Every year over a million students take their HSC examinees exam in Bangladesh to allow them to go to university. This year, many students were seen walking through flooding in order to reach their exam centres, some in Cumilla even travelled by boat. However, this issue was made worse due to years neglecting infrastructure and slow recruitment.
Exam Centres Not Designed for Bad Weather
Many exam centres are old buildings from schools and colleges that were not designed for large stressful exams. Many have leaky roofs, bad drainage and small rooms. During monsoon season, a few hours of heavy rain can leave an entire area cut off. In Khagrachhari, there was a report about the crumbling college building.
Disruption to Exams
During the Chattogram board exam, the exam was cancelled indefinitely due to the weather. However, the education minister has now stated that re-sits could happen. For a student who has studied for two years this can cause more stress, more money on coaching and longer to get into university.
Empty Classes
The next part of the story starts long before the exam date. The minister stated to Parliament that there are currently 60,295 teaching posts are vacant in MPO institutions. These are privately run institutions that have salary support from the government. The minister has also stated that teacher recruitment has been delayed due to legal issues. BANBEIS data shows there are thousands of posts still unfilled in government secondary schools.
Highest Impact
A college in Narayanganj had all 25 students fail last year. teacher shortage were cited as a reason for this. They did not have an English teacher for higher secondary. In cities students can attend private coaching to help fill these gaps. However, students in rural and remote areas often cannot afford to do this meaning they are affected the most.
To improve this there needs to be consistent recruitment from NTRCA and BCS, faster resolution in the courts and truthful planning for the risk of bad weather. The students are keen to work however the system must be prepared.
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