Girls outdo boys in pass rate, boys in GPA 5 [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Girls outdo boys in pass rate, boys in GPA 5

Local July 25, 2017

Girls outperformed boys in terms of pass rate in Higher Secondary Certificate and equivalents examinations for the fourth year in a row while boys outdid girls in securing Grade Point Average 5 during the same time.
Girls go out less than the boys do and they study more and pay more heed to their teachers and parents advices, which helps them pass the exam in greater number but they fall behind when it comes to better grades as the boys prefer private and coaching facilities, academics have found.
Women leaders fear that if girls are not given enough security on their way to and from educational institutions and facilities like hostels, sanitation and security are not ensured for them on the campus, their current growth rate may nosedive.
‘Social insecurity in sending girls out for taking education assistance like coaching and private tuition, which plays a role for better grade, is also responsible for girls’ bad performance in grade than boys’, Dhaka University women and gender studies associate professor Tania Haque said, adding that difference in access to facilities kept girls behind boys in terms of better grades.
Higher Secondary Certificate and equivalents examinations results published on Sunday shows that 70.43 per cent girls passed the exams against 67.61 per cent boys.
In 2016, 75.60 per cent girls and 73.93 per cent boys passed the exams, in 2015 70.23 per cent girls and 69.04 per cent boys and in 2014 78.86 per cent girls and 77.86 per cent girls passed the same exam.
A total of 20,535 boys and 17,434 girls earned GPA 5 in 2017, 32,381 boys and 25,895 girls earned GPA 5 in 2016, 23,293 boys and 19,601 girls achieved GPA 5 in 2015 and 38,787 boys and 31,815 girls earned GPA 5 in 2014.
Girls are also doing better in Secondary School Certificate and equivalent exams as 80.78 per cent girls and 79.93 per cent boys passed the exam in 2017 and 88.39 per cent girls and 88.20 per cent boys passed the exams in 2016.
In both the years, boys achieved GPA 5 more than the girls.
Tania said that there was a perception that it was enough for girls to pass the exam.
Many guardians still preferred their boys to their girls in sending them to better coaching and private tuition, she observed.
‘Girls help their families more than the boys, so they do not get enough time to study which is reflected in their results,’ she said.
Inter-education board
coordination subcommittee chairman Mahbubur Rahman, also Dhaka education board chairman, said that mind-set toward girls education changed a lot, so girls outnumbered in enrolment and outperformed their boy peers in terms of results at primary and secondary level.
He said an analysis was needed to know why the boys were doing better in terms of grade points.
‘It is unfortunate that many parents still put emphasis on boys’ education assistance than that of girls. But the hope is that the situation is changing,’ he added.
Education minister Nurul Islam Nahid observed that girls were doing better than the boys, which was very encouraging.
‘It proves that girls are coming out, which is important for women empowerment,’ he said.
Girls now account for 54 per cent of secondary enrolment, 51 per cent of primary enrolment and 40 per cent of higher education enrolment.
Ten years ago, girls accounted for 52 per cent of secondary, 50 per cent of primary and 38 per cent of higher education enrolment, according to officials of Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics and University Grants Commission.
Government officials said that positive development in girls’ enrolment occurred because of some specific government interventions focusing on girls, such as stipends and exemption of tuition fees for girls, and stipend scheme for girls at the secondary level.