Floods drag down SSC pass rate

The pass rate of SSC examination-2022 of the Sylhet Board is the lowest in the country. This year, 78.82 per cent students have passed in this board which is 18 per cent lower than last year. A question as to the reason/s behind the marked decline naturally comes to the mind.

We believe that floods in different areas in the country have pushed down the pass rate compared to the previous year.

The public examination of SSC’s order in this country cannot be taken lightly by any means because in the majority of students’ case it acts as the foundation for their lives--not just in terms of career but also in terms of the types of human beings they would become.

The number of institutions with a zero pass rate has doubled this year, while that of institutions with 100 per cent pass rate was lower than last year.

The students under the Sylhet Board participated in the examinations following one of the most devastating floods in recent history.

The pass rate of Dhaka Board is 90.03 per cent while it is 85.88 per cent in Rajshahi Board, 91.28 per cent in Cumilla Board, 89.61 per cent in Barisal Board, 81.16 per cent in Dinajpur Board, 87.53 per cent in Chittagong Board, 95.17 per cent in Jessore Board, 89.02 per cent in Mymensingh board, and 82.22 per cent in Madrasah Board.

The Technical Education Board’s pass rate is 89.55 per cent while the nine general education boards saw a combined pass rate of 88.1 per cent, the Madrasah Education Board 82.22 per cent.

Mentionable, this year’s SSC and equivalent exams under eleven boards, including madrasa (Dakhil) and technical education boards, started across the country on September 15. A total of 2,021,868 students from 29,591 educational institutions took part in the exams at 3,790 centres. Altogether 1,599,711 students participated in the SSC exams under the nine general education boards.

Books, notebooks and notes of many students were washed away in the flood that hit which affected the preparation of a lot of students. Even though books were given after the flood, many could not be given note books. At the same time, exams were also delayed due to floods.

Flood situation continued to deteriorate in north and north-eastern districts, relatively more gravely in Sunamganj and Sylhet, with army personnel deployed to deal with the situation.

The majority educational institutions in Sylhet and Sunamganj were inundated, forcing a suspension of all classroom activities in the institutions.

The suspension of one of the biggest public examinations came as a new blow for the country’s students who had earlier faced protracted closure of their educational institutions twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Students belonging to marginalised rural families were severely affected by the flood. Besides, the city students got more GPA-5 where the flood damage had been relatively less.

Education in emergency deserves more attention in Bangladesh, one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change, and children have to bear a disproportionate brunt of its effects.

If we want to achieve the SDGs, there is no alternative but to ensure education of the school students before, during and after any emergency. Preparedness, quality, participation and coordination are key principles while delivering education during any emergency situation. Preparedness for disaster allows time to think through the impact on schools, effect on the education system, ways to support the most vulnerable groups and how to gauge the response of other actors in advance.

In Bangladesh, there is no common guideline for school emergency response and it is not addressed significantly in the country’s disaster management plan and policy.

The regular natural disasters are putting students’ lives and education at high risk. We need to get our act together right now to protect the future of Bangladesh by redefining the role of institutions in both education and disaster management.