Widening rich-poor divide in public examinations' results
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Shamim Ara Begum
SUVADRA Roy, a talented student from the country's northern region, was one of the GPA-5 scorers in the SSC examination 2007. She along with other 63 candidates appeared at the examination from Jamirhat High School in Parbatipur, Dinajpur. But, she was the only one to achieve GPA-5, the highest feat from that school located in a remote area.
It was not an easy catch for Suvadra. She, in fact, had to go through a hell lot of adversities to achieve the feat. She came from a very poor family. She could not regularly study at night because her father could not afford to buy kerosene for a hurricane lantern provided by the school authorities. Even then Suvadra managed to overcome the odds to earn a place in newspapers by doing a good result.
What Suvadra has achieved from a rural school is rare indeed. School and college students in rural and mufassil areas can hardly fare well in their public examinations
When the results of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations are published every year, newspapers are seen full of success stories, particularly of the students of renowned schools and colleges in urban areas. There are few success stories of the students from rural areas. The key to success for these youngsters from villages and small towns is only hard labour and determination.
While the educational institutions in cities and big towns keep on showing better success, the situation in rural schools and colleges is going from bad to worse. Even there are schools and colleges in villages where pass percentage is almost zero.
Many say that school and college students in cities and big towns are enjoying better privileges while those in villages and small towns are being deprived of.
According to experts, the discrimination is there because schools in urban areas have adequate number of trained teachers and better infrastructures, managements and discipline. Above all, education these days demands investment due to commercialisation. And these make the difference between the standard of education offered by schools and colleges in cities and that of those in rural areas. As a result, the rich-poor divide in the results of public examinations is gradually widening.
The schools in metropolitan cities came up with the best results in the SSC examination 2007 in terms of GPA-5 performance. Nine out of 10 schools in Dhaka city had the maximum number of GPA-5 scorers in the examinations under Dhaka Education Board, while six in Chittagong port city under Chittagong Education Board, seven in Comilla Sadar upazila under Comilla Education Board, six in Sylhet city under Sylhet Education Board and 10 in Khulna city, Jessore and Kushtia sadar upazila under Jessore Education Board.
About the pass percentage, Manjurul Kabir, head of Dhaka Education Board's computer department, says, "The success rate in Dhaka city is 84 per cent against 60-61 per cent of the whole board. The picture is almost the same in other education boards."
In the HSC examination 2,007, eight out of 10 top colleges are in Dhaka city, one in Chittagong and one in Rajshahi. The success rate of nine of these colleges is over 90 per cent.
The interesting thing is that the majority of the students at SSC and HSC levels study in schools and colleges outside big cities and town. Any analysis of the results of the last few years will also show that a handful of renowned institutions are performing well. This is because these institutions have adequate number of trained teachers, better infrastructures and managements.
Besides, students from the affluent section of the society study in these institutions and receive private subject-wise coaching either at home or coaching centres, apart from the good education provided by their own schools and colleges.
On the other hand, the majority of the students from villages and small towns cannot avail of good education because of their financial insolvency, lack of skilled teachers and problems relating to infrastructure. They particularly face problems in science and English for which special care is needed. In the SSC examination 2007, the rate of failure was 42 per cent of which 30 per cent in English alone.
To address the problems, experts and guardians put forward the following suggestions:
Appointment of adequate number of trained teachers in every educational institution; Raising the salaries of teachers to attract better qualified people to teaching; Providing incentives to the teachers teaching in schools and colleges in rural areas to stop the trend of seeking jobs in towns; Regulating commercial coaching or private tuitioning and introducing coaching in every institution; and developing appropriate infrastructure of the neglected institutions.
According to them, about 80 per cent of the populace still lives in villages. If the young generation of the villages continues to face the discrimination in receiving education, there will be a dreadful situation in the future. So, the sooner the problems are resolved, the better will be the outcome.
SUVADRA Roy, a talented student from the country's northern region, was one of the GPA-5 scorers in the SSC examination 2007. She along with other 63 candidates appeared at the examination from Jamirhat High School in Parbatipur, Dinajpur. But, she was the only one to achieve GPA-5, the highest feat from that school located in a remote area.
It was not an easy catch for Suvadra. She, in fact, had to go through a hell lot of adversities to achieve the feat. She came from a very poor family. She could not regularly study at night because her father could not afford to buy kerosene for a hurricane lantern provided by the school authorities. Even then Suvadra managed to overcome the odds to earn a place in newspapers by doing a good result.
What Suvadra has achieved from a rural school is rare indeed. School and college students in rural and mufassil areas can hardly fare well in their public examinations
When the results of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations are published every year, newspapers are seen full of success stories, particularly of the students of renowned schools and colleges in urban areas. There are few success stories of the students from rural areas. The key to success for these youngsters from villages and small towns is only hard labour and determination.
While the educational institutions in cities and big towns keep on showing better success, the situation in rural schools and colleges is going from bad to worse. Even there are schools and colleges in villages where pass percentage is almost zero.
Many say that school and college students in cities and big towns are enjoying better privileges while those in villages and small towns are being deprived of.
According to experts, the discrimination is there because schools in urban areas have adequate number of trained teachers and better infrastructures, managements and discipline. Above all, education these days demands investment due to commercialisation. And these make the difference between the standard of education offered by schools and colleges in cities and that of those in rural areas. As a result, the rich-poor divide in the results of public examinations is gradually widening.
The schools in metropolitan cities came up with the best results in the SSC examination 2007 in terms of GPA-5 performance. Nine out of 10 schools in Dhaka city had the maximum number of GPA-5 scorers in the examinations under Dhaka Education Board, while six in Chittagong port city under Chittagong Education Board, seven in Comilla Sadar upazila under Comilla Education Board, six in Sylhet city under Sylhet Education Board and 10 in Khulna city, Jessore and Kushtia sadar upazila under Jessore Education Board.
About the pass percentage, Manjurul Kabir, head of Dhaka Education Board's computer department, says, "The success rate in Dhaka city is 84 per cent against 60-61 per cent of the whole board. The picture is almost the same in other education boards."
In the HSC examination 2,007, eight out of 10 top colleges are in Dhaka city, one in Chittagong and one in Rajshahi. The success rate of nine of these colleges is over 90 per cent.
The interesting thing is that the majority of the students at SSC and HSC levels study in schools and colleges outside big cities and town. Any analysis of the results of the last few years will also show that a handful of renowned institutions are performing well. This is because these institutions have adequate number of trained teachers, better infrastructures and managements.
Besides, students from the affluent section of the society study in these institutions and receive private subject-wise coaching either at home or coaching centres, apart from the good education provided by their own schools and colleges.
On the other hand, the majority of the students from villages and small towns cannot avail of good education because of their financial insolvency, lack of skilled teachers and problems relating to infrastructure. They particularly face problems in science and English for which special care is needed. In the SSC examination 2007, the rate of failure was 42 per cent of which 30 per cent in English alone.
To address the problems, experts and guardians put forward the following suggestions:
Appointment of adequate number of trained teachers in every educational institution; Raising the salaries of teachers to attract better qualified people to teaching; Providing incentives to the teachers teaching in schools and colleges in rural areas to stop the trend of seeking jobs in towns; Regulating commercial coaching or private tuitioning and introducing coaching in every institution; and developing appropriate infrastructure of the neglected institutions.
According to them, about 80 per cent of the populace still lives in villages. If the young generation of the villages continues to face the discrimination in receiving education, there will be a dreadful situation in the future. So, the sooner the problems are resolved, the better will be the outcome.