SINGAPORE — It is not possible to have all GCE-level examination scripts marked locally bearing in mind the wellbeing of teachers, due to the large number to be marked over a short period of time during the school vacation, said Education Minister Ong Ye Kung on Monday (Feb 11).

However, Singapore is on track to having almost all GCE-level written scripts marked electronically by the end of the year. This will help to ensure the safety and integrity of the scripts.

Each year, there are about 1.1 million answer scripts generated in the GCE-level examinations. Of these, 300,000 — that of mother tongue languages, social studies and coursework components — are marked locally. The remaining 800,000 are marked by Cambridge Assessment.

Mr Ong was responding to questions from Members of Parliament, after 32 students’ answer scripts for the GCE O-Level Additional Mathematics exam went missing in the United Kingdom late last year.

The Cambridge examiner in question, whose bag containing the scripts was taken by another passenger while travelling to the north of England from London, will not be engaged to mark scripts in future, he said.

Explaining why it is not feasible to have the scripts marked in Singapore, Mr Ong said it “requires a very substantial amount of highly qualified resources”.

To date, Cambridge Assessment relies on about 2,200 professors and experienced educators from universities and higher institutions to mark the scripts.

With a tight timeline between the exams and release of results, the authorities need to be “mindful (of) the workload and wellbeing” of teachers, if all subjects were to be marked locally over the school vacation period, he said.

The Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board and Cambridge Assessment have been “working closely” together to make the transition to electronic marking since 2015.

For instance, GCE N-Level examinations were marked electronically from 2017. This was extended to some GCE O-Level examinations in 2018, and close to 65 per cent of all GCE-level written scripts were marked on-screen.

“By the end of this year, we are on track to mark on-screen almost all GCE-level written scripts,” said Mr Ong.

From 2020, locally developed exam papers such as the GCE Normal (Technical) Basic Mother Tongue Language and O-Level Literature in Mother Tongue Language will be marked on-screen.

The plan is for more local papers to be included over the subsequent few years, he said.

However, Mr Ong said subjects such as drama, art and Science Practical examinations are not suitable for electronic marking. Science Practical answer scripts may be contaminated with chemicals, making them unsuitable for scanning.

Besides ensuring the security of the scripts, Mr Ong said other advantages of marking the script electronically include:

• Doing away with the handling of voluminous physical scripts

• Faster and more efficient tabulation of scores

• The ready generation of data to show how students perform in various papers, sections or questions

While going electronic will eliminate the risk of lost scripts, new risks will arise, he said.

“Whatever system we adopt in future, we need to study the pros and cons carefully, proceed methodically, identify and ensure risks are managed and mitigated to the greatest extent possible.”