SSC Evaluation System: Results prove much-needed reform worked

The slump in this year's SSC results thanks to introduction of a new evaluation method reinforces the long-held notion about the teachers' being liberal in checking the answer scripts.

It also proves true media reports on allegations against the authorities concerned of instructing the examiners to be more liberal in giving marks.

After publication of results of public examinations in the last several years, especially of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC), there was commotion over the dazzling pass rates, with many claiming the examiners were asked to check answer scripts more liberally to "improve" the students' performance.

But the government every time refuted such allegations, saying there were no such instructions to increase marks and that the answer scripts were checked properly.

However, every year a huge number of examinees apply for reviewing their scripts as they were dissatisfied with their grades, and such applications have been on the rise for the last couple of years.

In last year alone, results of around 15,000 SSC examinees under the 10 education boards were revised in the review, indicating the extent of mistakes by teachers in evaluating the scripts.

The country's leading academics and educationists too have raised questions over the quality of education, saying the dazzling pass rate does not mean the educational standards have improved.

On several occasions, they have recommended reforming the examination system, arguing that the system is flawed and riddled with questions.

Even the High Court in January this year issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain in four weeks as to why they should not be directed to evaluate the answer sheets of SSC and HSC examinations by competent and experienced teachers.

This year, the government took an initiative to reform the system of evaluating answer scripts. The method is called "standardisation of answer scripts".

And thanks to that method, the pass percentage of the SSC exams under the eight education boards has come down to 81.21 percent, dipping 7.49 percentage points from last year's.

In a year-on-year comparison, this year has seen the deepest drop in the pass rate since the grading system was introduced in 2001. In the last 16 years, the rates slipped only four times.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid attributed the fall in the pass rate to the introduction of the new method of checking answer scripts.

Disclosing the results at a press conference on Thursday, he himself admitted that the previous evaluation system was "very faulty" and said the scripts were not checked properly previously as “many of the teachers used to give away marks taking the number of pages [of answers] into consideration”.

He said there was no monitoring mechanism or any specific rule on checking the scripts.

As part of the new evaluation method, the government has trained the chief examiners, who later trained other examiners following a guideline.

The chief examiners along with other teachers set model answers to the SSC questions and forwarded those to the examiners. The examiners checked the answer scripts, keeping in mind that the model answers were standard, said officials of the education boards.

Hailing the government's move, academicians emphasised the need for bringing reforms to the evaluation system intensely.

"It's just the beginning, the first step; there is a lot of room for improvement. We hope the government would continue their efforts to reform the evaluation system intensely," noted educationist Rasheda K Choudhury told The Daily Star.

Rasheda, also the executive director of Campaign for Popular Education, said it was clear that the previous evaluation system was faulty to some extent and the government, realising it, had brought reforms to the basis of research and suggestions made by educationists.

She, however, said results of the exams under Comilla Board indicated that there was a lack of teachers in basic subjects like English and mathematics.

Many of the existing teachers did not teach well, Rasheda observed.

"We need qualified and trained teachers as well as examiners and question setters to bring qualitative changes," she added.