go to India or China for higher education. Some of my friends who have also not received their expected grades have similar plans.”HSC Results 2017
Sheikh Iraj
Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations mean a great deal to students, as passing these exams means opening of the gateway to higher education. This year, more than a million students sat for the HSC and equivalent exams under 10 education boards. Around 69 percent of them passed, which is 5.79 per cent lower than the previous year.
In the results published on July 23, 801,711 examinees out of 1,163,370, or 68.91 percent, passed the exams. That means 361,659, or 31.08 percent failed. The Madrasah Education Board topped the pass list with 81.33 percent, while Comilla board had the lowest pass rate at 49.52 percent. Under the Technical Board, 97,014 students took part and 78,904 passed, which means 18.67 per cent failed. Meanwhile, the number of educational institutions with students participating in the HSC exams increased to 8,771 this year, from 8,345 last year.
The lower pass rates this year came as a surprise to many. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid attributed the results to a new method of evaluating answer sheets. While announcing the exam results at a press conference in the Bangladesh Secretariat on July 23, the minister said the examiners correctly evaluated the answer papers this year, and the students got the marks they deserved. He also blamed a crisis of quality teachers and poor infrastructure of educational institutions for the poor results.
M Ariful Hassan, 18, got GPA 3.33 in the HSC exams. Besides studying, he also works in a grocery shop at Mirpur. I live with my brothers in Dhaka and I participated in the examinations from Tejgaon College. My guardians and I are disappointed with my result. I do not understand why I got such low grades. However, I am not going to give up my studies, I will try for public universities. I know with my GPA (grade point average) it is going to be hard to get admission into a reputable public university. If I do not get into a public university, than I would prefer to go to India or China for higher education. Some of my friends who have also not received their expected grades have similar plans.
Sadat Rahman Eshan, 18, secured GPA 4.83 in the HSC exams. I cannot say I am really very happy with my result, but my parents are satisfied with what I have achieved. I took part in the exams from Adamjee Cantonment College. Now I want to study in any reputable public university. Private universities are my second choice, but the education cost in private universities is quite high from my point of view. Again, there are only a handful of private universities that offer quality education. Most of my friends have the same opinion on the matter, he said.
Rabeya Pervin, a lecturer in biology at Adamjee Cantonment College, told YI: Every year, we receive official instruction from the Ministry of Education and an official meeting takes place between teachers and deputy controllers (of examinations). The official instructions mainly focus on how to evaluate the answer papers. Like every year, we went to attend the meeting, where we were told to mark the answer papers as we see fit.
I passed HSC in 1993, then the average pass rate used to be 50 to 60 percent. In recent years, there used to be written instructions from the education ministry that basically asked us to increase the marks in the answer scripts. For example, if a student got 28 marks, we were encouraged to make it 33, which is the pass mark. Since last year, the written instructions did not contain any such directives. From our college, 1,361 students from the science group took part in this years HSC examinations. Out of them, 1,049 students received GPA 5. Personally, I believe nowadays students do not study as hard as we used to do. They seem to be more engaged in other activities, such as watching TV or browsing social media sites, Pervin added.
M Mezdah Uddin, who teaches production management and marketing at Monipur High School College, was appointed as an examiner for the HSC exams this year. I checked the answer sheets for secretarial science and office management. Students got to study this subject at the HSC level for the last time, because it has now been replaced with production management and marketing. So for the students of the last batch of secretarial science and office management, it was rather easy to get GPA 5. Nevertheless, it wont be that easy to score GPA 5 in production management and marketing.
Both public and private college examiners receive the same kind of instruction from the deputy controllers. This year, we were told to mark the answer papers as deserved. No instructions, such as increasing the marks to improve the grades, were given to us. This year, the answer scripts were evaluated correctly, Mezdah Uddin added.
According to news reports, this year a total of 37,969 students obtained GPA 5, which is 20,307 lower that the previous year.
Sadia Afrin, 18, passed HSC this year from Motijheel Ideal College. She got GPA 5. I am very happy with what I have achieved. My parents and friends are my biggest inspiration and they always encourage me to study hard. I am a student of business and I plan to study in one of the well-known public universities. I personally prefer public universities. Looking at job prospects and the standard of education, my parents also prefer public universities, she said about her future plan.
Most of my friends are going to try to take admission into public universities. Many of us started taking preparations just after the HSC examinations were over. In case I do not get into a public university, then I may go abroad for higher education. If I go for a good private university in our country, it will cost nearly the same amount as studying abroad. More than that, nowadays employers give more preference to candidates who have a degree or diploma from a foreign university, Afrin added.
Towhid Ahmed, who also achieved GPA 5, said: I sat for the HSC exams from Notre Dame College. I was confident that I was going to pass, but just before the results were published, I was nervous. Most of my friends got their desired grades, except a few.
I want to try getting admitted at a public engineering university, like BUET or SUST. Right now, I have three months in hand to prepare for the admission tests. My plan is to attend some coaching centres and study by myself at home. Nevertheless, if I do not get admission in any of the engineering universities, then I will consider going abroad for higher education, Ahmed added.
This year, no students managed to pass HSC exams from 72 educational institutions, compared to only 25 in 2016. The education minister has pledged to take stern action against the colleges with zero pass rate. On the other hand, the number of colleges with 100 per cent pass rate was 532, while the figure was 848 last year.
From overseas centres, 244 students, out of a total of 259 examinees, passed the HSC exams from seven educational institutions.
Photos: File
