Girls ace SSC again
Girls have done better than boys in terms of pass rate in the SSC exams eight years in a row, and they have also outdone boys in achieving GPA-5 for seven consecutive years.
The results of SSC exams, released yesterday, show a rise in pass rate -- to 83.77 percent from 80.94 percent of last year.
The number of students achieving GPA-5 and schools with cent percent pass rate have also increased.
Sadly, the number of schools with zero percent pass rate has also gone up to 51 from last year's 48.
Students did better in English and Mathematics and outstanding results of Dhaka and Jashore boards boosted the overall pass rate, said educationists and board chairmen.
The pass rate of Dhaka and Jashore boards rose by 6.40 and 6.16 percentage points.
They said girls were more sincere in their studies and got stipends, which require regular class attendance. They said these were among the key reasons for them doing better.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said more girls sat for the exams than boys. "We have to look into the reasons for not performing as well as the girls."
SHINING AGAIN
Unveiling the results at a press conference in the capital, Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury said this year, 85 percent of the girls passed the SSC exams while the boys' success rate was 82.39 percent.
At least 89,168 girls and 74,677 boys achieved GPA-5.
Board officials said since 2017, girls have been outperforming boys in terms of the pass rate, and since 2018 in achieving GPA-5 as well.
In 2017, the pass rate of girls was 0.85 percentage point higher than that of boys. This year it is 2.61 parentage points higher.
In 2018, at least 399 more girls got GPA-5 than boys. This year, 14,491 more girls got GPA-5.
Prof Tapan Kumar Sarker, chairman of the Dhaka education board, and Prof Gazi Hasan Kamal, former chairman of Mymensingh education board, agreed that girls were more sincere in studies.
Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) Executive Director Rasheda K Choudhury said girls have continued to outperform boys. Stipends and tuition fee waivers for girls are paying off.
Girls are sincere in studies as they need to continue with their education, overcoming hurdles like child marriage, insecurity, and other issues, she said.
She said, "But girls' improvement should be made sustainable. Besides, there should not be any reverse discrimination toward boys. We can think about introducing stipends for boys as many of them are working."
BETTER RESULT
Minister Mohibul said 83.04 percent out of the 20,13,597 students who sat for this year's SSC, Dakhil, and SSC vocational exams passed.
He said under nine general education boards, 83.77 percent passed out of the 16,06,394 who sat for the exams.
Prof Tapan, who is also the chief of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee, said the pass rate increased by 2.83 percentage points.
He said academic activities were almost normal after the pandemic since the exams were held on full syllabus and marks, and the students had plenty of time to prepare.
"We gave emphasis on English and Mathematics, which helped students to do better," he said.
In Dhaka board, 96 percent and 88 percent of the students passed English and Mathematics this year. Last year, only 91 percent and 81 percent passed the subjects.
Jashore Education Board had the best pass rate -- 92.33 percent -- of all nine general education boards and Sylhet board had the worst -- 73.35 percent.
Dhaka board had the most GPA-5 achievers -- 49,190 -- and Sylhet board had the fewest -- 5,471.
Prof Rama Bijoy Sarker, chairman of Sylhet Education Board, said, "The poor pass rate in General Science and Mathematics of Humanities group affected the overall pass rate. He said there was a lack of quality teachers, especially in rural and haor areas.
Across all 11 education boards, 2,968 schools achieved a cent percent pass rate, 614 more than that of the previous year.
Asked if any action would be taken against schools from which no students passed, Minister Mohibul said only a few students sat for the SSC from those schools. "If we take action against them, students might suffer. We will need to think about alternatives for solving the problem."
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