An ongoing inquiry has found that early marriage and early employment due to poverty and social insecurity have barred an exceptionally large number of students from appearing in this year鈥檚 Secondary School Certificate examinations.
The Dhaka Education Board has undertaken the inquiry to find the reasons as many candidates have already missed the SSC exams which, starting on April 10, are still going on.
Citing their findings in the inquiry, which is yet to be finished, education officials said that owing to poverty and lack of social safety, many parents were compelled to marry off their girls children and send boy children to start jobs, leading to their failure to attend the SSC exams.聽
More boys than girls were absent in the ongoing SSC exams.聽聽聽
As part of the inquiry, the board is collecting information on the matter from the heads of the educational institutions under it.
The board has the highest number of students not taking the exams out of the nine general boards, besides having the highest number of candidates registered under it for the exams.
Under the Dhaka board SSC exams, 3,496 candidates were absent on April 10; 3,896 on April 15; 3,956 on April 17; 4,766 on April 21; 3,930 on April 22; 3,742 on April 23; 3,205 on April 24; 3,955 on April 27; 3,492 on April 29; 2,245 on April 30; 3,812 on May 4; 1,383 on May 6; 997 on May 7; 895 on May 8; and 4,164 on May 13.
In a letter issued on April 22 and signed by the board鈥檚 controller of exams Professor SM Kamal Uddin Hyder, the board asked the heads of the institutions to find out what caused so many candidates not to take the exams and send the information of the absent candidates within 15 working days, stressing that it was very urgent.
Dhaka board chairman Professor Khondokar Ehsanul Kabir told 抖阴精品 on Thursday that they had yet to get full information with their database still updating.聽
鈥楤ased on the information we have got so far, early marriage stands as the main reason behind the absence of the female students and early employment for the male students,鈥� he said.
He also said that needed complete information to get the full picture of the situation.
Kishoreganj district education officer Shamsun Nahar Maksuda said that at this period of the year many male students help their families in the crop fields.
Some parents also sent their boys abroad for work, she said.聽
In cases of girls, many parents opt for getting them married off due to lack of safety and for poverty.
The rate of absence was higher among boys compared with the girls in Kishoreganj, she added.
Narayanganj district education office鈥檚 research officer Nazmunnahar Khanam said that everywhere the reason behind absence of boys in the exams was joining work and behind absence of girls was early marriage.
She also mentioned that the rate of presence was lower among the boys than that of the girls in the exams.
鈥業n Narayanganj many floating people live who come from different areas to work,鈥� the officer said, adding that sometimes some of them left the area without completing education.
Dhaka University鈥檚 Institute of Education and Research Professor Mohammad Ali Zinnah blamed poverty and social insecurity for early employment and child marriage.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was still present on the lower income group, forcing to continue with their financial struggle, he said.
The situation often compels the boys to start work at an early age, while for girls social insecurity acts as a compelling factor for getting married off early without completing school, he said.聽
The theoretical part of the SSC examinations ended on May 13. The practical part of the examinations will end by May 22.
The number of examinees for the SSC and equivalent examinations has decreased to 19,28,181 this year from 20,24,192 in 2024 for the second consecutive year.
In 2023, the number of SSC examinees was 20,72,163.
