New primary exam records 89pc pass

Smiling faces of the girls say it all--hope and aspiration for the future--as jubilant students of Viqarunnisa Noon School in the city yesterday celebrate their success in the primary education terminal examination. Photo: Photo: Sk Enamul Haq

The results of Primary Education Terminal Examination, the newly introduced and largest public examination in Bangladesh, were published yesterday with 88.84 percent students passed.
A total of 16,20,054 class-V students--7,51,465 boys and 8,68,589 girls--passed the examinations held for the first time in Bangladesh.
The stats show that success rate of boys (90.44 percent) is higher than girls (87.51 percent) even though girls dominate the merit list. The number of girls who took the exams was also higher than boys.
Some 6,76,717 students obtained First Division, 6,15,350 secured Second Division and 3,27,987 Third Division and 2,03,411 failed the exams.
A total of 19,79,895 class-V students from 81,372 schools of different categories got registered to appear in the exams. Of them, 18,23,465 students--8,30,879 boys and 9,92,585 girls--showed up.
The government, however, granted six percent grace to increase the percentage of passed students saying it was done since the examination was held for the first time in the country.
Sadia Shikder, a student of Monohardi Model Government Primary School in Monohardi upazila of Narsingdi, secured the first spot in the country obtaining 593 (98.83 percent).
Dipannita Tithi of Arpara Shibnagar Model Primary School in Kaliganj of Jhenidah and Hasin Tanveer of RK Government Primary School of Tangail secured second and third positions scoring 592 and 589 respectively.
Other top 10 students are: Silvia Mahmud Brishti of Bindubashini Govt Girls High School in Tangail, fourth place, Fahim Tajwar of Govt Laboratory High School in Rajshahi, fifth place, Sheikh Fazle Rabbi of Chhabisha Govt Primary School in Narsingdi, sixth place, Moon Islam of Monohardi Model Government Primary School, seventh place, Mufiqa Bhuiyan of Shamsul Haq Khan School and College in Dhaka, eighth place, Sadia Afrin Shamba of Victoria High School in Moulvibazar, ninth place, and Nuran Tansuna Hridy of Bindubashini Govt Girls High School, 10th.
Primary and Mass Education Minister Afsarul Amin briefed newsmen around 3:00pm about the results at his secretariat office. He said they have tried to make the quality of primary education better with these exams.
He also said they are planning to increase the number of primary scholarship holders. Currently, 50,000 scholarships--20,000 talent-pool and 30,000 general--are being provided to primary school students.
Viqarunnisa Noon School and College came out on top in terms of cent percent passed and high first division achievers while Monipur High School and Ideal School and College secured second and third positions.
Students of Barisal Division did the best with 92.94 percent passed while in Sylhet division it was the lowest--78.25 percent passed.
Dhaka Division secured fifth place among the six divisions with 88.98 percent passed even though schools of Dhaka city dominated the list of top 10 schools.
In upazila level, Uzirpur upazila of Barisal, had 99.94 percent of students passed while Sharail upazila of Brahmanbaria, had the lowest success rate with 60.97 percent passed.
Around noon yesterday, the results were formally handed over to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Many parents alleged that they could not get results from the Primary Education Department website.
The Awami League government introduced this new public exam in place of primary scholarship exams to provide equal education to all students. From now on there will be no separate scholarship exams. Students must pass the terminal exams to get enrolled in class-VI.
Starting on November 21, exams on six papers were held in just three days.
The subject-wise stats show that students did well in Paribesh Parichiti Samaj (social science) with 99.46 percent passing while they did not do that well in Mathematics and English as the pass percentages in these subjects are 90.57 and 94 respectively.
Afsarul Amin during his press conference said they would hold a better exam next year learning from the mistakes made this year.
Asked about zero success in some government schools, he said this exam made the level of performance in those schools clear and they will take steps accordingly.
"We will try to find out the reasons behind the zero success in the government schools as these schools have infrastructure and other facilities," he said.
Asked about failed students, Amin said on an average 37 students failed in each centre and these students will be allowed to sit for next year's exam.
He said students would be provided mark sheets and testimonials by December 30 and they would need those to get admitted to class-VI in their desired schools.
State Minister Motihar Hossain said the government would award the best 10 schools and students for their outstanding results.
Asked about the grace, he said, "Some 82 percent students passed without the grace and they increased the number of passed with the six percent grace.”