Masum Billah
The SSC and equivalent examinations have begun from February 9 with the participation of a record number of examinees. It sounds good but the news of dropout has baffled us. One lakh sixty six thousand eight hundred forty seven students are not taking part in the SSC and equivalent examinations though they were registered in class nine with eight general, one madrasah and one technical education boards. This year 14 lakh 32 thousand 727 students are taking part in the examinations. But all these students are not regular students. This year 12 lakh 75 thousand 159 regular students are appearing in the SSC and equivalent examinations. The number of irregular students this year is one lakh 55 thousand 936. Students who failed in one subject are 87 thousand 907, in two subjects 15 thousand 844, in three subjects 3 thousand 587 and in four subjects 813. The students who failed in all subjects are 47 thousand 785 and are taking the examinations. Moreover, 1632 students are taking part improve their poor grades.A total of 14 lakh 42 thousand 6 student were registered in class nine two year back. But a large number of them is remaining away from the public examination this year. Why a huge number of students is not taking part in the exam is a big question for those who bother about education Professor Taslima Begum, Chairman of inter-education boards says that educational institutions take a test examination to select students to sit for board examinations. When they fail, they are not tested for eligibility before being sent for the public examination. This is a great vacuum in the system. We always bother about summative assessment giving no importance to formative assessment. Formative assessment is a gradual assessment system which calls for close observation of the teachers towards the learners. It keeps room of feedback for students so that they can get opportunity for further development. But summative assessment keeps this scope shrunk. The famous educational institutions of the country vie for increasing the number of students with good grades only without nurturing them in a balanced way.
Educational institutions take test examinations to see whether the candidates will be able to uphold their prestige. They hardly think of developing the students as balanced human beings. Selecting the students at the end of an academic year or term means one kind of coercion and pressure on the students. It does not prove the sincerity of the institutions rather shows lack of the same.
The chairman of Dhaka Education Board wants to say that all the students who register in class nine don’t take SSC exam which is usual is the country. But do we follow this financial inability and getting involved in business are some other reasons for not taking part in the public examinations. Many of these students will sit for examination next year. They have somehow retained their path of learning open and have not dropped out of the rail of education. Actually this is a lame excuse and poor explanation on the part of education board authorities. Education experts have pointed their fingers towards a point which makes us concerned gravely. They have pointed out that the creative questions have emerged as a matter of fear to the students. They are afraid of such questions as they have not received any transparent idea about those. The education ministry could not spread a clear idea about creative questions among the teachers let alone the students. Students just rely on the guide books of various publications which could not remove their fear. Last year many students failed in Chemistry affecting the overall results of the examination. This is another reason for which many students are not taking part in this public examination. Introduction of creative questions is undoubtedly an appreciable step. It has been introduced to make our students creative by helping exercise their brains and not depend on note and guide books. We must prepare our students giving them the twenty-first century skills. But this noble initiative has not given a good signal.
The message – the realistic way of developing creative questions is still in the dark and beyond the sight of many teachers, let alone students. It is true that the government cannot afford to bring all the teachers under a training program to equip them with the ins and outs of creative questions. But the government could have utilised the expertise of non-government organisations which have grassroots level access. It could have taken the full cooperation of our media both print and electronic so that the teachers of the remotest parts of the country and rural areas could have developed clear idea about creative questions.
Ziaul Kabir Dulu, president of Guardian Forum, says it is the utter failure of educational institutions of not sending up students with requisite preparations to the SSC and equivalent examinations. They could not ensure proper and effective teaching in the classroom. The teachers are in the dark about creative system. Intuitions are more concerned about collecting fees and extra coaching without giving basic ideas to the students. We have really very little room to disagree with him. When these are the facts and issues at the nerve centre of the nation, cannot we give a real try and take pragmatic steps to get out of them?
(Masum Billah is programme manager: BRAC Education Programme and vice-president: Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA)
