Bangla too difficult!
Students aspiring to enrol at Dhaka University have been persistently performing poorly in Bangla, let alone in English, as results of this year's admission tests give a glaring example of such performance.
Around 69 percent of 40,565 students in 'Kha' unit have failed to get pass mark in Bangla. The failure rate in English in this unit under the Arts Faculty is 54 percent.
The DU authorities hold a 120-mark admission test for 'Kha' and four other units. The question for 'Kha' unit has three sections -- Bangla (30 marks), English (30 marks) and general knowledge (60 marks).
In order to pass the test, each student needs to obtain minimum 48 marks with at least eight in English and Bangla, and 17 in general knowledge.
However, the students who took the tests under 'Ga' and 'Gha' units under the Business Studies and the Social Science faculties respectively have comparatively performed better in Bangla. Around 27 and 28 percent admission seekers have failed to secure pass marks in these units this year.
But, performance in English in three units -- Kha, Ga and Gha -- is abysmal. Around 58 percent of 175,824 applicants have failed to secure pass marks in English.
Most shocking was the news that only two out of 1,364 students in 'Kha' unit have been qualified to enrol at English department, which offers 150 seats. This is because the university this year has made it compulsory for the applicants to obtain at least 15 marks in 'elective English' in addition to getting the usual 20 marks in general English as minimum qualification for enrolment in the department.
Of the total seats, 125 students are supposed to be admitted from 'Kha' unit and the rest 25 from 'Gha' unit.
The disastrous results, however, have forced the authorities to reconsider the qualifying marks so that no seat remains vacant.
A meeting of the admission committee would be held on October 14 to decide about re-fixing the qualifying marks, insiders say.
However, previous records also portray a dismal picture of students failing to get pass marks in both English and Bangla.
In 2013-14 academic session, as many as 153,734 aspirants took the entry test and around 52 percent and 60 percent of them failed in Bangla and English respectively.
Similar trends were also seen for the admission tests in 2012-13 academic year.
Teachers and educationists say there are a number of reasons behind failure in English since it is a foreign language, but such failure in mother tongue Bangla needs to be addressed seriously.
A Bangla teacher at Government Laboratory School said students did not put that much importance on Bangla as they did on other subjects. "Many students learn what private tutors teach them in a shortcut way. They don't go deeper into the subject and that is why they perform badly in competitive exams," he said.
For English, the educationists blame poor teaching quality and existing method of "communicative English" being taught at secondary and higher secondary levels, which, they said, could not provide the students with a strong foundation.
Moreover, the students mostly care more for getting good marks than earning skill in the subject concerned, they observe.
"Students will not do better in English unless they are encouraged to learn it properly," said Professor Emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury.
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