SSC & Equivalent Exams: Pass rate hits 13-year low

The success rate in this year's SSC and equivalent exams has hit a 13-year low mainly due to poor performances in mathematics and bad results in Sylhet board due to floods in that region, officials said.

According to the results published yesterday, the pass rate dropped by 7.16 percent from last year's. The numbers of GPA-5s in the nine general education boards have also dropped.

As a reason for this year's poor show, board officials said students needed to take exams with a curtailed syllabus on 12 papers, but with full marks. 

Last year, they had to sit for nine papers, also with shortened syllabuses, but with fewer marks to get. There were also more optional questions, they added.

Meanwhile, girls have once again outperformed boys in terms of both pass rate and achieving a grade point average of five.

The number of institutions with a 100 percent pass rate was 2,354 --  down by 621 from last year's 2,975, while the number of institutions with a zero percent pass rate was 48, which was 50 last year.

After receiving the results from the board authorities yesterday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina congratulated the students who passed and urged others to be attentive to their studies.

To the parents, she advised, "Don't compare your children to other children. Instead, let them develop their skills according to their own merit."

She also emphasised the need to further improve the quality of education and take measures so that the children of the country can keep up with the rest of the world.

13-YEAR LOW

Unveiling the results at a press conference in the capital, Education Minister Dipu Moni said 16,33,919 students sat for the SSC exams this year, from April 30 to May 28, after a two-month delay.

The delay, she said, was due to the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, along with floods in Sylhet and other regions.

Around 81 percent of the examinees passed this year -- lower than last year's 88.10. Board officials said this year's pass rate was the lowest since 2010, when it was 78.19. 

The number of students with GPA-5 was 1,59,220 – 75,543 less than last year's.

Taking into account the Dakhil exams under the madrasa board and SSC vocational tests under the technical board, the combined pass rate was 80.39 percent -- a drop from last year's 87.44.

Meanwhile, 1,83,578 students under those boards combined got GPA-5 -- 86,024 less than last year's 2,69,602.

Mymensingh education board Chairman Professor Gazi Hasan Kamal said poor performances in Sylhet and Dhaka boards dragged the entire pass rate down.

Sylhet had the lowest pass rate -- 78.82 percent -- among all general boards.

Prof Tapan Kumar Sarker, chairman of the Dhaka education board and chief of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee, said the pass rate came down as students were tested on a higher number of subjects than last year.

Dipu Moni reiterated that last year's pass rate was higher due to a lower number of subjects. "This year's pass rate is similar to those of the normal times in the pre-Covid period."

Prof Tapan and Sylhet Board's exam controller Arun Chandra Paul also blamed poor performances in mathematics as another reason for the success rate to fall this year.

"The pass rate was also low among humanities students as their number, compared to students of other disciplines, is higher," Arun said. 

Inter-education board results show 71.72 percent of humanities students passed the exams, while the percentage of science students was 94 and of business students was 82.

This year, Dhaka board's pass rate too hit a 13-year low at 77.55 percent, officials said.

Under it, 63.54 percent of humanities students passed. While 80.56 percent of the students sitting for mathematics were able to clear the hurdle -- the lowest among all general boards.

On the other hand, the Barishal board had a 90.18 pass rate – the highest among all boards, while Dhaka topped in terms of GPA-5 achievers.

GIRLS LEAD AGAIN

For the seventh year in a row, girl students had a higher pass rate compared to their male counterparts, while they had a higher number of GPA-5s for the sixth consecutive year.

This year, 82.39 percent girls passed the exams, while the boys' success rate was 79.34 percent. On the other hand, 88,245 girls achieved GPA-5 -- 17,270 higher than the number of boys.  

At the press conference, Dipu Moni said they will try to hold the SSC and equivalent examinations in the first week of February from next year, like before.

She also called upon all political parties to refrain from holding any programmes during pre-scheduled exam routines, so as to not hamper the education of children.