Central Admission Test: Have we thought enough about its loopholes?

For the last few years, the higher education authorities have been trying to bring all public universities of our country under one umbrella to hold a uniform, central admission test for their undergraduate courses to reduce the sufferings of candidates. But the universities have largely refrained from responding to this call so far, seeking more time to think over the pros and cons of the system. The only exception to it were the seven agricultural universities that held their admission test in a cluster system last year.

However, the overall situation for holding admission tests is a bit different this year. The outbreak of Covid-19 has done profound damage to the educational activities of many countries, including Bangladesh. In our country, public universities, as well as their private counterparts, have been forced to resort to online classes. They also had to keep most of the regular exams including admission tests on hold for an indefinite period. Admission to public universities for the academic session of 2020-21 has already been late, and if we want to avoid further delay in this regard, we need to find out some shortcut ways to go about it. It is due to this reason and also to ensure admission-seekers have the chance to maintain physical distance, universities have been left with little option but to go for the central admission system.

On December 19, vice-chancellors of 19 science and technology and general public universities—which earlier in the month decided to hold a central admission test for the next academic year—sat together to discuss and fix relevant principles and guidelines. It is some of these guidelines that have prompted this writing.

According to these guidelines, three examinations will be held in total: one each for science, commerce, and humanities students. As for "group change", students are permitted to do so but no additional exam will be required for it.

However, it is not clear whether, to change their groups, science and commerce students will be allowed to sit for the exam of the humanities group, for example. Media reports indicate that a candidate will be allowed to sit for only one examination—and that too the one held for their own group. How, then, will the students of one group switch over to another? A possible solution: some quotas will be reserved for the students of other groups. But can the quota system do justice to all candidates? Does it, academically speaking, uphold the principle of "survival of the fittest"? What will happen to departments that have traditionally offered equal opportunities to all students seeking admission?

It is generally known that humanities and commerce students do not opt for admission to any science department as they do not have the required background for studying in such a department. But it's a different situation for some departments, if not all, in the humanities and commerce faculties where students of different backgrounds feel equally comfortable and many of them go on to perform excellently.     

A case in point is the English department. Students willing to get admission to an English department need to have a solid background in English language, along with a knack for critical thinking in reading and writing which is necessary for students of any literature. Therefore, the English department of a university needs to sort out admission-seekers in terms of their language skills and competence in reading and writing. Students lacking these skills cannot cope with the demand of their discipline, which ultimately results in dropouts, frustration, lost semester or poor results in the semester exams. Hence, selecting students for English departments purely on the basis of their test performance in subjects specific to basic science or commerce will be unwise.

Moreover, at the SSC and HSC levels, students of all groups learn English and Bangla as compulsory subjects with equal importance, and therefore, are entitled to equal rights for admission to the English or Bangla departments in universities. To put any barrier to the science and commerce students seeking admission in English department in the name of quota, or in the name of assessment of their knowledge in science-specific or commerce-specific subjects, is quite unethical.

Taking these points into consideration, the English departments of many universities of our country have so far kept their doors open to all candidates, irrespective of which group they come from. However, this is not enough to get the best output from their undergraduate programmes. To select the best candidates for these programmes, what they need is to put them to an effective "written test". Only such a test can properly screen the best candidates by assessing their language skills as well as their capabilities for critical thinking. Our experience shows that any attempt to select candidates through a test based only on Multiple Choice Questions does not yield fruitful results.

Over the last few years, the standard of education in the English departments of our universities has gone down drastically because of, among other reasons, admission tests that are based only on Multiple Choice Questions, in which English is but only a segment. Experts intensely feel the need for selecting candidates on the basis of their language proficiency and reading-writing skills, like it was done once. Already, some universities including Rajshahi University and Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University have gone back to this type of testing for the last couple of years, overcoming a lot of the challenges that came in their way.

But now, all hopes for the English departments to continue their written tests to select the best candidates will be shattered as this year's combined admission tests will be held only on Multiple Choice Questions. However, a greater damage to these departments can be avoided if the science and commerce students are also allowed to sit for the examination of the humanities group.

How will the English skills of the students from science and commerce groups be assessed when the marks assigned to English are only 10 in the science group examination, and only 12 in that of the commerce group? Their skills in English can be assessed to some extent only in the examination of the humanities group, where greater marks—35—have been allotted to the language.

The English departments are not alone when it comes to specific requirements. There are also other departments like music, theatre, fine arts, etc. that too have specific features and deserve special protection to select candidates for their undergraduate programmes. In some universities, these departments have already been pursuing special measures in their admission tests for this purpose.

Last but not the least, every year a number of science and commerce students take admission preparation mainly targeting the subjects under the social science and arts faculties. It can be assumed that there will be no exception this year too. They have been taking preparation for the last few months according to the syllabuses that these faculties traditionally follow for their admission tests. Now, if they are restricted only to the examination of their own group, it will be very frustrating for them.

Will the authorities of the central admission test consider these concerns of the relevant departments and take necessary initiatives to protect their distinctive features and quality of education and also the rights and interests of the eligible candidates of all groups?

Mohammad Emdadul Huda is a professor at the Department of English, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, Trishal, Mymensingh.