The government’s claim that stricter marking contributed to this year’s HSC results debacle is under scrutiny, as English and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) recorded highest failure rates amid severe teacher shortages in both subjects.
TIMES spoke to representatives of 10 colleges across at least five districts, examination controllers from several education boards and other education stakeholders. The findings reveal a severe shortage of qualified ICT teachers at college level, alongside longstanding shortages of English teachers.
Educationists say the authorities cannot blame students alone when nearly half of all candidates have failed.
According to the Ministry of Education, 5,94,113 of the 12,70,583 candidates who sat this year’s HSC and equivalent examinations failed. Of them, 2,43,528 failed in English alone and 1,38,493 in ICT. Together, the figures represent approximately 3.82 lakh subject failures, equivalent to 64 per cent of the total number of unsuccessful candidates.
Yet 102 of the country’s 710 government colleges have no ICT teaching posts, according to the Ministry of Education and the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE). Many private colleges also lack qualified teachers for the subject, which has been compulsory since 2013.
Mohammad Mojibur Rahman, a professor at Dhaka University’s Institute of Education and Research, criticised poorly planned decisions and repeated changes to the education system.
“Subjects have been introduced without preparation, other activities have been prioritised instead of addressing the shortage of qualified teachers, and students have repeatedly been made guinea pigs through sudden changes to curricula and examination systems,” he told TIMES.
He blamed the absence of a clear education policy and proper planning. “The state, policymakers and bureaucrats are responsible for failures on such a large scale,” he said.
Weaknesses in English teaching are longstanding, but Mojibur also questioned the previous Awami League government’s decision to make ICT compulsory without ensuring adequate facilities.
“A subject should be made compulsory only when it is possible to provide everyone with the necessary facilities. But ICT was suddenly introduced as a compulsory subject in 2013. Since then, it has been affecting the results of students in rural areas,” he said.
Shortages of qualified teachers, laboratories and learning materials have left many students facing unequal learning opportunities.
Cumilla Education Board Controller of Examinations Md Shafiqul Islam said 56 of the 456 colleges under the board had no ICT teachers. Most teachers at the remaining 400 colleges were not subject specialists. Many held diplomas, while some taught with temporary certificates.
Sonar Bangla College ICT teacher Mizanur Rahman said, “It is difficult to teach ICT without proficiency in programming. As a result, many students fail in ICT almost every year.”
The college has recorded a 100 per cent pass rate for 15 consecutive years.
No comprehensive data is available on how many of the country’s 9,439 higher secondary institutions have qualified ICT teachers.
When ICT became compulsory in 2013, there were no designated teaching posts. After 2016, the government created 273 cadre posts for ICT lecturers in government colleges, with the first 145 lecturers joining in 2021.
Under the 2018 regulations, ICT posts in nationalised colleges fall under the non-cadre category.
Many private colleges rely on teachers of other subjects, guest teachers or part-time instructors to conduct ICT classes.
Naogaon Government College Principal Md Rezaul Karim said the institution had only one ICT teacher for 1,200 students.
“Our college has 1,200 students. But there is only one teacher to teach them, who studied computer science and engineering and joined the college through the BCS examination. Managing classes for so many students with just one teacher is extremely difficult,” he said.
Several students who passed this year’s HSC examinations at Rangpur Government City College said they had learnt little in ICT practical classes. They claimed that students received some of the 25 marks allocated for practical examinations simply by attending.
English teaching also suffers from longstanding deficiencies.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS) report “Bangladesh Education Statistics 2025” found that at least 20 per cent of secondary-level mathematics and English teachers lack subject-specific competence.
Nearly 40 per cent of secondary school teachers also lack professional qualifications such as BEd, MEd or BPEd. The situation at the higher secondary level is similarly poor.
Ghosherpara Government College Principal Md Shafiqul Islam, from Melandaha upazila in Jamalpur, said, “Our college has one teacher each for ICT and English. But one teacher is not enough to teach more than 100 students at the college.”
Jamalpur’s Nabbachar High School and College Principal Mohammad Faridul Islam said the institution lacked an ICT teacher and struggled to hold regular classes.
“Our institution has not yet been brought under the Monthly Pay Order (MPO) system. Although we have an English teacher, there is no ICT teacher. The teachers working here stay in different places to earn their livelihoods. As a result, regular classes cannot be held,” he said.
Chakuli Degree College Principal Yakub Ali, from Manda upazila in Naogaon, said the college needed at least three English teachers but had only one.
DSHE Director General Khan Moinuddin Al Mahmud Sohel said, “There is a shortage of well-trained, subject-specialist teachers in subjects such as English and ICT. For now, plans are being made to organise area-based clusters and conduct classes using subject-specialist teachers to address the shortage.”
Under the proposed arrangement, available subject specialists would teach at institutions lacking such teachers. “Teachers specialising in particular subjects at institutions where they are available could conduct classes at institutions that do not have such teachers. This would temporarily meet students’ needs. At the same time, initiatives are being taken to resolve the shortage in the long term,” he said.
The DSHE has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Education to recruit teachers based on staffing requirements and available posts in government colleges.
However, Rajshahi Education Board Controller of Examinations Iffat Zereen rejected teacher shortages as an explanation for the poor results. “The negative impact on the results was mainly due to students’ lack of attention to their studies. The quality of education has also declined,” she said.
AN Rasheda, a retired teacher at Notre Dame College and co-founder of the Bangladesh College-University Teachers Association, criticised bureaucratic obstacles to improving education.
“More than 90 per cent of students at secondary and higher secondary levels in the country study in private institutions. The Awami League government once took initiative to recruit good teachers by offering some additional benefits to private schools and colleges to improve the quality of science education. But bureaucrats created complications over bringing those teachers under the MPO system. Bureaucrats have always warned the government about excessive expenditure when it comes to improving the quality of Bangladesh’s education system,” she told TIMES.
Additional reporting by Mahfuj Nanto in Cumilla, Saimum Sabbir Shovon in Jamalpur and Rifat Hossain Shobuj in Naogaon.
