Child marriage major cause for students’ absence in SSC exam

More than 6,000 students were absent from this year’s Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams under Dhaka Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education.

Information gathered on 1,203 of those absent students reveals that nearly 40 per cent (481) of them got married. This figure includes married boys and girls both.

In addition to that more than seven per cent of the candidates missed the exam for joining work to support their families financially. Others were absent due to illness, lack of preparation, or other reasons.

What’s alarming is that nearly 51 per cent of those 1,203 examinees, on whom data could be collected, will no longer continue with their education. The rest of them said they would take the exam next year.

The authorities of Dhaka education board gathered this data from the schools running under their jurisdiction. Now a report will be sent to the education ministry to take necessary steps in this regard.

The number of students filling the registration forms to attend SSC and equivalent exams this year across the country was about 100,000 (1 lakh) less than last year. The exam this year saw the lowest participation of students in the last five years.

Meanwhile, the number of students who filled out the exam registration forms but did not appear in the exam was also higher this time compared to previous years. As many as 26,928 students were absent on the very first day of the SSC exam held under 11 education boards compared to 19,359 absent on the first day of the exams last year.

While students are absent every year, the reasons are never explored. So the experts have long been advising to identify the real causes and to take appropriate measures.

In this context, the Dhaka board of intermediate and secondary education launched an investigation into the cause of student’s absence in schools running under this board.

For this data was collected from schools through a designated Google Form. The board had directed the schools to collect information from respective exam centres to find out which students were absent and to contact the students or their guardians in person or over the phone to gather information about the reason behind their absence.

According to the Dhaka education board, a total of 6,389 students supposed to attend the exams under this board were absent this year. The board has information about the reasons of absence for only 1,203 candidates as information couldn’t be gathered on all of them.

These students had completed registration for the exam but did not attend. A draft report has been prepared based on their information.

Sources from the Dhaka education board state that the draft report shows nearly 60 per cent of those 1,203 absent students were from the commerce group, 23 per cent from humanities and 17 per cent were from science group. 

Usually students more advanced academically are found studying in the science stream. As per the collected data, the absence rate is lower among students of this stream.

Around 70 per cent of the absent candidates were regular students while the remaining 30 per cent were irregular candidates. Students who attended the exam failing one or two subjects last year are irregular candidates.

Dhaka education board records say that the absent rate is higher among students in rural areas. More than 76 per cent of the 1,203 students with available data were from rural areas and about 24 per cent of them were from urban areas.

As the total number of students in the plains is higher, the number of absent candidates is also higher there.

Speaking about this, controller of examinations at the Dhaka education board, professor SM Kamal Uddin Hyder told Prothom Alo that they would send the information they have gathered as a report to the education ministry so that necessary steps could be taken afterwards.

The Dhaka education board also tried to identify the reasons behind students’ absence. Around 40 per cent of the 1,203 absent students with available data were found to be married.

In Bangladesh, usually girls are more likely to be victims of child marriage. In many cases, those girls are forced to abandon their studies. 

On condition of anonymity, an official from the Dhaka education board noted that they have found that apart from the absent female candidates some of the absent male candidates had also gotten married. The final report will mention the data on how many of the absent candidates are male and how many are female students.

Collected data shows that 21 (nearly 2 per cent) female students missed the exams due to pregnancy. If girls aged below 18 years and boys aged below 21 years get married it is considered child marriage according to the law in Bangladesh. Most SSC candidates are aged below 18 with a very few exceptions.

More than 24 per cent of the 1,203 absent students did not attend the exams due to their own illness while over 11 per cent were absent for the lack of preparation. Financial hardship was also noted as a reason for absence in this report with 7.32 per cent of the absent students joining the workforce due to poor economic conditions of their families.

While 17 of the absent students have died, the rest of them were absent due to other reasons like illness or death of a family member.

Students taking SSC exams this year got enrolled in Class-VI back in 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic began in the country. Schools were closed at first for a year and half at a stretch and later for several more months in the impact of the pandemic. It is believed that the prolonged closure has had lasting effects, causing many to drop out at various stages.

Apart from that, experts had long been citing several other reasons including child marriage and child labour. Now, the Dhaka education board has found information of a large share of the absent students with available data on them being married off.

Child marriage remains a serious concern in Bangladesh. Apart from a few African nations, no other country sees as much child marriage as Bangladesh.

According to the annual report of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 51 per cent of the girls in Bangladesh are being married off before they turn 18. Furthermore, 71 out of every 1,000 girls aged between 15 and 19 are already with one or more children.

These figures came up in the State of World Population 2025 report published by UNFPA on 10 June.

When asked, former caretaker government adviser Rasheda K Choudhury told Prothom Alo, “Firstly, I commend the effort by a government agency to identify the reasons for student absences. Once the causes are identified, it becomes easy to take actions.”

She said that poverty is a major factor behind child marriage. Even today, many parents prioritise spending more on sons than on daughters. Meanwhile, lack of security is also a significant reason for child marriage of girls.

Mentioning that the government has to take greater initiative for preventing child marriage, Rasheda K Choudhury added that investment has to be increased for that. Plus, effective measures have to be taken through inter-ministerial meetings. Non-government organisations could also be involved in this effort, she added.