Poverty seen as key reason
A total of 2.81 lakh students out of some 24.88 lakh did not turn up for this year’s Primary Education Terminal Examinations that ended on Monday.
The number of absentees is 1.27 lakh higher than that of last year. Around 1.54 lakh students did not take the examinations last year when it was introduced for the first time.
The authorities concerned identified 661 fake students across the country this time.
Education officials feared a large number of this year’s absentees would be dropped out in the primary level. They said since majority of these students belong to poor families, they (families) would not allow the students to sit for the examinations again due to financial constraints.
A total of 24,88,765 students — 21,57,317 from general primary schools and 3,31,448 from madrasas — registered for the examinations this year, according to the statistics of Directorate of Primary Education.
The rate of absence is alarming for the madrasa level as some 66,565 students or around 20 percent did not appear in the examinations.
The examinations started on November 23 and the results will be published sometime between December 22 and 27.
Aiming to impart equal standard of education to all students, the government last year introduced the public examinations instead of primary scholarship examinations. The students of ebtedai madrasas took part in the examination this year for the first time.
The students of class V must pass the terminal examinations and collect their certificates before they enrol for class VI.
Based on the results, scholarships will be awarded in two categories — talent-pool and general, equally to both boys and girls.
The government has decided to increase the number of scholarships in general category by 5,000 this year.
