Quality vs quantity debate in education

Md. Khairul Hasan :
There goes a most familiar maxim that ‘Education is the backbone of a nation’. Education makes an individual enlightened, enables to justify right and wrong and finally develop one’s spiritual capability. Education brings perfection in life. Educated people can change their fate. They are torch bearer for the whole nation. They are self-sufficient and lead the nation to the way of prosperity and success. So education is a must to bring positive change in the society. But question arises what type of education it is? Is it w
mere education? Simply the answer is ‘no’. Only quality education with moral lesson deserves all credit of changes. Parroting education or hybrid education can do nothing for the individual as well as the nation. Quality of education is stronger than quantity of educated people. So we should put emphasis on quality education to get ultimate benefit of the education. Our present education system is not up to the mark enough. Our existing public examination system is questionable by all counts.  
Every year the number of educated people is increasing positively in the country. Pass rate in the public examination is getting new record than that of previous years. This year the pass rate of SSC is over 91 percent which is about 2 percent higher than that of the last year. But this most successful result does not make us happy. Moreover, it can be presumed that the pass rate of HSC examination this year will be higher than the result of the last year. A few days ago, I read a reader’s opinion in a daily where the writer mentioned that he knows a school and college where students are coming from low income families. Only four girls out of sixty one students managed to obtain pass mark in all subjects in their test examination last year. He heard from a teacher who was an examiner under the concerned board admitted that he was directed by the head examiner to give excessive marks. If someone failed, he had to make them pass even though they originally had acquired numbers like 19, 20, 21 etc. If a dull headed student gets same marks as that of a brilliant student by the grace of such scrutiny, injustice is done to the meritorious student. We do not know why the government is trying hard to flood the country with such results. Does it earn something valuable for the nation? It does a serious harm to the overall educational system of the country as well as discourages brilliant students while making the dull headed averse to study. It is perhaps the common scenario of most of the educational institutions across the country.
The SSC results came out this year with the message of significantly higher pass rates and higher grades. This has become a common picture for the last six years which definitely make us jubilant as it shows that we are rightly keeping pace with the global scenario. It makes us undoubtedly happy to see the increasing trend of our results. In 2007, the SSC pass rate was 58.36% while the percentage rose to 91.34 this year. A total of 142,276 students have obtained GPA 5 this year compared to 25,732 in 2007. On the other hand, pass rates in national exams used to stand below 50 percent about two decades ago in 1990; the SSC pass rate was only 22.82% in the humanities group while it was 43.63% in the science group according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Education Information and Statistics. We have increased the pass rate successfully. But time has come to think very seriously about the quality as well. Does the present trend tell us that the quality of education has improved? If not, we must find out the causes without being self-complacent.
Some may claim that the existing grading system in the examinations has brought dramatic change in the result which contributed to increasing pass rate. Well, before the introduction of grading system if a student obtained just a first division, he/she was considered to be a good student without any doubt. Those who obtained star marks were considered excellent students. Today if any student obtains GPA 5 nobody considers it better result. If he needs to get admitted anywhere, he/she is to face admission test again not only because of limited seats but also to assess his/her real position. So, what is the credit of just awarding full marks or high marks? Does this evaluation actually give credibility?
This year’s SSC and equivalent examinations results evoked a mixed reaction from all corners. Whatever the type of reaction is, the young learners, who passed and all those who contributed to the national achievement directly or indirectly, deserve thanks. But the public perception about the results is unpalatable. People bitterly raise questions about the credibility of the results because of some factors that lead people to think that the improved results of a good number of students are not the full reflection of their merit and hard work. The factors such as question leaks, solving problems in the exam halls with the help of invigilators or fellow examinees, examiners’ generosity in grading and so on give rise to doubt about genuineness of the high percentage of success of students in public examinations.
There is a question mark on the high pass rate and the large number of GPA-5 holders, but the better results are not unexpected. It happens, when a nation improves in the area of education. A gradual improvement in results is natural. The improved results seem unusual when there is a public perception that primary and secondary educational institutions are not functioning well and as a result, guardians have to buy education for their children from coaching centres and individual tutors to meet their children’s needs, which the educational institutions failed to provide. Above all, there are rumours of leakage of question papers that cast a shadow on the brilliance of the students who genuinely did well in the exams. The administration can take the allegations into cognizance or just ignore them by saying that there is no evidence that the questions were leaked out. If the authorities take the second view, it will in future bring more disgrace to those who will pass the examinations and those who will be in charge of holding the examinations.
The incident of question leakages in the public examination in the recent years has bitterly shocked the people of sound conscience. Quality education is randomly violated by this unethical practice. One of my nearest relative sat for SSC Examination this year from a reputed School in Dhaka city. Like other classmates, he used to get questions papers along with answer scripts just before the exam date. He was vomiting on the exam script what he swallowed in the previous night. His guardian insisted him to read more and more ahead of examinations, but he was confident that he will score a better result in the examinations. And finally he did well in the SSC result. In the HSC examination, same happenings are being repeated in case of another of my relative who is sitting for HSC exam from a noted college in Dhaka City. Other examinees are also getting questions papers. One examination has been postponed in the face of allegation of question leakage. These incidents hurt us. We are concerned about the quality of education and the future of our next generation. Discrimination is also found there as the urban students are getting more facilities than those of rural students in all respects. Besides, urban students age getting questions papers of public examinations by virtue of modern technology and internet within a short span of time. On the other hand, rural students remain under dark shadow. They try their best to do good result in the examinations. This is a big stigma of the prevailing exam system and a clear infringement of quality education.
It is easy to check the anomalies in an examination hall. But it is difficult to fight the question paper leaks because of the deep-rooted corruption at all level from the top to the bottom. Still there are people who are honest enough. Sometimes they remain honest even at the risk of their lives. The leaks take place, when the questions are set. They can also be leaked out by moderators, composers, printers, distributors or packers. I am sure that it is not difficult to find out who are involved in the process. They must be identified and punished for the sake of ensuring quality education and for the sake of building a better nation.
As we know, the purpose of education is to humanise all the systems. But knowingly or unknowingly we are leaving dehumanizing effects on our new generation involving them in stealing, cheating, fraudulent practices, corruption and many other unethical activities. Sometimes we, the guardians and the teachers, create pressure on or encourage the learners to have a look at leaked questions or to adopt unfair means in examinations. Thus every day we are weakening the moral base of the younger generation, these practices make some offences quite normal to the children. Those who work in the arena of education holding high or low positions, cannot avoid their responsibility. If they fail to solve this problem, the future generation will not forgive them. It is time to rethink ourselves to come out from bad practices. Most of the people, who abuse their power for holding particular posts in the administration, do it with some ill motives. Some of them target such posts to earn illegal money or to achieve something else. Because of the connection of corrupt employees with power quarters, the administration cannot bring them to light. Are the corrupt people more powerful than the ministry of education or the government? Of course, not. They must abide by the law of the land. They are destroying our nation ultimately. But they have no right to destroy our sound education system as well as the nation. Same scenario we see in the recruitment tests in government organisations including the BCS examination where question leakage, corruption, nepotism, bribing are common phenomena.
If this ill trend in the examination system continues, our whole education system will be jeopardized in near future. We will lose our ethical values, morality and spirit of our soul and ultimately our nation will fall in a grave danger.
The government’s role is very important here. By ignoring a trifling political gain, the government should check all anomalies with an iron hand for the greater interest of the nation. All conscious people irrespective of caste, creed and ideology will appreciate the government. We who want to see a change, like to do good for society and want to build a prosperous county can not avoid our responsibility in this respect. We should come forward from our stand and keep role in resisting all kind of irregularities. Morality, ethical practices, social values, religious teaching and innate humanistic behaviors should be nourished and practiced more and more to ensure quality education which might be play a significant role in developing our body, mind and soul.