The rate of success and higher grades like GPA-5 in Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations have been increasing significantly every year. Education ministry thinks that increasing success rate is an achievement of the present government.
Many educationists are of the opinion that the high rate of success is not a reflection of improvement of standard of education. They think that despite the high rate of success, the quality of education in the country has been sinking.
Professor Abul Quasem Fazlul Haque of Bengali Department of Dhaka University said that the question papers of SSC examination were leaked repeatedly. The country witnessed widespread irregularities in the examinations. The entire system of examination, he said, is not appropriate.
“The students get GPA-5 every year. But when we take their test, most of them having good results, cannot perform well. The rate of success is increasing but quality has been on decline, ” Professor Abul Quasem Fazlul Haque said.
“The education ministry decided to take examination through creative question papers. But such question papers have many problems. The overall process of the examination is not good. The students can easily get high marks in such system, ” he said. Professor Syed Anwar Hussain of The Department of History of Dhaka University said, the government could not ensure quality education. Students get GPA-5 but it is an artificial result. The teachers are asked by the Ministry to ensure so that the number of unsuccessful candidates is kept at the minimum. Such instruction from the ministry, he said, is not desirable as in the process education becomes fruitless, he said. Jalal Uddin, Director of Dhaka University’s Institute of Education and Research (IER), said with the increase in rate of success in examinations the question is being raised whether the quality of education improves with it. Sometimes, political and other external factors determine high success rate, he said.
Rasheda K Choudhury, former adviser to caretaker government and Executive Director of Campaign for Popular Education, said it is logical that a student will come out successful after 10 years of schooling. But the issue of quality, she said, should be ensured, as that is essential in higher education.
‘I want that every one passes in the examinations,” she said, adding, “However, students with good results in public examinations are not doing well in university admission tests. We must find out the reasons.”
A former director of IER, seeking anonymity, said that there should be an independent evaluation of skills of students other than public examinations.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said the government was working on improving the quality of education in the country.
