For the first time, the government has launched a study through the education boards to identify why a large number of students are dropping out of public examinations. The decision was made at a meeting last Sunday, held both in person and via Zoom, chaired by Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education Director General Professor Dr. K.M.A.M. Sohel on the instruction of Education Minister Dr. A.N.M. Ehsanul Haque Milon, with the chairmen and exam controllers of all education boards.
Asked about the initiative, the director general said discussions were held with the chairmen and exam controllers of all boards at the directorate. A total of 260 institutions nationwide — spanning urban and rural areas across all 11 education boards, nine of them general boards — will be randomly selected for the study, which could begin as early as next week.
He said researchers will speak directly with students who dropped out, their guardians, teachers and heads of institutions. Education board officials and district and upazila secondary education officers will also take part in the research, which will be overseen overall by the Bangladesh Examination Development Unit (BEDU).
Education Minister Dr. A.N.M. Ehsanul Haque Milon said journalists’ investigative reporting on the dropout issue is being encouraged, and that the government, through the education boards, has for the first time decided to identify the actual reasons behind the large number of students not sitting for or dropping out of the HSC and equivalent examinations.
In this year’s Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations, which began on July 2, 36% of regular students are not sitting for the exam. Every year, many students who register for public examinations such as SSC and HSC ultimately do not appear, but education officials consider this year’s rate unusually high.
According to the education ministry and education boards, nearly 1.5 million students who passed the SSC and equivalent examinations two years ago (2024-25 academic year) enrolled in class eleven under the 11 education boards. Of them, around 950,000 have filled out forms for this year’s HSC and equivalent examinations — meaning roughly 550,000 regular students are not sitting for the exam.
Last year, the non-attendance rate among regular students in the HSC and equivalent examinations was a little over 29%, meaning the rate has risen by about 7 percentage points in a year. More than 425,000 registered students did not sit for the exam last year.
The picture is even more concerning at the Bangladesh Technical Education Board, where more than 54% of regular students did not even fill out exam forms this year.
This year’s SSC and equivalent examinations also showed more than 23% of students who had registered as regular students two years earlier did not sit for the exam. The number of students absent from public examinations despite filling out forms has been rising in recent years — last year, 19,759 candidates were absent on the first day of the HSC and equivalent examinations, up from 15,203 the year before.
Education officials say some students drop out at every stage as they progress through school, citing child marriage, poverty and many students entering the workforce after passing SSC as significant contributing factors.
At a recent press conference at the secretariat regarding the HSC and equivalent examinations, Education Minister A.N.M. Ehsanul Haque Milon, responding to a question, said these weaknesses are being identified and necessary measures will be taken based on the findings. He expressed hope that such a situation would not recur in the future.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report