Alternative assessments in rural Bangladeshi schools in post-pandemic times: an evaluation

Abstract

Alternative Assessments in Bangladesh were practised a lot during the COVID-19 period. As all the educational institutions are nationwide shut down and face-to-face learning sessions was not possible. This study explores the challenges of rural S.S.C students while facing ‘Alternative Assessments’ during the pandemic. In addition, this paper also investigates their challenges after reopening schools, and their overcoming process. For this study, the researcher chose five participants of S.S.C levels from different schools in different rural areas, using the qualitative method. The researcher finds that school authority was unsupportive, and students faced an information gap at the beginning of their online learning. Besides, they faced internet and electricity problems a lot. Some teachers were not sincere in traditional assessments. Most of the students struggled with both short and long syllabi considering the situations. Further research is needed to identify other factors that could strengthen the effectiveness of this kind of study.