ABSTRACT
The information on which this chapter is based was obtained in visits which I and a colleague (Vincent Greaney) made to the countries concerned in July of this year (1988). The visits can be broadly described as a reconnaissance exercise to identify problems in examination systems and in particular the options that may be available to use examinations to improve the general quality of education in the countries operating these systems. This is an area of interest for the World Bank which for some time has been looking at ways of improving the efficiency of schools and the quality of education in developing countries (see Fuller 1985; Heyneman 1985, 1987; Mingat and Psacharopoulos 1985; World Bank 1987). The next step in our exercise will involve a meeting with the education ministries of the countries which we visited. At the meeting, they will have the opportunity of reacting to a report based on our visits and of exploring any further steps they may wish to take, if indeed they decide to take any steps at all. If the interest of the countries survives to this point, arrangements can be made by them to negotiate possible support programmes from the World Bank.
