A crisis of qualified teachers of mathematics and English has been the key reason for the students’ poor show in these two subjects in the Secondary School Certificate and its equivalent examinations, experts said.
The combined pass rate in this year’s SSC and its equivalent examinations has recorded its lowest of 68.45 per cent in 16 years as the students fared badly in the two subjects.
Experts observed that the problem lay in a lack of subject-based teachers and said that without skills and training, there would not be any improvement in teaching.
Low salary also prompts the teachers with degrees in these two subjects not to stay in rural areas, they added.
This year students failed mostly in mathematics while many also failed in English. Every year students failed mostly in these two subjects.
Rasheda K Choudhury, executive director of the Campaign for Popular Education, said that students failed in mathematics and English subjects due mainly to a lack of subject-based teachers.
‘Even with degrees, when teachers enter the profession they do not have any experience to teach,’ she said and suggested professional training for the entry-level teachers.
This year, in mathematics, the highest, 35.73 per cent of examinees, failed from the Mymensingh education board, while 35.38 per cent from Barishal, 28.65 per cent from Dinajpur, 27.99 per cent from Cumilla, 24.86 per cent from Dhaka, 20.27 per cent from Madrassah, 18.47 per cent from Chattogram, 16.83 per cent from Sylhet, 14.98 per cent from Jashore, 13.48 per cent from Rajshahi and 11.28 per cent from technical board.
In English, the highest, 30.34 per cent of examinees, failed from the Barishal board followed by 16.76 per cent from Chattogram, 16.23 per cent from Jashore, 15.56 per cent from Mymensingh, 12.15 per cent from Dhaka, 11.45 per cent from Dinajpur, 11.22 per cent from Cumilla, 10.39 per cent from Sylhet, 7.98 per cent from Madrassah, 6.9 per cent from Rajshahi and 1.64 per cent from technical board.
In cases of the other subjects, including Bangla, physics, chemistry, ICT, civics and accounting, most of the examinees got nearly or over 90 out of 100 marks.
‘Mathematics and English are quite different from other subjects as these require understanding and intensive practice,’ said Dhaka University’s Institute of Education and Research professor Mohammad Ali Zinnah.
Lack of qualified teachers and improper teacher-student ratio played an important role in the poor situation, the IER teacher said, adding that students mostly from the low-income group failed in these subjects as they lacked scopes for intensive practice.Â
Rasheda, also a former adviser to a former caretaker government, said that in most cases the teachers with degrees on mathematics and English did not want to stay in the rural, remote or char areas as they wanted to stay in cities to earn more by tutoring students.
In 2024, the combined pass rate was 83.04 per cent, up from 80.39 per cent in 2023. In 2023, from the Dhaka board, about 19 per cent failed in mathematics, which decreased to about 12 per cent in 2024.
In 2023, from the Dhaka board, about 9 per cent failed in English, which decreased to about 5.5 per cent in 2024.
According to the Bangladesh Education Statistics 2023 published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics, 60,857 teachers were teaching English in different junior secondary and secondary schools and colleges (school sections) while the average number of teachers per educational institution was 2.98.
Out of them, only 15.4 per cent studied English as core subject (6.83 per cent had bachelor of arts (honours) in English and 8.57 per cent had master’s degree in English).
The highest, 50.85 per cent of teachers, had BA degree with compulsory 100 marks in English followed by 18.05 per cent bachelor with English, 10.52 per cent BA with compulsory 300 marks in English and 5.17 per cent passed only the Higher Secondary Certificate examinations.
In cases of mathematics, 64,147 teachers were teaching the subject in different junior secondary and secondary schools and colleges and the average number of mathematics teachers per educational institution was 3.14.
Among these teachers, only a handful, 13.22 per cent, studied mathematics as core subject (5.98 per cent had bachelor of science (honours) in math and 7.24 per cent has master’s degree in math).
The highest, 18.72 per cent, had BSc with physics, chemistry and math followed by 16.18 per cent had degree (pass) without math, 12.39 per cent BSc without math but HSC with math, 12.07 per cent BSc with other subjects and math, 11.06 per cent HSC with math, another 11.06 per cent HSC without math and 5.31 per cent no math in degree or HSC.
Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka controller of exams Professor SM Kamal Uddin Hyder said that the SSC examinees were mainly weak in English and mathematics.
‘The main reason for this is the teachers who teach these two subjects in the secondary level are not being appointed subject-based,’ he said, adding that the teachers usually took classes of all subjects.
Hyder also said that the teachers with degrees in these subjects did not want to stay at villages or in rural areas, as they wanted to shift to urban areas to earn much more by tutoring.
‘Their salary and honour in society both are very low,’ he said, adding that the subject-wise teacher appointment was necessary to address the issue, which required a policy-level decision.
Professor Zinnah urged the authorities to identify the educational institutions with weaker results and take steps accordingly.
‘So far we have only built physical infrastructure in the education sector, while we are yet to build the human skill-based infrastructure,’ Rasheda said.Â
