Number goes up by 10 lakh in 4 years; terminal exams begin tomorrow
Primary education seems to have received a significant boost, with the number of terminal examinees steadily rising each year.
This year around 29.69 lakh class-V students of schools and madrasas have registered to sit for the largest public exam in the country, scheduled to begin tomorrow.
In a span of four years, the number of examinees which was around 19.79 lakh in 2009 has risen by 10 lakh this year, according to the sources of Directorate of Primary Education (DPE).
Officials concerned attributed several reasons behind the rise in numbers, including government’s initiative to bring all children to schools.
“The terminal examination in itself is a reason behind the rise as the certificate received by the student motivates them,” Shyamal Kanti Ghosh, director general of DPE told The Daily Star yesterday.
Teachers have become more accountable and are putting equal emphasis on all students, unlike the previous scenario when only some selected pupils got special attention ahead of the primary scholarship examination, he explained.
Distributing new textbooks on time also helped more students to attend schools, Ghosh said.
This year, the two-hour long exam will start at 11:00am in 6,364 centres across the country and another eight centres overseas. A total of 718 students will sit for the exams from the overseas centres, said DPE and Ministry of Primary and Mass Education sources.
Examinations of six subjects will be held with examinees of both the categories taking mathematics on the first day. The examinations will end on November 29.
A total of 26,41,067 students from general schools and 3,28,326 madrasa students have registered to sit for the exams.
As in the previous year, the number of girls is higher than boys this year, with girls accounting for around 54 percent of the examinees.
The physically challenged students will get an additional 20 minutes in the examinations.
The students must succeed in the terminal examinations to enrol in class VI. On the basis of the results, scholarships will be equally distributed to male and female students under the talent pool and general categories.
The primary and mass education ministry will hold a press briefing about the examination today around 1:30pm.
Source: The Daily Star
