Kathmandu, Sep 2020 : In discussions earlier this month, Prometric and the National Examination Board (NEB) presented possible online testing solutions to address the needs of a large backlog of students who have not been able to test due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The dialogue, led by Alfa Beta (a global test preparations and services provider), included insights from Soumitra Roy, General Manager-South Asia of Prometric, India; Prof. Chandra Mani Poudel, Ph.D, Chairman, the National Examination Board (NEB); and Pushpa Raj Joshi, Chief of Tribhuvan University Exam Controller Office.
During the meeting, Prometric presented various alternatives for consideration in Nepal, citing different practices deployed across the globe including Remote Proctoring, online remote assessment tool that utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) along with human proctoring to allow students to test from the comfort and safety of home.
Addressing Nepal’s challenge in providing stable internet access to students across the country, in urban as well as rural areas, Prometric highlighted plans for an entirely new innovative solution that would be customized for Nepal. Similar discussions with Prometric and various senior academicians, educators, opinion leaders, and local media in Nepal also transpired earlier this month..
“With COVID-19 putting numerous secondary education and university exams on hold over the past six months, schools have had to evaluate student performance using prior internal exams which has garnered some public criticism,” said Soumitra Roy. “As a leader in the testing and assessment industry, Prometric continues to innovate and drive solutions to provide exam program access to all candidates especially in more remote and under-connected regions. We look forward to partnering with Alfa Beta to better serve Nepal’s educational institutions and their students.”
“Prometric is an international organization with an established digital platform for conducting online examinations,” noted Dwiraj Sharma, CEO at Alfa Beta.
“Prometric currently facilitates several student exams, and their industry leading platforms both online and offline provide exams to more than seven million students across 180 different countries in any given year. A possible collaboration with a company of their stature at the national level could pave a new path for the struggling online education in Nepal.”
