Monday, April 29, 2024
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For 14 consecutive years, female students have outdone their male peers in the Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary Certificate examinations with the gap widening every year.
Even though Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has instructed the authorities concerned to find out the reasons behind it, they could not unearth the proper reasons.
Besides, along with academicians, students and guardians blamed dozens of factors for male students lagging behind in various public examinations than female peers. Almost all of them blamed misuse of internet technology with social media addiction for male students lagging behind than girls.
The education boards published the results of HSC and equivalent exams on Sunday which showed that the number of male students who sat for the exam was more than female students this year. The results also showed that the pass rate of female and male students was 80.57 per cent and 76.76 per cent respectively.
Besides, 49,365 girls and 43,230 boys got GPA-5. Experts say that now parents do not differentiate between their sons and daughters resulting in that girls' education has changed. Its effects have been visible for several years.
But experts also say that girls are still lagging behind at marginal level especially in rural areas. And the big problem of mathematics is that there are not enough qualified teachers.
One of the major reasons is lack of discipline for which boys lag behind. Mobiles, TV and videogames consume extra time on related electronic devices. Over the past few years, there has been a rise in youth gangs from cities to villages. This is one of the reasons for boys falling behind in education, said Tapan Kumar Sarker, chairman of Intermediate and Secondary Education Board, Dhaka.
On the other hand, Fawzia Rashedi, acting principal of Motijheel Ideal School & College, said girls are less focused outside. They spend more time at home and concentrate more on their studies which is very promising. Besides boys have more friends at this age and in the modern age there are many things including mobiles, she added.
“As a result of giving time to studies, boys are falling behind and at every level girls are moving forward and making a mark of talent.”
A study published last year in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning revealed that internet addiction is causing serious disruption to students' learning. It is said that not only internet addiction, internet gaming disorder (IGD) also has a negative impact on psychological functioning. In this, the feeling of isolation and loneliness among students is also increasing at an alarming rate.
Phil Reed, a researcher at Swansea University in the UK, said that among students who are addicted to internet, they are at high risk of losing interest in studies. Academic performance of internet addicted students is also very poor. Considering academic results, internet addicts are lagging behind in terms of educational qualifications.
Kamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, a clinical psychology professor at University of Dhaka, said no system is being kept to keep the youth busy. There is no opportunity for entertainment or spending time with family. There are no playgrounds in Dhaka city, so young people are spending time on internet. It sometimes creates addiction between them. They are separated from the real world and become residents of the virtual world. They are having both mental and physical problems.
Rasheda K Chowdhury, the prominent figure in Bangladesh on the education sector said, "One of the reasons why boys are lagging behind is that many of them join the labour force when they reach the secondary level but girls are joining less. Secondly, I think is the main reason now - is the juvenile gang culture is speeding everywhere in the country. The gang’s members all are they boys, they are getting involved in crimes and dropping out and performing badly in exams, she added.
