On 20 August, a group of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinees entered the Secretariat in Dhaka, chanting slogans for cancellation of their suspended exams. It quickly became a sit-in. At one point, the education board agreed to the cancellation of the remaining HSC and equivalent exams.
This decision has not been welcomed by most concerned people. Many examinees, guardians and teachers feel this hasty decision might be harmful to the students in the long run.
On August 21, the education adviser of the interim government Prof Wahiduddin Mahmud, however appeared to back the decision. “There are two alternatives for the students to prove their worth – one is to collect the evaluation sheets from their schools and colleges, and the other can be based on how they perform in the upcoming admission tests,” he said.
The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent exams of 2024 started on June 30 and the examinees sat for seven exams. Due to the country-wide quota reform movement and violence, on July 18, the Inter-Education Board Coordinating Committee postponed the exams of July 21, 23 and 25. On 15 August, a new schedule of the postponed exams was published – from September 11 to October 23.
We spoke with professor Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan of Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka and Rasheda K Chowdhury, the former advisor of the caretaker government and the executive director of Campaign for Popular Education (Campe), about this controversial decision and how it is going to impact the students.
‘Auto-pass is the opposite of what our students fought for’
Dr Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan
Professor, Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka
If mob justice gets its way and gets to decide the exam system, that is a problem. Auto-passing is never an acceptable thing because this generation will always be criticised by people; they will always be tagged as ‘autopass’ students. It can never be the solution. If there is any problem regarding the examination, it can be discussed, and then a better solution may come up. You cannot just take a decision like this.
On what grounds did they decide to cancel the exam? We don’t understand. We have to identify the problem first. Until we understand what seems to be the problem, we cannot suggest a solution.
Grading only based on the exams students have so far sat for is harmful to meritocracy. Such a grading system harms students who are studious and meritorious. And the ones not so serious about studies take advantage of this system.
Just because some people got inside the secretariat and demanded something doesn’t mean you will have to agree to that. Students of Bangladesh just fought for meritocracy, a system based on merit. And then this decision is not very good. People now have expectations of a meritocracy-based society, and this decision is opposite of that.
‘The handful of protesting students do not represent the majority’
Rasheda K Chowdhury
Former advisor of the caretaker government
We should not call it an automatic pass, or auto pass, because the students demanded an evaluation based on the examinations they have already sat for. They showed two reasons for this: they lack proper preparation for the exams and the wounded and injured students of the students’ movement will not be able to sit for the exams.
I believe it will be an incomplete assessment for the batch. Among 14 lakh examinees, how many of them are injured? We don’t have statistics for that.
The handful of students that besieged the secretariat yesterday do not represent the majority of the students. I feel most of the students and guardians are in support of holding the exam. Without taking the majority’s opinion and support, they gathered inside the secretariat building in an absolutely undisciplined manner, which is unacceptable.
The handful of students who created this indiscipline inside the secretariat should be marked, and the police officers who were responsible for maintaining the security of the premises should be brought under scrutiny. They were supposed to protect the place, which they failed to do.
Although the government has agreed to what they demanded, I don’t support their demand. What the education advisor’s office did was also appreciative, because they didn’t let anything happen to the protesting students as well. They tried to reason with the students and presented options, like offering to take the exams on 50% marks, and moving the exams by two weeks. The students were however not ready to listen and hence the administration accepted it.
The guardians are also worried about their children’s future because if this is the way students are evaluated today, how will they do in the higher studies stage? We have to think about that.
What the education advisor said today is that foreign universities do not count GPAs; rather, they assess the overall school performance and evaluation papers. However, the universities of Bangladesh evaluate the student’s SSC and HSC marks.
This year’s HSC batch missed the chance to sit for important subjects, even the practical exams. I don’t know how they will perform in the admission tests, especially for medical and engineering institutions. The students who didn’t do too well at the SSC level may have been looking to improve their results this time. But now that they are being promoted this way, it will have long-term consequences.
The government should have considered these important factors.