After the decision on cancellation of the H.S.C examination of this year and awarding the grade to the students based on their J.S.C and S.S.C results, it seems that the Education Ministry has attached much more emphasis on the passing of the students than acquiring knowledge.
The decision, indeed, would be tantamount to suicide to those who, for the health or any other personal inconveniences, could not do well in either J.S.C. or S.S.C exam despite being promising and brilliant. Such an average result will pull their legs behind in building their coveted careers, and their dreams are bound to get ravaged, plunging these juveniles into the sea of despair and frustration. Whatever will make the below-average students happy are bound to distress average, above average and meritorious students.
Educationists and wise-quarters opined that the Education Ministry could have taken steps to hold the pending examination, maintaining physical distance and health guidelines, since all other classes are still suspended and will continue sine-die, and the examinees also have complete preparations to sit for the examination.
Being contextual, it is to be noted that the candidates for the forth-coming S.S.C examination, scheduled to be held from February next year, could not be made fully acquainted with their syllabus, let alone, teaching in the classroom when the educational institutions were declared shutdown. On average, these students got only 50 days of classroom-teaching at the beginning of the academic year when the students remained busy for the preparation of annual sports, International Mother Language Day, the birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the nation, and Independence Day. During this time, there prevails a relaxed mood among students, teachers and staff, causing thin attendance of the students in the classroom in general. The facts advocate the cancellation of the S.S.C examination instead of H.S.C, although a vast majority of stakeholders of the education sector do not support the cancellation of any of the examinations.
In fine, it will be highly appreciated if the authorities concerned shift the date of the upcoming S.S.C examination from February to April, so as to enable the students to get a minimum preparation and build an air of self-confidence before entering the examination hall.
The author is a retired principal who worked at Vasha Shaheed Abdul Jabber Ansar V.D.P College in Shafipur, Gazipur.