LAHORE – Muhammad Abou Hafs, a seven-year-old student of the Government Higher Secondary School of Kot Momin area in Sargodha district, has topped mathematics examination in the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS), an independent, skills-based assessment programme which recognises and rewards student achievement.
Based in Australia, ICAS is unique, being the most comprehensive generally available suite of academic assessments for primary and secondary school students. The assessments comprise eight digital technologies tests, 11 English tests, 11 mathematics tests, 11 science tests, six spelling tests and 10 writing tests. A new ICAS test is developed annually for each subject in each year level by a team of subject matter experts.
School’s principal Zafarullah Khan said that the entire faculty was proud of achievement of Abou Hafs who won a gold medal out of hundreds of students from 16 different countries. His parents said that they were proud of their son’s achievement. School teacher Muhammad Nawaz said that the student was quite sharp in studies.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also congratulated the student. It is pertinent to mention here that all ICAS tests are reviewed by experienced teachers to ensure that they accurately assess students’ skills and are relevant to what they are learning at the school. Some schools use ICAS as a psychometric test to better understand what the students can and can’t do at a point in time and track learning as students’ progress from year to year.
Other schools use ICAS results as a component of a student’s overall academic achievement for the year and, still others use ICAS as a placement test. Each test is sat at the student’s school and is invigilated by teachers under normal examination conditions. Along with the ICAS papers, the administration guidelines are provided to the schools to ensure that the same conditions are afforded to all students.
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