Quality education elusive

That students are fond of things other than reading books is evident from their miserable performance in the examinations

It is worrying to note that a tendency has grown among university students recently to escape examinations or to demand extending the dates for holding examinations. This on the part of students does not augur well. According to a report in this newspaper yesterday, not a single student of the 43rd batch of the geological sciences (GS) department of Jahangirnagar University (JU) passed the second-year final exam, while only 6.67 per cent of the 42nd batch students of the department passed their third-year final exam.
 The examinations committee of the department scheduled the exams for these courses on September 18 last year. The university also resumed classes on that day after the Eid Ul Azha vacation. The students of these batches placed a request in writing with the examinations committee to hold the exams at a later date but the examinations committee did not pay heed to the students’ request. 
The overall scenario in the educational arena in the country does not show that much promise. There is hardly any room for expressing complacency at the higher percentage of pass in the SSC and HSC examinations and the increasing number of GPA holders. 
There is no doubt that the quality of education has deteriorated in the country. That students are fond of things other than reading books is evident from their miserable performance in the examinations. A student who studies on a regular basis will not clamour for extending dates of examinations. A few years back, 80 percent of the participants in the first year honours admission test at Dhaka University failed to obtain pass marks. It is mind-boggling, indeed. But they had shone in the SSC and HSC examinations; many of them had got GPA-5, much to the delight of their parents and relatives. It is difficult to fathom why these ‘meritorious’ students failed to come up to the minimum standards?   
It is the general notion that the students who achieved GPA-5 in the SSC and HSC examinations will also do good in the university admission tests but what is happening is pouring cold water into the enthusiasm of parents and guardians of the students. 
The maladies engulfing the existing education system in the country are greatly responsible for this, according to academicians and education researchers. The quality of education imparted by teachers at primary and secondary schools and higher secondary level to some extent mostly by teachers of questionable competence does not raise much hope. Quality of education in rural areas of the country is more dismal.  It is high time for the government to address the malady engulfing the education sector. 

 

Quality education elusive

That students are fond of things other than reading books is evident from their miserable performance in the examinations

It is worrying to note that a tendency has grown among university students recently to escape examinations or to demand extending the dates for holding examinations. This on the part of students does not augur well. According to a report in this newspaper yesterday, not a single student of the 43rd batch of the geological sciences (GS) department of Jahangirnagar University (JU) passed the second-year final exam, while only 6.67 per cent of the 42nd batch students of the department passed their third-year final exam. The examinations committee of the department scheduled the exams for these courses on September 18 last year. The university also resumed classes on that day after the Eid Ul Azha vacation. The students of these batches placed a request in writing with the examinations committee to hold the exams at a later date but the examinations committee did not pay heed to the students request. The overall scenario in the educational arena in the country does not show that much promise. There is hardly any room for expressing complacency at the higher percentage of pass in the SSC and HSC examinations and the increasing number of GPA holders. There is no doubt that the quality of education has deteriorated in the country. That students are fond of things other than reading books is evident from their miserable performance in the examinations. A student who studies on a regular basis will not clamour for extending dates of examinations. A few years back, 80 percent of the participants in the first year honours admission test at Dhaka University failed to obtain pass marks. It is mind-boggling, indeed. But they had shone in the SSC and HSC examinations; many of them had got GPA-5, much to the delight of their parents and relatives. It is difficult to fathom why these meritorious students failed to come up to the minimum standards? It is the general notion that the students who achieved GPA-5 in the SSC and HSC examinations will also do good in the university admission tests but what is happening is pouring cold water into the enthusiasm of parents and guardians of the students. The maladies engulfing the existing education system in the country are greatly responsible for this, according to academicians and education researchers. The quality of education imparted by teachers at primary and secondary schools and higher secondary level to some extent mostly by teachers of questionable competence does not raise much hope. Quality of education in rural areas of the country is more dismal. It is high time for the government to address the malady engulfing the education sector.