First public examination of primary students
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Md. Masum Billah
This is for the first time the country has witnessed the holding of public examination of primary school students of Class Five, drawing appreciations for, and little criticisms of, the authorities concerned. Among the students who sat for the examination, 88.84 per cent of them passed -- 676,717 students obtaining first division, 615,350, the second division and 32.700, the third division. From 81372 schools, 1823,465 students participated in this country-wide examination for our tiny examinees.
It is encouraging to see that the number of first division holders outnumbers the second and third division holders. Barisal division saw the highest percentage of pass -- 92.94 and the lowest in Sylhet division at 78.25. The examination was held on November 21,22 and 24 in six divisions. The final results have been published after 28 days. Primary schools attached to Primary Training Institutes saw the highest percentage of pass at 99.21. In the case of others, the situation about percentage of pass has been as follows: other government primary schools -- 89.49, Model government primary schools -- 95.31, registered non-government primary schools --82.50, Community Primary Schools -- 77.44, BRAC Primary school -- 96.39, Children Welfare Schools -- 62.39, Ananda School -- 43.65 and others -- 90.59. These figure show that out of eight streams of primary education, the government primary schools stand fourth in the position.
Out of these successful students, 50 thousand will get talent-pool and general scholarship. This is undoubtedly an innovative idea to increase the quality of education. Before this system, there was no arrangement to assess the merit of students at primary school level-nationwide and on a uniform basis. Only the students (barely 40 per cent) who participated in the scholarship examination were considered as the brighter students and the entire school and the whole set of relevant teachers focused their attention on them only. The rest 60 per cent remained neglected. Now all will get almost equal emphasis in the class. Teachers' responsibility has also been brought under a stocktaking.
If we further examine the results, we see that 42 per cent of students secured first division. Eight per cent of students did not take part in the examinations. More than 11 per cent of students failed in the examination and 19 per cent, dropped out. The exams should go a long way to bring about uniformity in the system of primary education and, thereby, help improve the much-lamented poor standard of education at this level. The decision to hold this terminal examination nationwide was taken only three months back. The guardians and tiny students could not get enough time to prepare themselves for the examination. They were in tension, also. Even then, the results are encouraging, considering the limitations thereof. Again, the examines had to sit for two subjects a day which was a pressure for them. Next time the authorities concerned must give consideration to all such things.
A total of 156430 students did not take part in the examination though they were registered. As they do not have certificates, they will not be able to get admission to Class VI. The poor and less conscious guardians will not be able to defray their educational expenses for another year. Finally they may stop giving education to their children. The government must think about a second option for them so that they may not become drop-outs.
What is more encouraging and meaningful is that 'mofassail' and village primary schools have done better than their urban and metropolitan counterparts. The first, second and third positions in the combined merit list have been occupied by village students, not urban-based ones. Obtaining 593 marks, out of a total of 600, Sadia secured the first place from Monohordi Model School. Among the top ten schools, nine are from villages and only one is in Dhaka. Hopefully, village students will keep up this performance. They have proved that though the society makes them otherwise deprived of facilities they need and deserve, they are capable of achieving better results. Among the top ten positions, seven have been occupied by girls and three, by boys. It gives us the clear hints that thousands of flowers are lying in the rural areas; they need to be bloomed for the greatest interest of the nation.
The chronic weakness in Mathematics and English has been proved, once again, in this public examination. No student passed from 1937 schools. About 0.2 million (2.0 lakh) students failed and they failed mainly in English and Mathematics though 10 to 13 'grace' marks were given to help boost the pass percentage.
At present, in each primary school there are only three to four teachers. In most schools, schooling goes on in one-shift for four hours. This practice will be removed under the PEDP-Phase II by 2010. The education specialists say that there must be five teachers in each school and, at least, five classrooms. They also say that there must be arrangement for food for the children in the schools. Many children come to schools with empty stomach. They need food at noon. If it is done, they will have a special attraction for attending schools and then, indirectly quality of education will be ensured and the dropout rate will fall. The donors and the people concerned have already showed interest in, and talked about, this matter. Now the main role has to be played by the government.
To conduct such a large public examination is certainly an onerous job on the part of the government. So, it deserves all appreciation by all concerned. It is no easy job to conduct an examination of about 2.0 million (20 lakh) students countrywide and to publish the results in time. It also proves that we can do many things if we have sincere desire and make concerted efforts.
Now time is ripe to review the whole situation and to take necessary steps to help strengthen the base of our primary education. Experience-sharing can be promoted and encouraged actively between the best performing schools and the poor performing ones. Those students who could not pass and who did drop out, must be mainstreamed into the fold of education by identifying their weaknesses. We know that our education system contains many loopholes but we did not have a reliable picture to prove it. The results of the last primary-level public examination have now enabled us to identify loopholes in some areas at the primary level in our education sector. This should lead to taking appropriate measures to remove the weaknesses.
The writer is Senior Manager: BRAC Education Programme, PACE. He can be reached at email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
This is for the first time the country has witnessed the holding of public examination of primary school students of Class Five, drawing appreciations for, and little criticisms of, the authorities concerned. Among the students who sat for the examination, 88.84 per cent of them passed -- 676,717 students obtaining first division, 615,350, the second division and 32.700, the third division. From 81372 schools, 1823,465 students participated in this country-wide examination for our tiny examinees.
It is encouraging to see that the number of first division holders outnumbers the second and third division holders. Barisal division saw the highest percentage of pass -- 92.94 and the lowest in Sylhet division at 78.25. The examination was held on November 21,22 and 24 in six divisions. The final results have been published after 28 days. Primary schools attached to Primary Training Institutes saw the highest percentage of pass at 99.21. In the case of others, the situation about percentage of pass has been as follows: other government primary schools -- 89.49, Model government primary schools -- 95.31, registered non-government primary schools --82.50, Community Primary Schools -- 77.44, BRAC Primary school -- 96.39, Children Welfare Schools -- 62.39, Ananda School -- 43.65 and others -- 90.59. These figure show that out of eight streams of primary education, the government primary schools stand fourth in the position.
Out of these successful students, 50 thousand will get talent-pool and general scholarship. This is undoubtedly an innovative idea to increase the quality of education. Before this system, there was no arrangement to assess the merit of students at primary school level-nationwide and on a uniform basis. Only the students (barely 40 per cent) who participated in the scholarship examination were considered as the brighter students and the entire school and the whole set of relevant teachers focused their attention on them only. The rest 60 per cent remained neglected. Now all will get almost equal emphasis in the class. Teachers' responsibility has also been brought under a stocktaking.
If we further examine the results, we see that 42 per cent of students secured first division. Eight per cent of students did not take part in the examinations. More than 11 per cent of students failed in the examination and 19 per cent, dropped out. The exams should go a long way to bring about uniformity in the system of primary education and, thereby, help improve the much-lamented poor standard of education at this level. The decision to hold this terminal examination nationwide was taken only three months back. The guardians and tiny students could not get enough time to prepare themselves for the examination. They were in tension, also. Even then, the results are encouraging, considering the limitations thereof. Again, the examines had to sit for two subjects a day which was a pressure for them. Next time the authorities concerned must give consideration to all such things.
A total of 156430 students did not take part in the examination though they were registered. As they do not have certificates, they will not be able to get admission to Class VI. The poor and less conscious guardians will not be able to defray their educational expenses for another year. Finally they may stop giving education to their children. The government must think about a second option for them so that they may not become drop-outs.
What is more encouraging and meaningful is that 'mofassail' and village primary schools have done better than their urban and metropolitan counterparts. The first, second and third positions in the combined merit list have been occupied by village students, not urban-based ones. Obtaining 593 marks, out of a total of 600, Sadia secured the first place from Monohordi Model School. Among the top ten schools, nine are from villages and only one is in Dhaka. Hopefully, village students will keep up this performance. They have proved that though the society makes them otherwise deprived of facilities they need and deserve, they are capable of achieving better results. Among the top ten positions, seven have been occupied by girls and three, by boys. It gives us the clear hints that thousands of flowers are lying in the rural areas; they need to be bloomed for the greatest interest of the nation.
The chronic weakness in Mathematics and English has been proved, once again, in this public examination. No student passed from 1937 schools. About 0.2 million (2.0 lakh) students failed and they failed mainly in English and Mathematics though 10 to 13 'grace' marks were given to help boost the pass percentage.
At present, in each primary school there are only three to four teachers. In most schools, schooling goes on in one-shift for four hours. This practice will be removed under the PEDP-Phase II by 2010. The education specialists say that there must be five teachers in each school and, at least, five classrooms. They also say that there must be arrangement for food for the children in the schools. Many children come to schools with empty stomach. They need food at noon. If it is done, they will have a special attraction for attending schools and then, indirectly quality of education will be ensured and the dropout rate will fall. The donors and the people concerned have already showed interest in, and talked about, this matter. Now the main role has to be played by the government.
To conduct such a large public examination is certainly an onerous job on the part of the government. So, it deserves all appreciation by all concerned. It is no easy job to conduct an examination of about 2.0 million (20 lakh) students countrywide and to publish the results in time. It also proves that we can do many things if we have sincere desire and make concerted efforts.
Now time is ripe to review the whole situation and to take necessary steps to help strengthen the base of our primary education. Experience-sharing can be promoted and encouraged actively between the best performing schools and the poor performing ones. Those students who could not pass and who did drop out, must be mainstreamed into the fold of education by identifying their weaknesses. We know that our education system contains many loopholes but we did not have a reliable picture to prove it. The results of the last primary-level public examination have now enabled us to identify loopholes in some areas at the primary level in our education sector. This should lead to taking appropriate measures to remove the weaknesses.
The writer is Senior Manager: BRAC Education Programme, PACE. He can be reached at email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com