Tests to show whether students are able to cope with life's challenges

Dubai: Fifteen-year-old pupils from a mix of 64 public and private schools in Dubai have begun a process of trial tests to assess to what extent students are prepared for the daily challenges of life.

The trials started yesterday and will continue until the end of May - by which time 1,800 students in Dubai will have completed the papers designed for the internationally-recognised Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). All 15-year-olds in Dubai's schools will take part in a full-scale PISA programme in May 2009.

PISA is one of a series of assessment schemes that Dubai is adopting to measure and improve the quality of education.

The Dubai Schools Agency, an agency of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority in Dubai (KHDA), will provide the assessment which includes nine questionnaire booklets, one in mathematics, one in science, and the rest covering literacy. Schools will not be individually assessed nor will they receive the results for individual students. The marks are assessed by PISA to get an overall picture of achievement.

Thirty students from the New World Private School, which follows the Arabic (Ministry of Education) curriculum, will undergo the exam tomorrow, said Mervat Ali, quality coordinator at the school adding last week they gave a series of seminars to their students to prepare them for the test.

"I am very grateful to the KHDA for initiating this step as it will be very beneficial for the students. Pupils from public schools are not used to such thought-provoking questions where they have to analyse. Our students are used to memorising material provided for an examination," she said.

Data: Comparative indicator

Pisa is an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) programme that is developed through the OECD's Directorate for Education.

The Directorate collects data and provides comparative indicators of education systems in OECD member and partner countries.