Primary and Mass Education Adviser Professor Dr Bidhan Ranjan Roy Podder on Saturday underscored the need for developing local tools and methods adopting native cultural context for conducting psychometric tests in the recruitment process.
“Bangladesh is yet to develop any tools for conducting psychometric tests and thus, we have to run the tests with foreign tools ... but the variation in cultural contexts has significant impacts on psychometric tests while interpreting the results,” he said.
He made the remark while addressing as the chief guest at a session of the Second International Conference on Psychometrics at the auditorium of Dhaka University's Teacher-Student Centre, reports BSS.
Bidhan said, “Though we have been at a pioneering position in terms of growing population, there are no local tools to conduct IQ tests. Psychological tests have very little impact in interpreting results in the job recruitment process.”
“If we can develop our own test tools or methods, it will be more acceptable and easier to apply,” he added.
Pointing out the importance of psychometric tests and the drawbacks of their practices in the country, Bidhan said, “Though we have psychiatrists in different job recruitments and other interview processes, their role and impact on decision-making are comparatively very minimal.”
International University of Business Agriculture and Technology Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr Mohammad Mahmudur Rahman said many unexpected incidents, including the rise of teen gangs and drug use, are occurring due to psychological issues.
“We are talking about reforms in many sectors,” he said, adding, “We also need to think about bringing reforms on how we can have a healthy, normal life.”
DU English department Prof Ahmed Bashir, Chittagong University psychology department Assistant Prof Dr Shahinur Rahman, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University medicine department Prof Dr Mohammad Tanvir Islam, and DU IER Prof Ahsan Habib also spoke on the occasion, among others.
Bd-pratidin English/ Fariha Nowshin Chinika
