While there are 40 public universities in Bangladesh and a total of 47,636 seats there for admission, the number of students sitting for the admission tests every year exceeds 800,000. The statistic sounds like a struggle in itself. The admission process is especially difficult for non-Bangla medium students.
The admission tests have a syllabus similar to the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination, and the questions are made following the board-approved books; a syllabus the students of national curriculum study for more than two years. The subject matters of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) and that of English medium, be it Edexcel or Cambridge curriculum, are vastly different from each other.
The English medium students do not have to depend on memorising formulas in physics and mathematics, compound names in chemistry and scientific names of organisms in biology. The scenario is different for Bangla medium students. Sayeed (not his real name), on completion of Cambridge IGCSE examination, appeared for A unit admission test of University of Dhaka two years ago, said, "We were not used to remembering or memorising things back in our school days. For us, it was important to understand the concepts and learn their application."
The Edexcel students have the option to be done with their A-levels by January, which give them roughly nine months to prepare for most admission tests, as they start from October, but most students finish their exams in May and have only about four months at hand. Students of Cambridge complete A-levels in June and just get three months to study an entirely new syllabus. "The entire O levels and A levels syllabus only covers about 30 per cent of the admission test topics," says one former candidate. A solution could be to take both curriculums into account and finding better ways to test the students' intelligence rather than examining their power of memorisation, which the current system does. Besides, the questions could be about the practical application of the theoretical knowledge that would test how well the students have comprehended the concepts.
The English medium students are not the only ones who face problems during the admission season due to their mode of studies. Even the students of English version have much to complain about. There is not a single verified English version book, aside from the translated Bangla version ones and the translations are usually atrocious, to the point of being unfathomable. Somehow the translators skip explanations, examples and entire topics sometimes, giving the students of Bangla medium another unfair advantage of just having more study material. The admission test questions, too, are poorly translated. Some public universities do not even offer English questions. "I remember the time I sat for Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) admission test and received the question paper in Bangla when I requested for a translated version, I was insulted and asked to leave if I did not want to answer the Bangla question paper," said a disgruntled former admission seeker with English version background. Adequately translated books and questions would not be too much to ask.
Admission coaching centres have become very important for all Bangladeshi public university applicants. While there are too many coaching centres promising 'sure success' into any desired public university, coaching centres for English medium and English version students are few and far between. The ones aimed at English medium and English version students are not on par either, because many teachers with a substantial understanding of the subject may not have sufficient proficiency in English. In class they use Bangla terms, making their lectures more obscure to already struggling students. The students have to learn the Bangla terms anew, on top of everything else.
If the stress of a colossal syllabus, a language barrier and constricting time is not enough, students have to deal with parental pressure. Many parents cannot fathom the fact that their children are already at a disadvantage in this intense competition with the Bangla medium students. Parents can be extremely unsupportive and be reproving of their children when they do not see results that match their expectations. They put unnecessary pressure to do better, study longer and give more effort when the students are already trying their best. This is a time when students of any curriculum need the most support, and most parents somehow fail at that.
Most people in Bangladesh have this deep-seated belief that those who study in public universities are blessed creatures with smarter and more sophisticated minds and that they will conquer the world someday. They also believe that English medium and version students never get into public universities because they are 'good for nothing hybrids'. What nobody considers is that the system was designed for the Bangla medium majority, and it is an uphill battle for everyone else.
The entire system of admission tests is flawed to a great extent because an examination of a few hours cannot be the judge of anyone's merit or capabilities. It is a difficult period for any student, but most non-Bangla medium students have to deal with many added stress.
"The admission process is particularly painful for English medium students because we come from a different academic background and much pressure is forced on us in a very short time, and parents and universities should realise that this a herculean task for us to accomplish," said a former student of North South University (NSU).
The writer is a first year student of BBA programme at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. She can be reached at z.raiysa@gmail.com