Educationists for ‘quality education’ over high pass rate
The average pass rate in the HSC examination has been over 60 per cent since 2006; however, quality education is still a far cry, the educationists said
Educationists urged the government to concentrate on knowledge-based quality education, and not on high pass rate, to enable students to be a global citizen.
They expressed the opinion while talking with The Business Standard. The average pass rate in the HSC examination has been over 60 per cent since 2006; however, quality education is still a far cry, the educationists added.
“In our society results get priority nowadays. But unfortunately, no one thinks about what the students are learning,” said Dr Serajul Islam Choudhury, professor emeritus of Dhaka University.
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“Creating noise over results is a matter of shame. Examination is a part of a continuous process. So why should we create hubbub only over examination results?” he asked.
He emphasised that it is important for students to acquire knowledge in order to help them think globally.
Dr Choudhury criticised the coaching centre culture, as it brings out good results from students without making the students understand the texts.
“Learning in the classroom is a must. But undesirably, the focus of learning has been shifted from classrooms to private coaching centres,” said the eminent teacher.
He said, the standard of the teachers must be improved through proper training; and educational institutions should appoint competent teachers.
Dr Syed Manzoorul Islam, Professor of English at Dhaka University, said that it is a good sign the HSC students performed better this year than the previous years; nevertheless, it is high time to think about ‘quality education’.
“The educational institutions are in a race to exceed one another in good results. But they do not focus on quality education. This is a basic problem for the education system of our country,” he said.
Dr Islam said that commercialisation of education has been discriminating against the students, who belong to the rural areas of the country.
“Performance of students in rural areas is poor due to lack of educational facilities and commercialisation of education. But there was a time when they performed better than the students, living in urban areas. Education has become very costly: if one pays handsome money, one can expect a good result,” he said.
A total of 73.93 per cent students passed HSC this year and its equivalent examinations, an increase of 7.29% from last year.
The number of GPA-5 scorers increased to 47,286 this year from 29,262 in the previous year.
