Doing away with exams, ushering in assessments

If exams fail to serve their very purpose, how should we actually assess learning?

The new directive from the government of Nepal to replace internal written exams from grades 1 to 5, citing stress relief among children, is a great promise. Stress alleviation is only a small gift of this new proposed reform. If we can get it right and assess what truly matters, we can change what Nepal becomes. At this moment, when the country is going through a transformative political change, we should all be asking ourselves: What do we want the future Nepali citizen to be? If we want our children to grow into adults capable of solving real-life problems, we need to move beyond traditional examinations towards evaluations designed to achieve that outcome.