By SARAH CHEW

IT'S in the media, it's in the coffee shops and everyone seems to have an opinion about the quality of education in the country.

With the increasing number of higher education institutions and graduates, increasingly one of the measuring rods held up is student assessment.

Nor's* nightmare began when she only passed two of her students in a Syariah law exam.

'The dean told me that we don't have to follow the marking scheme strictly as it is 'just a guideline' and he told me to be lax about the English language because they (students) come from Agama (religious) schools,' says the ex-lecturer of law from Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (Usim).

'The dean told me it would affect our university ranking if too many students fail.'

She claimed she was told to give her students who failed a 'B' grade if they regularly attended class.

Recently, Nor highlighted her case and Usim has adamantly refuted her claims, stating that the university did not give out 'mercy marks'.

In a letter to Nor, the university management stated it was not wrong in asking for a review of student assessment, and did not ask her to add marks.

Nor says she has tried her best to give marks to her students - but they do not warrant it.

'Their answers did not answer the basic questions, and I didn't even ask them analytical questions, I asked them 'route' questions like giving definitions, examples, instances and so forth,' she says.

Shocking discovery

Reading through the students' answer papers, question paper and marking scheme, this reporter discovered a shockingly high number of questions that required straightforward memorisation and even more shocking unrelated answers.

'What would the world think of me if I pass these students? It would be unethical of me,' she adds.

Nor claims she has been subjected to verbal abuse, accused of being mentally unstable, with people even poking fun at her personal life.

It is not just Nor, however, as a few lecturers would share similar experiences when probed.

Shanta Perumal* taught in a variety of well-known public universities and a private college before she quit lecturing out of sheer frustration.

She recalls her lecturing days at a private college, where although the passing rate for their exams were high, only five out of a hundred students would pass the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) required for them to continue their twinning degree in a partner New Zealand university.

For some lecturers, the hassle of writing a report to explain every student failure, arguing with the management, dealing with student appeals and having to possibly re-mark the paper, causes them to resort to unethical practices.

'Instead of going through all that, might as well just add five marks and let the student pass,' says Shanta.

The same sometimes happens in the public universities she has taught English in, she says.