SSC results: Record number of re-scrutiny requests, answer scripts to be re-evaluated too

More than 400,000 students have submitted nearly 1.3 million applications to have their results of this year’s Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations reviewed. Of these, more than 1.06 million applications were submitted for written (theory) exam answer scripts, while more than 231,000 were for practical exam scripts.

This year, the answer scripts will be both re-evaluated and re-scrutinised as part of the result review process. Until now, education board rules did not allow re-evaluation of answer scripts. Based on applications, the boards would only re-scrutinise the scripts to check whether there had been any errors in adding or deducting marks.

The education boards are now under pressure as they have to re-evaluate and re-scrutinise such a large number of answer scripts. Asked about the matter, Professor Syed Akhtaruzzaman, president of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee and chairman of the Dhaka Education Board, told Prothom Alo that answer scripts would be re-evaluated this year. The boards are having to appoint the required number of examiners for the task. “There is no alternative,” he said.

The SSC and equivalent examination results were published on 10 August. After relatively high pass rates for many years, SSC results have been declining somewhat over the past two years. This year, the pass rate among the nine general education boards fell to 64.05 per cent, the lowest in 19 years. The rate was also lower than last year. The number of students who secured GPA-5 also fell by nearly 19,000.

The average pass rate across the nine general education boards, the Madrasa Education Board and the Technical Education Board was 62.25 per cent this year. In other words, nearly 38 per cent of students failed to pass. More than 1.829 million students took the examinations this year. Naturally, the decline in the pass rate has generated considerable discussion, and it has also had an impact on applications for result review.

Online applications for result review were accepted from 11 to 17 August. According to education board sources, 402,051 students under the 11 education boards submitted a total of 1,287,926 applications for re-scrutiny of their answer scripts. Of these, 1,056,455 applications were for written examinations and 231,471 were for practical examinations.

Manzurul Kabir, senior system analyst at the Dhaka Education Board, told Prothom Alo that 94,236 students under the board had submitted 277,665 applications for written examinations and 58,012 applications for practical examinations.

A review of data from the other education boards showed that the highest number of applications came from the Dhaka Board. More than 35,000 students from the Cumilla Board, over 39,000 from Rajshahi, more than 28,000 from Jashore, over 39,000 from Chattogram, more than 17,000 from Barishal, over 20,000 from Sylhet, more than 37,000 from Dinajpur and 27,676 from Mymensingh applied for re-scrutiny of results in one or more subjects.

In addition, more than 40,000 students from the Madrasa Education Board and more than 20,000 from the Technical Education Board applied for result re-scrutiny.

Every year until now, numerous errors in the calculation of marks have been detected during the re-scrutiny of answer scripts for public examinations such as the SSC and HSC. Following applications from students, many results have also changed after answer scripts were re-scrutinised. For example, in last year’s SSC examination under the Dhaka Board, 286 students received GPA-5 after the re-scrutiny process. Another 293 students who had initially failed were declared passed.

Until now, the boards would primarily check whether there had been any errors in adding up or deducting marks when re-scrutinising the scripts of applicants. However, there was no scope to verify whether the answer scripts had been properly evaluated in the first place.

As a result, not all students who had doubts about their results would apply for re-scrutiny. In such cases, they too did not receive redress for possible errors. There had also long been demands for allowing answer scripts to be re-evaluated. A writ petition was even filed with the High Court on the issue. This year, answer scripts will be re-evaluated as well as re-scrutinised as part of the result review process.

According to education board officials and people involved in the process, there is a shortage of qualified examiners capable of evaluating millions of answer scripts every year. At the same time, examiners often have to work under time pressure, leading to rushed evaluations. This increases the possibility of errors and raises questions about whether answer scripts are being assessed properly.

Ultimately, it is the students who pay the price. Therefore, to reduce the possibility of errors in answer-script evaluation, more effective measures are needed in examiner selection, evaluation methods and oversight.