Unprecedented Reviews: Over 400,000 Students Challenge SSC Results
More than 400,000 students across Bangladesh have applied to have their Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent exam results reviewed. This year marks a significant change. Education boards will now re-evaluate answer scripts, a process not allowed before.
Students submitted nearly 1.3 million applications in total. About 1.06 million applications were for written exam papers. Another 231,000 applications were for practical exam papers.
Until now, education boards only checked for errors in adding or deducting marks. This was called re-scrutiny. But this year, answer papers will also be re-evaluated for content. This new rule follows long-standing demands from students.
Education boards are now under pressure due to the huge number of applications. Professor Syed Akhtaruzzaman confirmed the change. He is the President of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee and Chairman of the Dhaka Education Board. He said, “There is no alternative” to re-evaluating the papers.
The SSC and equivalent exam results came out on August 10. Pass rates have fallen for the past two years. This year, the pass rate for general education boards was 64.05 percent. This is the lowest in 19 years.
The number of students who got GPA-5 also dropped by almost 19,000. The average pass rate for all 11 education boards was 62.25 percent. This means nearly 38 percent of students did not pass their exams.
Students applied for result review online from August 11 to 17. The Dhaka Education Board received the highest number of applications. More than 94,000 students from Dhaka Board applied for review in various subjects. Other boards also received many applications. For example, over 39,000 students from Rajshahi and Chattogram boards applied. The Madrasa and Technical education boards also saw more than 40,000 and 20,000 applications respectively.
In previous years, reviews often found errors in mark calculations. Many students’ results changed after re-scrutiny. However, students could not challenge how their answers were graded. This led to doubts about fairness.
Officials believe there are not enough qualified examiners. Examiners also work under tight deadlines. These factors can lead to mistakes in grading. To reduce errors, better methods are needed for choosing and training examiners. There also needs to be better oversight.
