In an effort to make students understand concepts, Punjab’s intermediate and Matriculation boards have decided to change their examination paper patterns from this academic year.

Rote learning, often called ‘rattafication’ in Pakistan, is a memorization technique to remember or learn something by repeating it.

Most of the students in Pakistan prioritise memorising entire passages during their exams rather than understanding them conceptually. However, the major contribution in this regard comes from our education system itself which allows students to rely more on such techniques in order to secure good grades in examinations.

To counter this narrative, the boards are going to change decade-old paper patterns and encouraging students to understand the essence and the concept behind a topic.

In the upcoming examination, 50% questions will be based on reasoning and conceptual understanding while the remaining part will be theory.

The boards have announced to implement 100% concept-based questions by 2022 after which students will be forced to understand and apply the concepts rather than memorising whole passages.