After the examinations for the Secondary School Certificate or SSC were postponed by seven months due to the coronavirus pandemic and floods in the Northeast, the pass rate has dropped to 87.44 per cent from last year’s 93.58 per cent.
The floods dealt a major blow to the students of Sylhet region, with the pass rate there going down from 96.78 per cent to 78.82 per cent.
“Books and notes of many students were washed away. We gave them books but the gap could not be closed,” said Professor Roma Bijoy Sarkar, chairman of the Board of Secondary and Secondary Education, Sylhet.
Education Minister Deepu Moni said that henceforth examinations would be postponed not in the entire country but in disaster-affected areas to minimize the damage caused by the disruptions.
In addition to the flood, poor preparation of humanities students resulted in a decrease in the overall pass rate. 80.82 percent students of this stream passed the exam, which is lower than 93.24 percent.
“Science students are more serious than their peers in humanities and professional studies. In rural areas, humanities students are not very serious about their studies. They could not prepare well,” said Dr. Pointing out the disruptions, said Prof Tofzur Rahman, Controller of Examinations, Dinajpur Board.