41.57 percent make it through SLC

NIRAJANA SHARMA KATHMANDU, June 11 The SLC pass percentage has dipped to a five-year low, with just a little more than 40 per cent of the total number of examinees passing the exams this year. Only 41.57 per cent of the total number of examinees have made it through what is still called by many the Iron Gate, which is down by 6 percentage points compared to last year. In 2012, 47.16 percent of the examinees had passed the SLC exams. Of the total of 403,936 students who appeared in this year´s SLC under the regular quota, only 167,935 succeeded, including 16,942 passing with distinction marks (above 80 per cent). While 76,165 students received first division marks, 69,830 received second division marks. Similarly, only 5,016 students passed with third division marks. According to the Office of the Controller of Examinations (OCE), which published the SLC results on Tuesday, 6,067 examinees dropped out of the exams while 60 examinees were expelled. Similarly, the results of 818 students have been withheld for various reasons. And the exams of 230 students have been cancelled as they submitted their exam forms from two different schools. In 2011, 55.95 per cent of examinees had passed the SLC exams — down by 9 percentage points compared to the previous year. In 2010, 64. 95 per cent had passed. In 2009, the SLC pass percentage was 68.47, the highest since the new curriculum for grade 10 was introduced in 2000. Since 2009, the SLC pass percentage has been slipping continuously, which education experts say is a result of the over-politicization of schools. Most of the students have failed in Mathematics, English and Science, according to Exam Controller Khaga Raj Baral. Meanwhile, 7.76 percent of the total number of 107,229 students who appeared in the SLC exams under the exempted quota have passed this year. Of them, 117 have managed to pass with first division marks. The failure of nearly 60 per cent of students in this year´s SLC is a result of lack of responsibility on the part of the political leadership, say education experts. “The bureaucrats responsible for providing quality education to students have political backing, which they use to get away with negligence,” says education expert Man Prasad Wagle. “Teachers are attending political seminars at a time when they are supposed to be in the classroom.” At the same time, the poor result also indicates that the Education Act 1971 is not working in the current scenario and the policies need to be revised through debate and discussion, he added. Partly agreeing with Wagle, another expert, Bishnu Karki, said that the teachers did not fulfill their responsibility. But then the students who appeared in this year´s SLC were in school when the Maoist insurgency was at its peak. “Let´s not forget that war leaves multiple impact and the poor performance of students in these crucial exams is part of this impact,” he mentioned, adding that the gap could have been filled if we had dedicated teachers at all schools in the rural areas. The rise and fall in the SLC pass percent is just an illusion, and the fact is that the quality of the country´s education has never improved, claimed Karki. “The results were high only in those years when the exam centers were controlled by the guardians and private institutes, just like the political party cadres capture voting booths during elections,” he argued. Education Secretary Som Nath Subedi argued that regular protests and strikes affected the schools 644 times in the last academic year, and this has been reflected in the SLC success rate. Similarly, the examinations were also conducted in a more disciplined way compared to previous years, he claimed. “The result is not very satisfactory when compared with our investment in improving the school education system over a decade,” Subedi admitted. “We have a lot to learn from this year´s outcome.” Exam Controller Baral defended the poor results, saying that increase and decrease in pass rates are also determined by the number of studious and less well prepared students appearing in a particular year. “It´s more about the preparation of individual students for going through the Iron Gate, which I like to term a golden gate,” Baral mentioned. He also urged all the unsuccessful students to have patience and start preparing for a second attempt. The OCE would be conducting the supplementary exams from August 4 onwards. Results leaked unofficially Meanwhile, the OCE environment became tense during the day after the office itself leaked the SLC results to private contractors and individuals before announcing them officially. “Guided by their vested interests, the OCE unethically provided the results information to individual persons,” said Ishwar Raj Dhakal, president of the Education Journalists Network. He added that the OCE should not have invited journalists if they were all set to leak the results unofficially. While the officers were sitting at a board meeting, the office provided a soft copy of the results in a pen-drive to Mahesh Shrestha, principal of Pushpa Sadan School. Shrestha is also a younger brother of Umesh Shrestha, president of the Higher Secondary School Association of Nepal. People from other private organizations were also allowed to enter the “confidential” board meeting. For the first time in history, the SLC results have not been published in the print media. The results could be accessed at government website http://www.slcresult.soce.gov.np <http://www.slcresult.soce.gov.np&gt;, soce.gov.np <http://www.soce.gov.np&gt; , moe.gov.np, doe.gov.np and slc.ntc.net.np. Several other websites also posted the results. Likewise, telephone and SMS services have been provided to give out the results as quickly as possible. Regular Year      Pass percent      Total appeared            Total Passed 2013      41.57                    403936                          167935 2012       46.6                     419049                          197641 2011      55.5                      397833                          222568 2010      64.31                    385221                          250220 2009      68.47                    342632                          234602
Source: Republica Daily Link: http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=56075
Published on 2013-06-12 03:09:47