Breaking all records, about 11,000 SSC examinees have applied for a review of 23,396 SSC examination papers in 24 subjects this year. The Barisal Education Board (BEB) has appointed 160 new examiners for the re-counting of the papers. Last year, 10,333 examines applied for the re-counting of 22, 840 papers.
This year, the BEB has earned Tk. 35.09 lakh by way of re-counting fee, with a fixed fee of Tk. 150 for each subject paper. It will publish the altered results, if any, on May 29, said BEB secretary Biplab Kumar Bhattacharya.
BEB sources said the highest number of review applications, 4,686 in all, is for mathematics papers, while the lowest number, two, is for papers on Christian religion.
The BEB received 1,330 applications for the re-counting the Bangla 1st Paper, 1,346 for the Bangla 2nd Paper, 1,116 for the English 1st Paper, 1,119 for the English 2nd Paper, 1,317 for the Islamic education, 133 for Hindu religion, 492 for geography, 265 for higher maths, 529 for general science, 521 for agriculture education, 1,870 for physics, 1,107 for biology, 1,702 for chemistry, 250 for Pouranity, 99 for economics, 756 for business initiative, 157 for accounting, 1,527 for physical education, 1,581 for Bangladesh and world identity, 42 for domestic science, 696 for finance and banking, and 753 for history of Bangladesh and civilization.
Biplab Kumar Bhattacharya said that 38 examination-related persons, including 20 head examiners and 18 examiners, had been penalised last year for committing gross errors in their evaluation of examination papers. The BEB is likely to do the same this year in case any examiner has been found to be at fault, he added.
The BEB secretary said according to the examination law, examiners making gross mistakes would be black-listed and kept away from examination work.
Amzah Hossain, former headmaster of Halima Khatun Girls’ School in the city, said that the BEB had not given priority to teachers’ experience during the appointment of examiners and head examiners.
Examinees, on their part, alleged that the BEB has taken Tk. 150 per subject to review the answer sheets, but only performed the optical mark recognition (OMR). If the answer papers are re-examined properly, the results of a significantly larger number of examinees are sure to change, they claimed.