SSC: Institutions with zero pass could be merged

No students from 51 institutions passed the 2024 Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations. These institutions may be merged with other institutions in the same area. 

The Education Ministry is considering the merger to prevent any repetition of such a debacle.

Most of these institutions are under the Madrasa Education Board, which saw a 79.66% pass rate, up from last year’s 74.7%. Madrasa students also achieved more than double their GPA-5s than last year.

This year, some 2,041,450 candidates took part in the SSC and equivalent exams from 29,861 institutions across the country. Of them, only 2,968 institutions, or 10%, achieved a 100% pass rate.

Director General of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education Professor Nehal Ahmed said: "This time, we have a different way of thinking. We will review the institutions where no students have passed for several years. If it is found that the quality of education in these institutions is similar, there is a plan to integrate the students of the respective institutions into other institutions nearby.”

Asked about the merger, educationist Rasheda K Chowdhury said: "If banks can be merged due to mismanagement, why can't we merge educational institutions? Why is registration so easy? They should be brought under a legal framework now. But since this might harm our students, we have to make alternative arrangements.”

Prof Tapan Kumar Saha, coordinator of Inter-Education Board and Chairman of Dhaka Education Board, told Bangla Tribune: "We canceled the academic approval of four institutions last year. We will do it again because if there is no proper education, it is necessary to close down the institution.”

It has been found that non-MPO and MPO-affiliated schools and madrasas are among the institutions that failed. Despite being dogged by irregularities and lack of students in the madrasas, the Ministry of Education is giving approval in different areas of the country. In the last one year, more than 100 institutions got academic approval, accreditation, and opening. This approval process continues in the case of madrasas and general schools.

All the students of Kalia Araipara Girls High School at Sakhipur in Tangail have failed. This non-MPO institution has 11 teachers and three staff. One student in 2021 and two in 2022 participated and passed.

But no one has passed from this institution in the last two consecutive years when three students participated in 2023 and five in 2024.

On the other hand, none of the candidates appeared at this year’s Dakhil (SSC equivalent) examination from the MPO-enlisted Islamabad Darussunnah Alim Madrasa in Nagarpur of Tangail has passed. As many as 27 students appeared in the examination.

It is alleged that academic programs are not conducted properly in these institutions. Moreover, there is no proper monitoring. On the other hand, a kind of sympathy is shown to the madrasas under the MPO facility year after year.

Regarding monitoring, educationist Rasheda K Chowdhury said: “Intensive and continuous monitoring is necessary for good results. For that reason, manpower should be increased at the field level. This will not be possible without a lot of investment in the education sector.”