Rapese: Too early to judge OBE

IT IS impossible at this early implementation stage to say that the outcome-based education (OBE) system has failed or succeeded in schools around the country, a senior education official has said.
There were varying reasons for doing so, including lack of support resources, teachers’ lack of know-how, remoteness of schools, lack of “on-site” leadership and others, deputy secretary  teaching and standards Damien Rapese said.
Addressing graduating students at Port Moresby National High school’s 15th graduation yesterday on behalf of Education Minister James Marape, he said some of these issues needed to be validated with recent research findings.
He said this year marked a significant history of the reformed education system as schools nationwide sat for the first national examinations under the outcome-based curriculum in Grades 8, 10 and 12.
He said the department was striving to see through the difficult stages of implementing the OBE system and was confident that the OBE would be a successful system when it was fully implemented.
“I am confident that OBE will be a successful system when it is fully implemented,” he said.
He said that while the implementation was on going and its outcomes were still to be measured, it was impossible to assume that all schools had successfully implemented the reform national curriculum.