Education boards await approval of HSC evaluation outline from ministry

“We have sent a proposal to the ministry on how to prepare the test results, but we have yet to receive the approval,” said Tapan Kumar Sarker

The education boards in the country have prepared an outline of the evaluation system that will be used to judge HSC exams after they were cancelled after tests were held for seven subjects. They have also forwarded the outline to the Ministry of Education,

The evaluation proposal was sent to the Ministry of Education a week ago but they have not yet sent their approval, said Prof Tapan Kumar Sarker, chairman of the Dhaka Education Board and head of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee.

“We have sent a proposal on when the HSC results will be published and how they will be prepared. However, we have yet to receive approval. We will let you know once we receive it,” he told bdnews24.com.

Amid the violence that spread surrounding the quota reform movement, HSC and equivalent exams were deferred in mid-July. Another spell of violence occurred after the fall of the Awami League government, leading to damage to some exam centres and burning of question papers. This delayed the exams further.

The deferred exams were rescheduled to start from Sept 11, but the interim government postponed it for two more weeks and decided to hold the exams with an abridged question paper. However, more than 500 examinees entered the Secretariat and staged protests demanding the cancellation of their exams. The government then acceded to the demand.

Now education officers are facing a major challenge on how to evaluate other subjects as tests were held for only seven subjects.

The education board officers held a meeting on Aug 21 and decided to prepare the results in one and a half months. However, they could not finalise the evaluation system for those subjects where students did not sit for tests.

“It will take one and a half months to prepare the results. We need to send some exam copies to the examiners,” said Md Abul Bashar, Dhaka Education Board exam controller.

There was no chance for an ‘auto pass’ in the current HSC and equivalent exams, the officer said. For the deferred exams, students will be given the highest benefit, so they are not deprived of anything.

"There will be no auto pass this time. This is because tests were held on Bengali, two English papers, two Physics papers, and ICT and Logic. Many students produce bad results in these subjects. Hence, there’s no chance of an auto pass.”

When asked what processes would be used to evaluate students in the subjects they did not sit for exams on, the Dhaka Education Board exam controller said there were many factors. “The students had seven tests. They can be evaluated based on the average marks secured in those seven subjects. It can be based on the best performance among those seven subjects; or the SSC result. If the SSC result of a student was not good, they can be evaluated based on the JSC result.”

“The advisory committee will make a decision. However, the key point is that everything must benefit the students. We’re working to ensure that nobody is deprived. The main point is to ensure that students do not suffer,” the exam controller said.

In case an answer sheet was lost during the current violence in the country, the authorities would follow the ‘tabulation policy’ for that subject, Abul Bashar said.

“That student will have marks in other subjects. Their results will be prepared following the tabulation policy,” he said.

The schedules for public exams were thrown into disarray four years ago with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year the HSC exams began later than usual.

The HSC and equivalent exams for 10 education boards started on Jun 30. But the Sylhet Education Board’s exams were delayed to Jul 9 due to the flooding.

After seven tests were held, schools, colleges and universities were shut indefinitely on Jul 16 amid the spread of violence surrounding the quota reform movement. Initially, the HSC and equivalent exam on Jul 18 was postponed.

As the situation deteriorated further, the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee deferred all higher secondary exams until Aug 1.