SSC results
Thursday, 28 May 2009
THE results of the secondary school certificate (SSC) examinations have always aroused a great deal of interest among guardians, students and the ones concerned about different aspects of education in the country. It has been a happy trend over the last couple of years in succession that the inadequacies noted earlier about the outcome of these examination seemed to be addressed with some effectiveness. The number of institutions failing to score the expected degree of success is seen as going down and also the number being expelled from the examination premises for resorting to unscrupulous means. The number of GPA holders or the ones with very outstanding and impressive results have also increased significantly.
Although the SSC results showed a decline in the pass percentage by 1.29 per cent, a record number, 62,307, scoring GPA-5, the positivism of recent years remained. In fact, the same showed even marginal improvements in some areas such as the further decrease in the number of schools in which all examinees failed and the increase in the number of schools where everyone passed. The pass rate in the ten examination boards on average is 70.89 per cent, and what is remarkable is that the Madrasah Board is at the top of the ten education boards this year. In addition it boasts of having done best in English. By contrast Dhaka Board is fourth in line.
However, on deeper examination it may be seen that actual hard improvements may not have been so great as the results apparently indicate. The greater number in the pass rate may have more to do with the curriculum and examination methods becoming favourably simplified for the students. As usual, the good results in general are seen as monopolised by schools in the urban areas and the concentration of GPA holders in a small number of schools in the cities. This suggests the same rural-urban divide with the rural areas falling far behind the urban ones both in terms of the number of students passing and also in the number of those getting GPA scores. But the schools and examinees are greater in the rural areas by comparison. Besides, the fail rate of about 29.10 per cent is still quite high for a country like Bangladesh where the guardians and the country should be getting more returns from their investment in the first major public examination for the young ones. The nearly 30 per cent who failed form a big number and the cost to be borne again by them for reappearing in these examinations would not be small.
Therefore, there are many things to be accomplished in the coming years. First, the current rising trend on the whole must be maintained. Secondly, the big need of staffing of the schools in the rural areas with better teachers specially English teachers, science subject teachers and mathematics teachers should be well addressed. The vital infrastructures of schools including computers and laboratories, must be increased particularly in the rural areas. This year's results show that the pass rate is comparatively the lowest in the vocational board whereas the same are the highest in the madrasah board. This reflects that attainments are found to be less in areas where specially skilled human resources are being created for the economy. Government should address this weakness with greater resources and support flowing into the streams of more socially and economically useful forms of education.
Although the SSC results showed a decline in the pass percentage by 1.29 per cent, a record number, 62,307, scoring GPA-5, the positivism of recent years remained. In fact, the same showed even marginal improvements in some areas such as the further decrease in the number of schools in which all examinees failed and the increase in the number of schools where everyone passed. The pass rate in the ten examination boards on average is 70.89 per cent, and what is remarkable is that the Madrasah Board is at the top of the ten education boards this year. In addition it boasts of having done best in English. By contrast Dhaka Board is fourth in line.
However, on deeper examination it may be seen that actual hard improvements may not have been so great as the results apparently indicate. The greater number in the pass rate may have more to do with the curriculum and examination methods becoming favourably simplified for the students. As usual, the good results in general are seen as monopolised by schools in the urban areas and the concentration of GPA holders in a small number of schools in the cities. This suggests the same rural-urban divide with the rural areas falling far behind the urban ones both in terms of the number of students passing and also in the number of those getting GPA scores. But the schools and examinees are greater in the rural areas by comparison. Besides, the fail rate of about 29.10 per cent is still quite high for a country like Bangladesh where the guardians and the country should be getting more returns from their investment in the first major public examination for the young ones. The nearly 30 per cent who failed form a big number and the cost to be borne again by them for reappearing in these examinations would not be small.
Therefore, there are many things to be accomplished in the coming years. First, the current rising trend on the whole must be maintained. Secondly, the big need of staffing of the schools in the rural areas with better teachers specially English teachers, science subject teachers and mathematics teachers should be well addressed. The vital infrastructures of schools including computers and laboratories, must be increased particularly in the rural areas. This year's results show that the pass rate is comparatively the lowest in the vocational board whereas the same are the highest in the madrasah board. This reflects that attainments are found to be less in areas where specially skilled human resources are being created for the economy. Government should address this weakness with greater resources and support flowing into the streams of more socially and economically useful forms of education.