Oral Exam System methods are becoming a very popular topic in the education offices of Mogadishu because many people realize that writing on paper is not the only way to measure intelligence. For a long time students in Somalia had to sit in hot rooms and write for hours but now teachers are looking at how our traditional culture of speaking and storytelling can be used in the classroom. This Oral Exam System approach fits perfectly with the Somali way of life because we have always been a society that values the spoken word and poetry above everything else. In many rural areas where getting enough paper and pens is still a bit difficult using an Oral Exam System allows the school to keep moving forward without waiting for supplies to arrive from the big city. It also helps the students who might be very smart and good at explaining things out loud but struggle with the speed of writing under pressure. This shift to an Oral Exam System is not just about saving trees but about making sure that the way we test our children matches the way they will actually work and talk in the real world.
The idea of a paperless exam is exciting because it takes away some of the extreme stress that usually comes with the big national tests at the end of the year. By using an Oral Exam System the teacher can have a real conversation with the student and ask follow-up questions to see if they truly understand the lesson or if they just memorized a book. This makes it much harder for anyone to cheat because you cannot hide a cheat sheet when you are looking your teacher in the eye and explaining a math problem or a piece of history. Many schools are also trying “Project Based Learning” where the students build something or do an experiment and then use the Oral Exam System to present their results to the whole class. This builds a lot of confidence in the young people and prepares them for jobs in business or government where they will have to give speeches and lead meetings every day.
Benefits of the Oral Exam System in Somali Schools
First an Oral Exam System is much more inclusive for students who have disabilities that make it hard for them to hold a pen or see small writing on a page. Second it saves a huge amount of money for the Ministry of Education because they don’t have to print and transport millions of exam papers across dangerous or muddy roads. Third the Oral Exam System gives immediate feedback because the student knows right away if they did well instead of waiting for weeks for someone to grade their paper in another city.
Fourth we see that the Oral Exam System helps to preserve the beautiful Somali language and the art of debate which are skills that are sometimes lost in modern schools. Fifth it allows teachers to be more flexible and change the questions to fit the local environment of the students whether they are in a fishing village or a farming town. Sixth and finally the Oral Exam System reduces the “test anxiety” that causes many bright students to fail simply because they got too nervous to hold their pen straight during the exam hour.
Challenges of Moving to an Oral Exam System Today
Of course changing the whole country to an Oral Exam System is not something that happens overnight because you need to train the teachers on how to grade everyone fairly. There is always a worry that a teacher might give a better grade to a student they like more so the Oral Exam System must have very strict rules and maybe even more than one teacher in the room during the talk. Also it takes a lot of time to listen to every single student one by one which can be hard if a class has fifty or sixty children in it. But even with these problems the Oral Exam System is a much more natural way for our people to learn and grow together.
Read Also: Somali Education Journey: From Wooden Tablets to University Degrees
The move toward an Oral Exam System shows that Somalia is ready to lead the way in creative education for the whole of Africa. We are taking our old traditions of speaking and mixing them with modern ideas to create a school system that works for us.
The Oral Exam System is a bridge to a future where every child feels heard and every talent is recognized regardless of how much paper is available in the store.
