Pass rate of HSC, equivalent exams slips to 66.64%

The pass rate of HSC and equivalent exams has fallen to 66.64 percent this year from 68.91 percent a year ago.

A total of 29,262 students achieved a GPA of 5.0, compared to 37,969 in 2017, according to Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid.

The education ministry published results of HSC and equivalent exams on Thursday. The overall success rate was dropped by 2.27 percentage points while the number of GPA-5 achievers fell by 8,464.

The minister handed over the summary of results to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Ganabhaban on Thursday.

On the falling pass rate this year, the education minister said, “We want to improve quality. That's why we’ve examined the papers very strictly.”

Girls outperformed boys with a 69.72 percent pass rate, compared to 63.88 percent, according to data provided by Nahid.

HSC theory exams were held from Apr 2 to May 13 and the practical exams were held from May 14 to May 23. A total of 1,311,457 students sat for the exams.

The examinees will get their results from respective centres or educational institutions, websites of the respective centres and mobile phones. At the same time, the results will be available at www.educationboardresults.gov.bd.

To find out their results, the students will have to send an SMS to 16222 with text 'HSC' followed by space, then first 3 letters of the respective education board, then another space then roll number followed by space again then '2018'.

For example: HSC dha 123456 2018 and send to 16222.

Madrasa students will have to write ‘Alim’ and ‘Mad’ instead of ‘HSC’ and respective board’s first three letters. The rest of the process is the same.

For technical results, students will have to write ‘Tec’ instead of the board’s name. The rest of the process is the same.

Students will also be able to apply for re-evaluation of their results, if needed, between Jul 20 and Jul 26.

They will have to send an SMS only from Teletalk numbers to 16222 with text ‘RSC’ followed by space, then first three letters of the respective education board, then another space then roll number followed by space again and then the subject code.

If there are more than one subject, one will have to write the codes giving commas after each subject code in the same SMS.

The sender will then get a PIN number. The amount of fee that will have to be paid will also be mentioned in the reply to the text message.

If the terms are accepted, the student will then have to send another SMS to the same number with text ‘RSC’ followed by a space then ‘YES’ then another space then a mobile phone number to contact.

Some Tk 150 will be charged for re-evaluation of each subject and paper, so the re-evaluation of a two-paper exam subject will cost Tk 300.

PRAISE FOR EXAM METHOD

For several years, the education sector had been beset with question leaks that often surfaced on the social media networks. But this year passed without any allegation of leaks.

Appreciating the method used in the HSC exams this year to prevent question leaks, Hasina said: “This year’s exam method was very nice. Thanks to this, many malpractices have stopped."

“There was a criticism of question paper leaks. But Bangladesh is not the only country that faced question leaks. Many other countries are experiencing it due to digitisation. Digitisation has advantages and, sometimes, disadvantages too.”

Hasina has called for reducing the examination time.

“Now it takes about two months to finish the exams. If it can be reduced, then students  will be able to pay more attention to studies and the exam will be free from 'rumours and propaganda' as well.”

The percentage of successful examinees is not as important as guiding students at this stage of their academic life, said Hasina.

Hasina urged parents and guardians to develop a deeper bond with their children so that they can share everything with them just as they do with their friends.