Delight for JSC students
The results of this year's Junior School Certificate (JSC) examinations show a slight jump in the pass rate from last year but a drop in the number of students obtaining GPA-5.
The pass rate hit a record high at 89.85 percent, a 0.14 percent jump.
A total of 1,36,945 class-VIII students secured GPA-5, the highest grade point average. The number was 1,52,997 last year.
Teachers and education board officials attributed the success primarily to the students' better performance in English and their awareness of the exam system.
However, some teachers and guardians said the number of GPA-5 achievers could go higher if the students could adopt the creative method in Mathematics.
"The government introduced creative system in maths this year without giving the students enough time to get used to it. So students could not adopt the method. We have seen many students failing in their class tests," said a teacher of a city school.
They also blamed this on the lack of teachers for the newly introduced subjects -- Physical Education and Health, and Art and Crafts.
In many schools, there's no teacher for any of this subjects, they alleged.
"The schools had to make do with whatever available to impart lessons on these subjects," said a parent.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid also admitted this partially, saying the problem would be addressed soon.
"We could not do many things due to financial constraints. We need many teachers but we could not appoint them. We need to increase the teachers' salaries as well," he told reporters while announcing the results at a press conference at his ministry around 11:30am.
Earlier in the morning, the minister handed over a copy of the results to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Gono Bhaban.
The results of all education boards, published simultaneously after the education minister's briefing, brought smiles to millions of students who were living on their nerves. The schools also wore a festive look following the publication of the results.
The results showed a significant improvement in other indicators as well.
The number of total examinees and number of schools with cent percent pass rate rose remarkably to 8,889 from last year's 4,997 while the number of schools with zero pass rate came down to 49 from 57.
Some 17.29 lakh students sat for the JSC exams this year. A total of 15,54,427 students -- 7,38,059 boys and 8,16,368 girls -- under eight general education boards came out successful and 1,75,504 flunked.
And 497 out of 501 students, who took the test in eight overseas centres, came out successful. Of them, 138 obtained GPA-5.
Although the number of girl examinees was higher by 78,309 than boys, boys fared better in terms of both passing the exams and obtaining GPA-5.
The pass rate in Junior Dakhil Certificate (JDC) examinations is 93.50 percent.
The combined pass rate of the JSC and the JDC in eight general boards and one madrasa board beat previous records with 90.41 percent students coming out successful.
The JSC and JDC exams were supposed to begin on November 2 but the authorities had to reschedule the exams for November 7 due to hartals enforced by Jamaat-e-Islami.
As in previous years, the highest 97.92 percent examinees passed from Barisal Board. Chittagong Board is at the bottom among the eight boards with 84.29 percent pass rate while Dhaka was the seventh with 85.36 percent pass rate.
In Dhaka board, Rajuk Uttara Model High School and College topped the list of 20 best institutions followed by Viqarunnisa Noon School and Motijheel Ideal School and College.
Like in the past few years, city schools fared better than the rural ones.
In Dhaka Board, only seven institutions from outside the city made it in the top 20 institutions.
Asked about the trend, the education minister said, "Things are changing. Now many schools from outside the capital are coming up, which did not happen earlier."
Asked whether the government will abolish the JSC exams if the primary education is extended up to class-VIII, Nahid said they had no plan to do so anytime soon.
"There are still some jobs that require at least a class-VIII degree. If the students can pass this exam, they will get a certificate which will boost their confidence," Nahid said, adding that enriching the quality of education still remains a big challenge.
He also announced to increase the number of scholarship recipients in all terminal examinations in future.
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