Primary terminal exams make class V education costlier
Private expenditure of class V students has increased after introduction of the Primary Education Completion Examinations (PECE) as the students became heavily dependent on coaching, private tuition and guidebooks, according to a report launched yesterday.
On an average, a household spends Tk 8,212 for an examinee of PECE, according to the report.
The report titled "Education Watch Report 2014: An assessment of Primary Education Completion Examination in Bangladesh" was launched by Campaign for Popular Education (Campe) at the LGED Auditorium. It was prepared on the basis of survey of 5,375 students from 578 educational institutions of 150 upazilas and municipalities.
According to the report, after introduction of the PECE, education at primary level turned exam-centric with rote memorisation and drilling becoming synonymous with studying, and guidebooks pushing out textbooks.
The report said out of the total expenditure of PECE, 58.7 percent was incurred for private tutoring, 17.4 percent for school-arranged coaching, 15 percent for guidebooks, suggestions and hand books, and 3.2 percent for transportation for examination, among others. It continued that the private expenditure for education increased 2.96 times from 2000 to 2008, while expenditure for coaching and private tutoring increased 3.07 times during the same period. "Coaching was the main tool for schools to prepare PECE examinees. Overall, 86.3 percent of schools arranged coaching," the report said.
The report also analysed performance of the students. It said the overall performance of the examinees in English and Bangla was significantly worse than other subjects in 2014. In English, 42.8 percent of the examinees got grade C or D.
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