Irrelevant would have been admission tests each year for aspiring candidates for honours graduation courses, medical and engineering studies if only the number of students were far fewer or alternatively the reputed colleges and universities had adequate number of seats. Unfortunately, the demand-supply gap is disproportionately in favour of supply. Now the admission tests at the University of Dhaka (DU) this year has woefully exposed the weakness of the education system. Ideally, all students achieving grade point average (GPA)-5 at the secondary and higher secondary examinations should have passed the admission test. But a large majority of them have been failing to obtain the minimum pass mark in the admission tests every year.
This year only 10 per cent students came out successful in the admission test of the 'Kha' unit comprising Arts, Social Science and Law faculties. The percentage of pass in the 'Ka' and 'Ga' (Science and Commerce faculties) has been 21.5 and 20.5 respectively. What is noticeable is the poor performance in English. Out of the 40, 565 candidates appearing for 'Kha' unit admission test, only 3,874 could obtain the required pass mark. This time attempting the Elective English part of the question paper was made mandatory for candidates willing to study English. And this exactly exposed the weakness of candidates in the subject. Â
Only two students qualified for admission to the department. But 1,364 candidates attempted the Elective English part. So how does the English Department enrol students for the 150 seats it has for the first year BA (Hons)? The Law faculty will face similar problem for want of qualified students. All because poor performance in English! Now poor standard for candidates willing to take English as an honours subject is one thing, but it is altogether different for others studying different subjects at graduation and the tertiary level. English figures so prominently because the Indian subcontinent was under the British colonial rule. Naturally, the legacy places this part of the world in an advantageous position in terms of learning English as a second language.
Sadly, that advantage is fast disappearing. Had the country's mother tongue flourished as much as to absorb higher knowledge in every sphere of science, arts, philosophy etc., learning of a second language would not have proved so crucial. The Japanese and the Chinese have no such compulsion. Immediately after the country's independence, batches of students from Bangladesh went to Russia with scholarship for tertiary education. A three months' language course in Russia would have prepared them for studies in universities there. Then why English studies up to 12 classes fail to make students well versed with the language should be the moot question here. The answer lies partly in the quality of teachers who teach the subject and also in the straight-cut formula for helping students scoring high in English without knowing the subject well at secondary and higher secondary levels. In fact, the format of question papers is such that undeserving students can even get 80+ marks out of a hundred.
This may be politically expedient but in the ultimate analysis, a large majority will falter when they face the real test in life. Some private universities thrive on supplies rejected from even average public and private higher seats of learning. Where quality is lacking, money does the talking. Thus education in its true sense of the term has failed to spread its root. Of course the meritorious get their way out of the mess but the general standard is on the decline.
Where standard of education hurts
Neil Ray | Published: September 29, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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