part of our education system and sooner we repair this pillar of our society, safer will be our future.