The significant drop in the pass rate of this year’s SSC candidates from the prestigious Ideal School and College in Dhaka has been attributed to a “learning deficiency” by the institution’s acting principal, Mohammad Ferdous.
Last year, the school had an impressive pass rate of 99.59%, with only 10 students failing. However, this year, the pass rate has declined to 97.95%, with 54 students failing the examination.
Speaking to The Times of Bangladesh on Thursday, the acting principal said, “Since last year’s unrest at the institution, students have not received regular classes. They suffered from a learning gap. Moreover, those who were in grades six and seven during the Covid-19 pandemic also experienced similar learning deficiencies. This batch was already behind due to the pandemic.”
He also pointed to a nationwide decline in pass rates due to the discontinuation of the “mercy pass” policy, which previously allowed students scoring 30 or above to be rounded up to 33 to pass.
This year, a total of 2,640 students from Ideal School and College appeared for the SSC exams. Of them, 2,586 passed, while 1,549 students secured GPA-5, making up 58.67% of successful candidates.
In comparison, last year the school had 2,411 SSC examinees, of whom 2,401 passed, resulting in a pass rate of 99.59%, with only 10 students failing.