Scholarship fiasco breaks many students’ hearts, shocks parents and teachers

Widespread criticism over “negligence” was directed at primary education authorities when they suspended the results released on Tuesday, citing “technical error”

When Adiba Chowdhury (not her real name) was preparing for the primary scholarship exams last year, all her teachers at South Point School and College in Dhaka’s Malibagh and well-wishers kept telling her that she was good enough to secure a place in the talent pool.

So, it was enough to put her otherwise cherry mood off when the girl found out on Tuesday, the day the results were officially released, that she instead secured a place in the general category.

Fast forward a little over 24 hours, Adiba did not even make it to the general category and was no longer a recipient of the scholarship.

How?

The revised results the government released Wednesday evening after suspending the first lists, citing “technical errors”, do not have Adiba’s name.

“My daughter is a topper at her school. It was the first public exam in her life. The fiasco over the results completely broke my little girl’s heart,”said Adiba’s mother.

It turns out the saga disillusioned her parents too.

“I lost confidence in the government-sanctioned curriculum. I can’t let my daughter become a guinea pig of a government experiment anymore. Last year, she faced the reintroduction of scholarship exams. Now this year [sixth grade], new experimental curriculum. I have had enough of it. I’m thinking of sending my daughter to English-medium school,” she said.

Adiba and her family are not alone in this plight.

bdnews24.com reached multiple students and their families in parts of the country, who secured a spot on the original list of results but ended up losing the spot on the revised list.

My daughter is a topper at her school. It was the first public exam in her life. The fiasco over the results completely broke my little girl’s heart.

A parent

On Tuesday afternoon, a total of 82,383 students were selected, upon their performance in a series of exams in December last year, to have a government stipend to support their education.

Of the total, 33,000 students were in the talent pool, while 49,383 were “general recipients”.

Later that day, the Directorate of Primary Education suddenly suspended the results, citing “technical errors”, with an apology and announced the revised results the next day.

The number of students eligible for the scholarship on the revised published results remained the same, as the quotas for the upazila talent pool scholarships were set according to the number of students that took part in the exam.

However, a good number of students who were on the original list did not make the cut on the revised list.

The opposite happened too.

No Baikherhati Government Primary School students in Netrakona’s Kendua Upazila secured a spot in the original list.

As the revised results show, the school authorities can now boast that they produced two students who made it to the talent pool and two others secured places in the general category.

WHAT IS THE PRIMARY SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP EXAM?

• Historically, fifth graders undertook the exams at the end of grade 5 to secure a scholarship for their secondary education.

• The introduction of the Primary Education Certificate exams in 2009 spelt the end of the separate scholarship exam. Students subsequently received a government stipend based on their performance in the PEC exams.

• The last PEC exam was held in 2019. Based on the exam results, more than 80,000 students were awarded a stipend in February 2020.

• The PEC exam has not been held for the last two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. Later, the government announced that the test would be scrapped as a new curriculum was on the way.

AUTHORITIES IN THE DARK ABOUT REVISED DATA

bdnews24.com reached one official at the district level, an assistant secretary of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and the DPE director general to find information about how many students were affected by the results change and breakdown of the numbers.

None of the government officials was able to come up with any numbers.

Tahmina Khatun, a primary education officer in Netrakona, said she has yet to receive the breakdown of the revised data for her district and was waiting for further instructions from the ministry or the directorate.

The assistant secretary of the ministry, who declined to reveal his name, referred to the DPE as the ministry did not have the data.

“It’s unfortunate, whatever happened. At this point, we can’t change anything, but we have to be better in the future,” he said.

Shah Rezwan Hayat, director general of DPE, said the directorate has yet to break down the numbers on its software.

“The data can be gathered after running our software. We haven’t done that yet.”

I am aware that we are not at the global level technologically. However, changing the results completely was unfortunate for everyone involved. Recruiting technologically sound and competent people for crucial positions is the key to avoiding such errors in the future.

AAMS Arefin Siddique, former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University

TEACHERS AND EXPERTS DISAPPOINTED

Multiple teachers and experts interviewed for this article described the episode as a “disaster”.

One of them is Masum Billah, an assistant teacher at a government primary school.

“There are two arguments here. First, being dejected from the recipient list of scholarships just after 24 hours hurt these little kids. The episode will have consequences in their lives. Some may lose confidence,” he said.

“The second argument is that if the results hadn’t been revised, those who deserved it would have been deprived. The authorities should have been careful about everything before making the wrong results public.”

AAMS Arefin Siddique, a former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University, advised the authorities to recruit competent people to deal with information of such sensitive nature so that such gross error never gets repeated.

“I am aware that we are not at the global level technologically. However, changing the results completely was unfortunate for everyone involved. Recruiting technologically sound and competent people for crucial positions is the key to avoiding such errors in the future.”

[Writing in English by Adil Mahmood]