Grade inflation does not talk about quality

One of my colleagues at BRAC Education wonders why only eighty or ninety percent students will pass in the public examinations. There  must be hundred percent pass rate. He is not ready to listen to the feedback or criticism regarding the results of public examinations. In one sense he is right as students are to study for several years to sit for a public examination. But it has another story. The students who pass or fail in the public examinations do not represent the total number of students who wished to sit for the public examinations. Educational institutions screen out the students through pre-test and post test examinations to send them for attending the public examination. If they would send all the students en masse for attending the public examinations, the failure rate would have been further high. I can remember the great sigh of a student of Rajuk College when I was working there. He said, " I have never failed in any subject in my life. But after coming to Rajuk College I have never passed in any subject." Readers may not understand its hidden meaning or this rhetoric. Students of famous institutions are kept under huge pressure through class works, homeworks, examinations, attending classes and finally subject teachers are asked to check the scripts very strictly. This strictness either reflects the real performance of the students or shows a distorted picture meaning far less than what a student really is. Students are sent for public examinations through these screening processes which sometimes prove a nightmare ordeal for them. Their pressure from the guardians will also tell other stories. Finally, the institutions wear the crown of success at the cost of these ordeals. However, the institutions and the students who pass and score good grades in the public examinations deserve thanks.
The fact is the number of GPA-5 scorers in the HSC and equivalent examinations is rising every year and this must be in line with the changing trend of the present globe. But our look at their performance in the admission tests gives rises to some questions. The admission test of Dhaka University in 2013 -14 shows that around 70 per cent GPA-5 holders could not secure pass marks. The previous three sessions saw around 55 per cent, 52 per cent and 51 per cent failing in the entry examination. Most of them failed in Bangla and English which are the basic subjects. Students fail to acquire necessary competence even after completion of a certain level of education. This is because of education system which focuses on quantity rather tan quality. BRAC Education Programme offers scholarships to the poor but meritorious students in the higher secondary and higher education levels. The students who pass the SSC get this scholarship for pursuing higher secondary level education and those who pass the higher secondary examination with GPA-5 enjoy scholarship for pursuing higher education. When we select the students through our own admission tests, we find a very dismal picture. Most of the GPA-5 scorers cannot qualify in mathematics and English.
This year the total number of GPA-5 achievers has jumped to 70, 602 from previous years' 58, 197. Over 1,72,000 students who passed HSC and equivalent exams this year will not be able to enroll at the public and private universities and medial colleges due to limited seats in the higher educational institutions. UGC says there are 37 public universities and some 59,200 seats are available for graduate admission in these universities except for National University  controlled  educational institutions that have place for 629,475 freshers. As many as 79 private universities have the ability to enroll 131,932 students in various graduate programmes. On the other side, 24 public and 54 private medical colleges have around 8,000 seats, while 10 dental colleges have around 1,500 seats, according to Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council. We clearly see every year the number of students is increasing but we don't take steps to meet the needs of this increasing number of students. We just take examinations, publish results and become complacent about the inflated pass rate. Can we actually afford to do that?
We can remember that the government called off this years' English second paper examination of the HSC following allegations of questions being divulged. The test was rescheduled. A probe committee was formed to investigate the malpractice. Questions of other subjects including Chemistry and Mathematics were also alleged to have been revealed. The committee has suggested a number of remedial measures to check question paper leakage. We hope the government will show its sincerity to implement the suggestions. Many people express their doubt that the question paper leakage has direct link with this year's inflated results. The pass rate of students of 1,147 educational institutions is 100 per cent which is really  an encouraging news. At the same time the fact that from 24 institutions not a single student could pass shows just the opposite picture. This feat calls for more attention in the real sense of the term. Results show that girls did better than boys in terms of pass rate. The percentage of pass of female examinees is 78.86 while the rate is 77.86 for male students. But male students made good results in terms of scoring GPA 5. A total of 38,787 boys obtained GPA 5 while 31,815 girls got the distinction. Even then we must congratulate our girl students who are going to present us an education nation in future. Keep it up, girls.
Madrasa Education Board is on top of pass rate as 94.08 per cent students of the board became successful followed by Technical Education Board with 85.02 per cent pass rate. We know the reality that madrasas still don't have very competent and trained teachers compared to general colleges. When ignoring this fact their results in public examinations become better than the general trend gives rise to question in our mind. The students from madrasas are to compete with the present day reality. So, madrasa education authorities must give full concentration on quality first, then quantity. Group-based results show that students of science and home economics are on top list in pass rate and in obtaining GPA 5. The pass rate is 82.93 per cent and a total of 34,007 students under the group scored GPA 5. The pass rate in humanities group is 69.76 per cent while 81.24 per cent in commerce group. A total of 7,838 students of the humanities group scored GPA 5 while 15,944 students of commerce group also scored the same. The results further show that domination of educational institutions of various metropolitan cities reduced astonishingly as many students in remote areas secured better positions this year.
I personally congratulate those students of remotest corners of the country who have been constantly fighting with poverty and other odds of life but have become successful to prove their worth. Hats off to them again.
The writer is Programme Manager at BRAC Education Programme and Vice-president of Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA), email: [email protected]