The primary terminal examinations and ibtedayi terminal examinations for Class V students begin today.
On the first day, the students across the country will take the Bangla examination, according to the exam schedule.
The examinations will end on November 29.
The government introduced the public examinations for Class V students in 2009. Only students of general schools sat for the exams last year. But this year, the madrassa students are also taking the examination.
This year, some 24,88,138 students registered for taking the examinations at 6,000 examination centres across the country.
Of the total 24,88,148 students, 21,57,015 are from schools and 3,31,133 from madrassas. As per the number of students, the examination is considered to be the biggest public examinations in the country.
Last year, on the second day, 1,51,365 students were absent. Officials said that the number of dropouts would decrease this year.
Officials of primary and mass education ministry said that this year they had taken special measures to reduce the number of dropouts. ‘We are hopeful that the number of dropouts will be less this year,’ secretary of ministry of primary and mass education, AKM Abdul Awal Mazumder, told New Age on Monday.
However, the primary school teachers are unhappy about the system of checking the scripts. This year, the authorities concerned asked teachers not to take the scripts to their home.
The teachers have to check the scripts at a particular place at the Upazila headquarters. If the teachers cannot check the scripts in a single day, they have to complete checking the scripts the next day.
The government primary teachers association in a press release on Sunday demanded the withdrawal of such system. ‘Such a system is unrealistic and inhumane. It will cause problems for the teachers. It would be better if we can take the scripts to our home,’ said a leader of the association.
Officials of the primary and mass education ministry said that such a system was introduced to avoid any irregularities. ‘We introduced the new system to ensure transparency in checking the scripts,’ a deputy secretary of the ministry of primary and mass education told New Age.
He also said that teachers would check the scripts at Upazila offices in presence of the UNO.
Besides, a teacher would not be allowed to check the scripts of the students of the educational institution of his own Union, he said. He said that the ministry had no plan to change the decision on checking the scripts.
