SSC failures signal urgent need for skilled teachers
The sharp decline in this year’s Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examination pass rates, with a combined success rate of only 68.45 per cent — the lowest in 16 years — has laid bare a structural crisis in Bangladesh’s education system.
Mathematics and English, which recorded the highest failure rates, have once again exposed the chronic shortage of qualified subject-based teachers, particularly in rural and disadvantaged areas.
Education experts have long warned that a lack of skilled teachers, coupled with inadequate professional training, is at the heart of students’ persistent struggles in these two subjects.
According to official statistics, fewer than 16 per cent of English teachers and just 13 per cent of mathematics teachers at the secondary level hold degrees in their respective core subjects.
Instead, many teachers with general or unrelated qualifications are tasked with teaching complex subjects that require deep understanding and specialised pedagogical skills.
The problem is exacerbated by the reluctance of trained teachers to serve in rural or remote regions due to low salaries and limited career incentives.
As Rasheda K Choudhury of the Campaign for Popular Education pointed out, many qualified teachers prefer urban areas where they can earn additional income through private tutoring.
This urban bias leaves rural students — often from low-income families — at a severe disadvantage, with little access to the intensive practice and guidance needed to master mathematics and English.
The data from education boards highlights the crisis starkly. In mathematics, nearly 36 per cent of students under the Mymensingh board failed, while Barishal saw a failure rate of over 35 per cent.
English fared no better, with 30 per cent of Barishal’s students failing, followed by significant failure rates across other boards.
This is in sharp contrast to subjects like Bangla, physics, and accounting, where students routinely score above 90 out of 100.
Policy intervention is overdue. Subject-specific teacher recruitment, competitive pay scales, and mandatory professional training must become central to education reform.
Simply expanding physical infrastructure without investing in skilled human resources, as Rasheda aptly noted, will only perpetuate poor learning outcomes.
The authorities must also identify underperforming institutions and provide targeted support to address learning gaps.
Without urgent, policy-level decisions to strengthen the teaching workforce, Bangladesh risks eroding the quality of its education system and denying millions of students the foundation they need for future success.