Girls do it again

Girls have done better than boys in the two biggest public examinations -- Primary Education Completion Examination (PECE) and Junior School Certificate (JSC) Examinations -- this year.

The indicators -- participation rate, success rate and grades achieved -- showed that girls were well ahead of their male counterparts, according to the PECE and JSC results that came out yesterday.

Compared to last year, the results also show that the pass rate and the number of GPA 5 achievers in the JSC increased, while they decreased in PECE.

Education officials blamed changes in the script evaluation process in PECE for the decreasing pass rate. 

In the JSC exams, the pass rate was 87.58 percent this year, a 2.30 percent increase than last year’s 85.28 percent. A total of 76,747 students achieved GPA 5 this year, a 10,639 rise from last year’s 66,018.

The combined pass rate of JSC and Junior Dakhil Certificate (JDC) exams increased by 2.07 percentage point this year. This year the pass rate in the JSC and JDC examinations is 87.90 per cent, which was 85.83 per cent last year.

The pass rate in PECE came down to 95.50 percent this year, a 2.01 percent decrease from last year’s 97.59 percent. While the number of GPA 5 achiever dropped to 3,26,088 this year, a 42,105 decrease from last year’s 3,68,193.

Primary and Mass Education State Minister Zakir Hossen said that results can see up and down someone cannot expect improvement every year.  Primary and mass education secretary Akram-Al-Hossain opined that script of this year’s candidates were evaluated by the teacher of other upazila it could be reason of slide in result.

GIRLS OUTPERFORM BOYS

A total of 13,29,926 girls and 11,24,225 boys sat for the PECE examination this year. The pass rates for girls and boys are 95.37 and 95.61 percent respectively.

Of them, as many as 1,84,637 girls obtained GPA-5 while 1,41,451 boys got distinction.

It was a similar picture in the JSC examination.

Some 11,94,005 girls and 10,27,586 boys took the test and 88.33 percent girls and 86.72 percent boys passed the exam.

As many as 44,918 girls achieved GPA-5 against 31,829 boys.

“It is really positive that girls are doing well in the exams. Such results prove that the investment and initiatives for girls’ education is bringing results,” educationist Rasheda K Choudhury told The Daily Star.

“Government initiatives like stipend and other facilities as well as more parents becoming favourable toward girls’ education are some reasons for girls doing well,” Rasheda, also the executive director of Campaign for Popular Education, said.

PECE

This year, some 24.54 lakh fifth grade students were tested on six subjects which began on November 17 across the country. Of them, 23.44 lakh students passed. Students must pass the exams to enrol the sixth grade.

Primary and Mass Education State Minister Zakir Hossen announced the results formally at a crowded press conference around 1:00pm at his secretariat office in the capital.

Students of the primary section of government high schools have highest pass rate – 99.55 percent, followed by PTI attached schools with 99.16 percent. Students of Ananda School performed the worst with a 74.37 percent pass rate.

Barishal board topped the list among all eight divisions, with a 96.93 percent pass rate. On the other hand, with a 91.94 percent pass rate, Sylhet was at the bottom.

Gazipur stood first among all districts with a pass rate of 99.14 percent, while Faridpur stood last with 85.96 percent. All students from Daulatkhan upazila of Bhola passed the exams.

Moreover, a total of 4,471 children with special needs took the exams and over 89.90 percent of them passed.

When asked about demand of dropping terminal exams after class V, Zakir said that they are not thinking about the cancellation of any exam. “This exam is helping students to be more competitive and is helping them flourish their talents,” he said.

“But we are thinking about to bring some changes in the exam system,” he added.

JSC

While announcing the results at a press conference around 11:30am at her ministry’s conference room, Education Minister Dipu Moni yesterday said that 87.58 percent students passed the JSC exam.

A total of 22.21 lakh students, under nine education boards across the country, took part in the exams that began on November 1.

A significant jump of 12.97 percent in the Sylhet board and students’ better performance in key subjects like English and mathematics pushed up the overall pass rate in JSC exams. Officials said that the performance of students in English and maths always makes a difference in public exam pass rates.

This year 92.79 percent students of the Sylhet board passed the exam, while 79.82 percent students passed the exam in 2018.

Contacted, Board Controller of Examinations Kabir Ahmed said that students have performed well in English and mathematics subject because guardian and teachers took better care and provided proper guidance to the students.

Last year, 85.42 percent students of the Sylhet board passed English and this year, it increased to 96.38 percent. Last year 93.59 percent students of the same board passed the mathematics test and this year, it increased to 95.90 percent

In the previous year, 91.07 and 84.74 percent students in Chattogram board passed English and maths respectively, and those rose to 91.95 and 91.30 percent this year.

For the third year in a row, Barishal board topped among all boards, with a pass rate of 97.05 percent, while Dhaka board was in the bottom with a pass rate of 82.92 percent.

When asked about the results, Dhaka education board chairman Ziaul Haque said that students of other districts outside the capital performed poorly, which affected the entire board result.

This year, 3,400 schools had cent percent students passing against last year’s 3,042 such school. No students passed from 14 institutions, against 20 of 2018.

A total of 432 Bangladeshi students sat for the tests in nine foreign exam centres and 419 of them passed, and 53 of them got GPA 5s.

At the briefing, Dipu Moni urged all not to put too much pressure on students to get GPA 5 only. “Giving extra importance and running after GPA 5 is huge burden on the children. Please refrain from it.” 

She said the government is carrying out various transformations to bring a qualitative change in the education sector, which will be a supplement to the efforts of achieving the target of Sustainable Development Goal 4 by 2030.  

Dipu Moni and Zakir Hossen both handed over the results to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina earlier in the morning.

Following the announcement, the results were available in schools, on education board websites and were also sent through SMS on mobile phones.