Twelve laborious years of education-HSC or Higher Secondary Certificate, a long endeavour and precious years of a student's life. Commencing from primary (grades 1-5) through secondary years (grades 6-10) generally prepares learners to sit for Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and finally HSC, a two year ordeal! This is a major turning point in a student's life. What happens when the grades do not turn out as expected!
On Sunday, November 26, 2023, the results of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) were handed over to our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Students could find out results from their respective educational institutions and online from 11:00 am onwards. Many must have felt butterflies in the stomach anticipating what fate had in store for them.
Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni handed over the combined result statistics of 11 education boards to the premier at her office at Gonobhaban residence on Sunday. The results were published with a pass rate of 78.64 per cent in 11 education boards of Bangladesh.
Analysis of the results shows a total of 10,67,852 candidates passed the examination in all the education boards. The pass rate being 80.57 per cent in female and 76.76 per cent in male students as per statistics. This shows that girls have outshone boys by a tapering margin or sheer good luck charm of 3.81 per cent.
The pass rate of nine general education boards in the HSC exam is 75.9 per cent. According to previous studies, the pass rate was 84.31 per cent in 2022 and 95.26 per cent a year earlier in 2021. Accordingly, the pass rate has dropped by 8.41 per cent in 2023 compared to previous years. Why has there been a gradual decline in the past consecutive years? Is it lack of personal interest in studies, distractions, unruly or undisciplined life style, should the media be blamed for or is it something to do with the curriculum altogether?
This year a total of 92,595 students have received GPA-5, an almost 50 per cent decline compared to 2022. Last year, a total of 176,282 students obtained GPA-5. Top officials of two boards confirmed this year's pass rate after the Prime Minister unveiled the long-awaited results. Although the tantrum of achieving a GPA-5 is justifiable but this does not necessarily ensure the quality of the student. Many students unfortunately are not all-rounders. Most of the learners have acquired memorisation skills tremendously well which enables them to regurgitate in the exam paper but these very students are not good speakers. Communicative language for them is a dreadful affair especially when the communion takes place in the English Language.
Unfortunately, the pass rate in Bangladesh's HSC exams dropped to 8 year low! Two students of Rajuk Uttara Model College were seen sitting dejected after narrowly missing out on GPA-5. Nila, one of the students from the same college blames the current political unrest for this mishap. "The uncertainty of whether or not the exams will be held timely, acts as a form of mental distraction in students," adds Shojol- an alumnus.
A recent survey revealed that students performed poorly in English as opposed to other subjects such as science, mathematics etc. This has negatively impacted on the overall results. Professor Madhab Chandra Rudro, exam controller of Jashore Board, told a local news daily, "Most students told us that they found English question papers extremely difficult to answer." What can be the possible cause? Are the textbooks not up to date, are students not practising enough, are the teachers not competent enough to teach? These are the matters that need to be taken under consideration. Textbook evaluation as well as teacher evaluation are strategies that take education to the next level.
Abdul Mazid, chairman of the board, echoed Professor Madhab's view. He said poor marks in English had a negative impact on the pass rate of this board. Perhaps there is a lapse in the content or curriculum. Students are scoring better at the Seen Section which are MCQs, word-meanings and short question answers, which does not require much comprehension. However, the Creative Writing Section or Directed Writing is where the students may have faced challenges as they are not adept at thinking clearly in the language. Perhaps many are smart, creative thinkers but they are unable to deliver their thoughts down on paper due to lack of vocabulary, syntax, and amateur grasp of English language. They are not to be blamed for it because English is our second language. However, English is the global language, whatever discipline they choose to study in university, the medium of teaching and learning will be English. Therefore, this must be paid heed to.
The education minister said, "Some qualitative changes were made in the creative papers, which the student found difficult to answer." She also added, "We will conduct an analysis to find out other causes."
Colleges across the country wore a festive look, getting the results -- many students and parents bathed in jubilation while others cried tears of joy. While sweets were getting delivered from household to household of relatives and loved ones; those who were unsuccessful in achieving a desired result were overwhelmingly grief-stricken. Imagine the waiting, the dreams of getting into a great college, those who wished to study medicine and become doctors or those who wanted to get admitted to a top notch business school. What about those who aimed for admission to BUET, DU etc.? What will happen to their dying dreams slowly washing away as tear drops?
What will happen to those students who failed completely? Some households are so strict that they will wed off their young daughters just because they failed, without giving them a second chance. For the male students, some will try harder, others will let frustration take the upper hand. Perhaps they will not try to succeed in the upcoming year; they may choose to give up on studies and go look for work or start up a mediocre business on their own. This is a common case scenario for men who have to earn bread for their family. His dreams of higher education may get shattered in order to cope up with life's demands and challenges. And finally, the worst case scenario: the fragile hearts, in this case the cursor will be pointed at the girls. Those who are emotionally immature or naïve, it is not uncommon to hear about news on television regarding suicide committed right after failing a board examination such as SSC or HSC, in fact it is quite a prevalent news these days.
While the causes for this decline in overall results can be plenty, we do not want to lose our students to failure, insecurity, frustration or depression. We cannot afford to lose our future generation to drugs, to suicide or to early, unhealthy marriages.
As a nation filled with youngsters like butterflies, these are our colourful armies of the future, we wish to see them triumph globally, for sky's the limit for them. The authority, the decision makers, the educators, the education minister and every stakeholder need to make the necessary changes required in order to update the education system of Bangladesh. Our students are talented juveniles, with the correct direction, knowledge and curriculum, they can be moulded to bloom into magnificent beings -- shining their own light.
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