SSC Results 2011
Gap between urban, rural students widens
This year’s record-breaking SSC results demonstrate the gap between education standards in urban and rural areas with most SSC Results 2011 dominating the top of the list in every education board.
Though the authorities say the schools in rural areas are doing well in terms of pass rate, urban schools, particularly in metropolitan cities, remain the best for the last decade.
Educationists observe, most urban students fare better than the rural area students as they have tuition in addition to extensive classroom activities.
In an education system swallowed by capitalism students from solvent families achieve glorious results, they added. On the other hand, rural students from poor families struggle to obtain even pass marks as their schools cannot provide them with quality education, they added.
They placed stress on more training and monitoring to ensure good education in rural schools, otherwise the gap would be widened further.
The results of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations, published on Thursday under the grading system introduced in 2001, showed a tremendous boost with 82.31 percent pass in 10 education boards.
As many as 2,017 schools made 100 percent success and 76,749 students secured GPA-5 (grade point average), while 28 schools got zero pass rate.
And, around 2.31 lakh students failed the exams and most of them are from rural areas, said the board sources.
This year, the education ministry has prepared a list of 20 best performing schools of each board based on the SSC results and other academic standards.
In Dhaka Board, among the top 20 schools only four are outside the capital.
All of the four–Bindu Bashini Govt Boys’ High School, Mymensingh Zilla School, Mymensingh Girls’ Cadet College and Mirzapur Cadet College–are either cadet colleges or in district towns.
Most of the schools placed on the top chart under Jessore Board are also specialised schools or in district towns. The situation is almost same for the other six general education boards and Madrasa and technical education boards.
Of the top 160 institutions of eight general boards, 72 are state-run secondary schools, where most students are comparatively from well-off families.
Under Dhaka Board, over three lakh examinees of 18 districts and foreign centres took the exams and around 2.54 lakh of them passed.
The pass rate in the capital is 93.35 percent while 77.28 in Mymensingh, 77.42 in Netrokona, 77.84 in Kishoreganj and 79.92 in Faridpur districts.
Some 24,290 out of 56,118 students got GPA-5 under Dhaka Board and half that number or 13,330 GPA-5 achievers are from Dhaka metropolis alone. The rest 10,960 are from the other 17 districts and one foreign centre where at least 2.43 lakh students appeared in the exams.
Academics say most schools in rural areas have teacher shortage, especially for English and math. Besides, not all of the teachers received training on creative question method introduced in seven subjects this year.
Moreover, the rural schools have insufficient teachers and most guardians cannot afford private tutors for their children.
Educationist Prof Serajul Islam Choudhury said the schools in rural areas are being neglected and getting less focus.
“It is not only an education issue; it is also a social and economical problem. The existing social inequality is reflected in the rural areas,” he said.
He also said teachers in the rural schools do not feel encouraged to take classes properly and it is never monitored how they give lessons.
“Our education system has already been divided into three streams — Bangla and English mediums and Madrasa. The social distance and class division would deepen if we fail to reduce the gap between urban and rural education, at least for the Bangla medium stream,” he adds.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
