The pass rate in the Secondary School Certificate and equivalent exams has slipped 2.58 percentage points year-on-year to 77.77 per cent this year.
But the number of GPA 5.0 scorers increased by 5,868 to 110,629 in the same period, according to results announced by Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid.
The education minister, accompanied by the heads of the various education boards, handed over a summary of the results to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Ganabhaban on Sunday morning.
He will highlight various aspects of the results at a press conference at the Secretariat at 1pm. Students will be able to check their results after the press conference, around 2pm.
Last year 80.35 per cent of candidates passed their SSC exams and 104,761 scored a GPA 5.0.
A total of 2,031,889 candidates sat for their SSC and equivalent exams under ten education boards this year and 1,443,382 passed.
According to the education minister, the pass rate for the SSC exams under eight general education boards was 79.4 per cent, the pass rate for the madrasa board’s Dakhil exam was 70.89 per cent and that of the technical board exam was 71.96 per cent.
The pass rate in the closely-watched exams was also the lowest in nine years. The results reflect Nahid’s own performance as the education minister. When he took the reins of the education ministry in 2009, the pass rate was 67.41 per cent. The rate has increased since then, reaching a peak of 92.67 per cent in 2014.
While presenting the summary to the prime minister, the education minister noted that the number of examinees had increased, that more students were taking the science exams and that girls had performed well.
Nahid said that in his opinion, the policy of distributing new textbooks on the first day of the year had played a significant role in improving the quality of education.
He also spoke of various other measures to improve the quality of education and educators and said that special measures had been taken to ensure that answer scripts were not awarded or penalised unfairly.
“We have overcome some of the flaws in checking the answer scripts that were prevalent in the past and have achieved a certain level of quality. But there is no doubt that we have to develop this further.”
“As there were more candidates this year it is not too concerning that the pass rate has dropped. After all, a 77.77 per cent pass rate is not particularly low,” Nahid told the prime minister.
Nahid congratulated those who had passed their exams and said that those who had failed should not despair, but instead apply themselves to their studies more diligently.
“Only once 100 per cent of our nation is educated will we be able to build a country free of hunger and poverty,” said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. “Education is something no one can take away from you.”
This year’s SSC theory exams were held between February 1 and February 25, while, according to bdnews24, the practical exams were held between February 26 and March 4.
