SSC exams: To delay or not to delay

Students taking their examsFile photo

We are totally confused with the puzzle placed before us. What is more important, education or exams? The entire world is in a state of indecision over this question. Many educationists feel that exams are a necessary evil. As for us Bangalis, it's hard to tell who among us are in favour of exams and who are not.

Corona has brought the whole world to a standstill. But in Bangladesh, everything has opened up, except for educational institutions. Life is almost back to normal. Meanwhile, two bits of news have caught our attention. The education minister recently expressed her hope that the 2021 SSC (Secondary School Certificate) exams will be held on schedule. At the same time, the education ministry has declared that the educational institutions will remain closed till 14 November.

Persons of the upper and lower classes at least have no worries on this head. One class has no worries about this because they have wealth, the other because they have no wealth. But the middle class has dreams and hassles.

Which comes first, the egg or the chicken? That's a question that hasn't been answered as yet, particularly not on the field of education. But perhaps the Bangalis are a step ahead in this regard. For at least the last decade, Bangladesh has been a 'champion' when it comes to upholding exams above all else. Studies be damned, exams are all that matter. Even before a child is born, the parents begin preparing for exams to get their offspring admitted to an expensive school. This exam is compounding the problems of the middle class.

Persons of the upper and lower classes at least have no worries on this head. One class has no worries about this because they have wealth, the other because they have no wealth. But the middle class has dreams and hassles. This middle class sends waves through the media. No matter which government is at the helm, the Bangali middle class is so problem-ridden that it troubles the government to no end, making them mutter all sorts of inconsequential incoherence.

From day one of this year, Bangladesh has been scared of coronavirus. The virus hadn't spread out of China then, but the media reports had caused us sleepless nights. There was no alternative but to shut the doors of all educational institutions from 17 March. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued repeated warnings and the media was ringing the alarm bells too.

The shutters of the educational institutions have been closed from 17 March till now. It is not likely that these will open before summer. What about the education minister's expectations that the SSC exams will not be postponed? That's the talk of the town. The prime minister herself said that only the Creator knows what proportions coronavirus will take on in winter. Her words of caution can in no way be ignored. Everyone must be prepared to ensure that coronavirus does not get out of hand in winter.

In the meantime, several countries in Europe have gone into lockdown again. It is still autumn there and winter has not officially set in. There is a general feeling that the human race must learn to live with corona. And there is hardly any possibility of the corona vaccine reaching the masses before summer. No one seems bothered anymore.

If that is the situation, how realistic is it to hold exams for nearly 2.5 million SSC examinees?

It must be kept in mind that the entire nation went into an uproar when just recently the education minister announced that the HSC (Higher Secondary Certificate) exams would not be held. That is why she had decided not to even think about cancelling exams. There can be another reason too -- to divert public attention. This is a common ploy in politics. With the hullabaloo of the cancellation of the HSC exams, perhaps the minister wants to see what the reactions are to the SSC exams being held in February.

In this country, the SSC exam is an assessment of what the students have learnt in classes 9 and 10. It's a certificate exam too. Nowadays, of course, our children have certificates for Class 5 and Class 8 too. So those who take the SSC exam in February, will already have two certificates to their names. But of the 24 +1, that is 25 months of the academic term, they have only had classes for 14 and a half months. So they will have to use whatever they have learnt in those 14 and a half months to take their exam in February according to schedule. They will remain deprived of the remaining 10 months of studies.

It is quite unrealistic and impractical to imagine that the SSC exam can be held in February

There is more to it, as much is lost in the gap. They say that what you learn in six months, you forget in nine. So we have to take that into account when tallying up the earned knowledge. By the time February comes around, the students will just have retained about five or six months of whatever they had learnt. It will still officially be winter then and so things are not likely to start up before May. So pragmatically speaking, it is hardly likely that the SSC exam can be held in winter.

In the meantime, the World Bank, UNICEF and UNESCO have said that no matter what the state of coronavirus may be, there is no alternative but to open up educational institutions. As it is, the world is digitally divided. The poorer countries are steadily falling back in the use of technology. In South Asia, Bangladesh is apparently behind Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan. If that is so, it is certainly a matter of concern.

Once the educational institutions closed down because of coronavirus, it took around three months just to decide on online classes. The government universities have fared the worst. The primary and secondary level classes conducted on television are hardly effective. Various institutions are carrying out classes on their own initiatives, riddled with shortcomings. The colleges are in the most pitiful state. The online classes for college are terrible, with no one in charge.

And people's financial woes are mounting. Incomes are plummeting and the prices of essentials are spiralling. Even though the mobile operators are raking in huge profits, the government has failed to make them cut down on internet charges. On the contrary, 4G, 5G rates are nothing short of exploitation.

When the situation is such, it is quite unrealistic and impractical to imagine that the SSC exam can be held in February.

*Amirul Alam Khan is former chairman of the Jessore Board of Education and can be contacted at [email protected]. This column appeared in the online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir