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Published : 07 May 2018, 10:46 AM
Results from the Madrasa, Technical and Sylhet boards, which account for a quarter of the candidates, also contributed to the diminished pass rate.
A total of 77.77 percent students have passed the SSC and similar exam under the eight General Education Boards, the Madrasa Board and the Technical Education Board, a 2.58 percent decrease from last year.
A change in the system of evaluation had caused a drop in the SSC result from 88.70 percent to 80.35 percent last year. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid has also attributed this year’s lower pass rate to the new evaluation system.
“Previously the examiners gave grades without evaluating the copies properly. The pass rate has dropped as now they are checking the copies seriously,” he said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina encouraged those who failed not to lose heart, stating that the 77.77 percent pass rate is ‘not that bad’ either.
However, the Cumilla Board was an unusual exception, scoring a 21.03 percent higher pass rate than last year.
The pass rate in math and English took a nosedive in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Jashore, Chattogram, Sylhet and Dinajpur and among those who gave the equivalent Madrasa and Technical board exams. The Cumilla board saw a rise in number of students passing in English and math. The Barishal board saw a rise in number of students passing the math exam.
The same question paper was used across the country, with the creative questions in math held responsible for the lower pass rate.
While it remained unchanged for science and business Studies, the humanities subjects saw the pass rate drop to 69 percent from last year's 80.21 percent.
“There is a dearth of standard math and English teachers in rural areas, resulting in more students studying humanities,” said Inter-Education Board Coordination Sub-Committee President MU Ziaul Haque adding that more students failing in math, English and the humanities led to the ‘disaster’ in overall pass rate.
“Teachers have to update themselves on the syllabus and curriculum. They have to take the initiative to address the problems. We will instruct them on the issue,” he said, stressing the need for training of math and English teachers.
Madrasa Education Board Chairman AKM Sayef Ullah said the pass rate in math saw a dip of 17.70 percent from last year among Madrasa Board students.
Also, pass rates in two other subjects- Civics and Computer Education saw declines of 22.30 percent and 13.51 percent, which have contributed to the overall lower pass rate in the Madrasa Board, he said.
"We need to find out the reasons behind the lower pass rate in Technical Education Board as no one has complained of question leaks and the exams were held in peaceful environment," Technical Education Board Chairman Mostafizur Rahman told bdnews24.com.
Creative questions in the math exam 'dragged down' Sylhet Education Board, officials said.
The Sylhet board has the lowest pass rate in SSC exams this year- 70.42 percent, 9.84 percent lower than last year.
Examination Controller of Sylhet Board Md Kabir Ahmed believed the use of the same question paper being at all education boards, along with the creative questions in math have caused the slump in pass rate in Sylhet.
Creative questions in math were introduced in 2017 but this year the same question papers used for each subjects in all education boards.
The Sylhet board’s pass rate in math dipped 14.58 percent below that of the results last year and dropped 4.81 percent in English.
Kabir Ahmed said the Sylhet Board has more students in the humanities division, resulting in more number of students failing in SSC exam.
"Generally these students are weak in math and not habituated to answering creative questions; not even the teachers are used to it," he explained the reason.
He stressed the need of employing math and English teachers of good standard.
A total of 76,710 students have passed the SSC from the Sylhet Board, including 47,437 students in humanities, 20,876 in science and 8,399 in business studies.
SSC pass rates in the past nine years ranged from 77 percent to 92 percent with the highest number in being 92.67 in 2014 and the lowest this year - 77.77 percent
CUMILLA BOARD IMPROVES
Cumilla board has managed to increase its pass rate to 80.40 percent, an astonishing 21.37 percent higher than last year.
"We identified the institutions having more students failing in math and English through a committee and then held meetings with the English and math teachers of those schools, along with guardians," Cumilla Board Examination Controller Asaduzzaman told bdnews24.
He added that those students who failed even in single subject in selection test exams were not allowed to sit for the SSC exam, following the directive of Education Ministry.
He said at least 72,000 students at the Cumilla Board could not appear in SSC exam as they failed the test.
"The schools have informed their test results to the board," he said.
No other boards have prevented students who failed in the test from appearing in SSC exam, according to board officials.
Exam Controller in Inter-Education Board Coordination Sub-Commitee Tapan Kumar added that the Education Ministry had given directives to all educational institutions to not allow any student appear in SSC exam if they have not cleared the selection test.
