The combined pass rate in the maiden junior school certificate (JSC) and junior dakhil certificate (JDC) exams is 73.04 percent.

The combined pass rate in the maiden junior school certificate (JSC) and junior dakhil certificate (JDC) exams is 73.04 percent The results of the exams, that started being held at the completion of class VIII in general schools and madrasas this year, were published yesterday.

The pass rate in JSC exam is 71.34 percent, and in JDC exam 81.03 percent.Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid briefed the media about the results yesterday afternoon in Bangladesh Secretariat.

When reporters asked him whether he is happy about the JSC and JDC exams' pass rate in light of the 92 percent pass rate in primary terminal examinations, the minister said the results are "not dissatisfactory".He said JSC and JDC exams cannot be compared with primary terminal exams.

Class VIII students took public exams for the first time this year, and they did not get enough time for preparation as the exams had been announced only a few months ago, he added.

"A number of students, especially in the rural areas, were not accustomed to such public examinations before, and they did not get much time for preparation. On top of that, there was no pre-selection exam like the ones usually held before secondary and higher secondary certificate exams," he said.

Other education officials also noted that the success rate could have been better had the students got more time for preparation, and the announcement of the examinations had been made earlier.

They observed that many students failed mostly in English, mathematics, and science subjects due to a lack of efficient teachers for those subjects.The education minister said committees have already been formed to find out why class VIII students tend to do bad in English, maths, and science. The committees will also recommend remedies, he added.

"We could not explain the question patterns and syllabus to the students adequately, for a lack of preparation time, and for that the rate of unsuccessful students is a bit higher I think," Barisal Education Board Chairman Prof Bimal Krishna Mazumder told The Daily Star.

A total of 8,556 students under 8 general education boards and 1 madrasa board scored the highest GPA-5 (grade point average) this year; 8052 of them are of general schools and 504 are of madrasas.As many as 10,20,047 students -- 8,22,275 of the general schools and 1,97,772 of the madrasas -- passed the examinations, while 3,76,552 failed.

A total of 15,09,847 students from 27,289 general schools and madrasas had registered for the exams, of whom 13,96,599 took the exams. Of them, 11,52,536 were of the 8 general education boards, and 2,44,063 of the madrasa board.

The number of schools with cent percent pass rate is 863, while only 2 madrasas got that credit. No student from 272 schools and 95 madrasas passed this year.The results were formally handed over to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the morning, prior to their publication.

Boys are ahead of girls in terms of pass rate and high GPA, even though the number of girl examinees was higher than the boys'. The pass rate among boys is 75.65 while the rate is 70.68 among girls.Of the total GPA-5 scorers, 4,820 are boys and 3,736 are girls.Among the students of general education boards, examinees of Barisal Board did the best with a pass rate of 81.75 percent while Sylhet Board is at the bottom with 61.97 percent pass rate. Dhaka is the second with 80.58 percent passed.

The government made a list of top 20 institutions for each general education board and the madrasa board on the basis of three factors -- total number of examinees, passed examinees, and the number of GPA-5 achievers.

On that basis, under Dhaka Education Board, Ideal School and College in Motijheel of the capital became the top school while Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, and Monipur High School became the second and the third respectively. In all other general education boards the top institutions are cadet colleges.

Under the madrasa board, Tamirul Millat Kamil Madrasa in Tongi of Gazipur became the first while Darunnazat Siddikia Kamil Madrasa, and Tamirul Millat Kamil Madrasa -- both in Demra of Dhaka secured the second and third positions respectively.

The pass rate for 7 general schools under foreign centres is 98.16 percent.Prof Fahima Khatun, chairman of Dhaka Education Board, told The Daily Star that she expected the results of all general education boards to be on a par with the results of Barisal and Dhaka boards.

"But some boards did not do as good, since English and math teachers in many areas are not efficient enough," she added.Dr SMA Abdul Khaleque, chairman of Sylhet Board which did the worst among general education boards, said, arrangements should be made for more training of teachers.

Briefing the reporters, the education minister said the government is trying to bring equality in the standard of education with such competitive public exams based on unified question papers.He said, the maiden JSC and JDC exams helped the government to understand what are the problems at this level of the education system.

He greeted all students of junior schools and junior dakhil madrasas saying many students took the exams with courage amid economic hardship.Asked whether any grace mark was awarded to the examinees to increase the pass rate, he said no grace mark was given.

Regarding scholarships to students who passed on the top of merit lists, he said the government will increase the number of scholarships, and an announcement regarding the matter will come soon. Currently, 22,000 scholarships -- 7,000 on the basis of extraordinary merit and 15,000 on the basis of general merit -- are being awarded at the completion of junior level general school education, he said adding that madrasa students will also get scholarships in the future.