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====== Education in Basiland ======
<WRAP info>//This article is part of the [[wiki:basiland|Basiland]] portal//</WRAP>

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After The Golden Age of Technology in Basiland, [[wiki:baseman|Baseman]] and the rest of the Basis decided to introduce a standardised education system. 

Literacy levels were at an all time low, and because of this, the Basis founded the Department of Education, which set out to create a unified system which all schools followed. 

A Basi citizen is required to attend Primary School for 5 years, which consists of Lower and Upper Primary years, and Secondary School for 5 years. Students may then choose to pursue further education in universities like [[wiki:baseford_university|Baseford University]], or look to find a job.

===== Primary School =====
Before the Golden Age of Technology, many primary schools taught students Maths, Science and Basic. Now, a student's primary school career is divided into two parts: lower and upper primary.

==== Lower Primary ====
Students join Lower Primary at a very young age. In Lower Primary, students are taught to read and write in Basic, learn foundational Maths and familiarise themselves with Science. Lower Primary lasts for 2 years of their 5 year primary school journey.

==== Upper Primary ====
In Upper Primary, students are taught advanced Basic, foundational English, Maths, and foundational Science. Upper Primary lasts for 3 of a student's 5 year primary school journey.

The Department of Education also introduced the Upper Primary Examinations (UPEs) which students must take at the end of their Upper Primary years. These tests assess a student's knowledge of Basic, English, Maths and Science. 

There are 4 tests, each lasting 1 hour. They are worth 60 marks each and if a student fails, they are required to redo their Upper Primary years. Some secondary schools also do not allow students who got less than a specific average percentage to join. 

**Example UPE English Language Paper: ** {{ :wiki:upe_eng_es1.pdf |}}\\

Due to this the literacy rate in Basiland has improved from 42% before the educational reform to 87%.

===== Secondary School =====
Before the Golden Age of Technology, many secondary schools taught what they wanted to teach, and the material taught varied wildly from school to school. This resulted in many Basi citizens leaving secondary school and being unable to find a job.

The Department of Education attempted to fix this by creating a syllabus which all secondary schools taught. At the end of their secondary school years, Basi pupils sat the National Secondary Education Examinations, colloquially known as NSEEs.

==== Old system ====
**Example NSEE Computer Science Paper: ** {{ :wiki:doe_basiland_legacy_cs_live_test.pdf |}}\\
**Example NSEE Science Paper: ** {{ :wiki:doe_basiland_legacy_sci_live_test.pdf |}}\\
**Example NSEE Additional Answer Booklet: ** {{ :wiki:additional_answer_booklet.pdf |}}

Students were taught a wide range of topics from 9 different subjects (which were all mandatory) during their 5 years at secondary school. These included Maths, Science, English, Basic, History, Computing, Performing Arts, Carpentry and Geography.\\
In the final month of secondary school, students sat their National Secondary Education Examinations, which consisted of 9 papers - one on each subject - each lasting 1 hour 30 minutes, and consisting of 100 marks. About a month later, students would get a Secondary School Certificate with their results.

=== Results ===
Students would either get an EP (Excellent Pass), SP (Strong Pass), P (Pass) or F (Fail) for each subject.

EPs were given to students who achieved 90% or more on their tests,\\
SPs were given to those who achieved 80% or more on their tests,\\
Ps were given to students who achieved 70% or more, and\\
Fs were given to students who achieved less than 70%.

Many universities expected students to either get an EP or an SP in the subjects they wished to study further. If students weren't taught the subjects they wished to study further, the universities expected them to get EPs and SPs on related subjects which they were taught. (For example, to study Engineering in university, students were expected to get EPs or SPs in Maths, Science and Carpentry)

=== Criticisms of the old system ===
Many students and parents were not fond of the old system, as it forced them to study subjects which they may not have wanted to study. Students also complained about the volume of the content they were forced to learn, especially since their final exams only tested them on a small minority of what they had to learn. 

Every subject was managed directly by the Department of Education, and despite attempting to achieve standardisation, the Department of Education had also failed to produce thorough specifications outlining what a student may be tested on in each subject, leaving teaching staff to make educated guesses on what students are expected to know.

==== New system ====
After 10 years, the old system was replaced with a new one. This system saw the introduction of privately owned exam boards which specialise in one or more related subjects (such as the Institute of Technology, which specialises in Computing, Electronics and Engineering). Despite being privately owned, these exam boards had to register with and follow the regulations set out by the Department of Education.

The exam boards are responsible for maintaining and distributing thorough specifications for the subjects they specialised in, and are responsible for creating and marking exams for these subjects.

The new system introduces many more subjects such as Philosophy and split the sciences into Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Most notably, the new system allows students to pick what the subjects they would like to study. For the first two years of secondary school, all students are taught the three sciences, Maths, English and Basic. At the end of the two years, students have to choose up to 10 subjects (with a minimum of 3) which they want to study for the remaining three years in school.

At the end of their 5 year educational journey, students sit their Terminal Secondary Education Tests (or TSETs). These take place in the final few months of the school year, and students have to sit 1 - 3 papers on each subject. Unlike the old system, these paper aim to test students on all aspects of the subject. Around a month and a half after the examination season, students receive a Secondary School Certificate which contains the results of all of their exams from the different exam boards in one place.

=== Results ===
The old letter grades were replaced with new number grades, and students would get a grade ranging from 1 - 5, where a grade 1 means they have done exceptionally well (equivalent to an EP), and a grade 5 is a fail.

Rather than awarding grades based on fixed results, the grades are distributed so that the top 5% of students would get a grade 1, the next 10% would get a grade 2, the next 30% would get a grade 3, the next 40% would get a grade 4 and the final 15% would get a grade 5 (or fail). This means that roughly the same amount of students fit each category, and if the exams on a particular year were harder than usual, the marks required to get a grade would be lower.

Universities now expect students to get a grade 1 or 2 on the subject they wish to study further, or related subjects.

=== Drawbacks ===
In the past, every secondary school across the nation would be able to teach every subject. However, due to the introduction of a vast array of subjects, many of which require specialist staff, equipment and labs, some secondary schools may not be able to teach the subjects a student wants to study, meaning that the student would have to change to a different secondary school, or study a different subject that their current school does offer. All schools across the nation are required to teach Maths, the Sciences, English and Basic, as these are determined to be "fundamental subjects".

Due to the new system aiming to be more academically rigorous, the subjects in the new system have become more difficult, with more challenging concepts. It has become significantly harder to get into university, and an increasing number of students find themselves looking for jobs straight after secondary education, rather than going to university to specialise further.