Poor math and English exam performance, along with little success in humanities subjects, has dragged the SSC pass rate to its lowest level in nine years. A total of 77.77 percent students have passed the SSC and similar exam under the eight General Education Boards, the Madrasa Board and the Technical Education Board, a 2.58 percent decrease from last year. A change in the system of evaluation had caused a drop in the SSC result from 88.70 percent to 80.35 percent last year. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid has also attributed this year’s lower pass rate to the new evaluation system. The pass rate in math and English took a nosedive in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Jashore, Chattogram, Sylhet and Dinajpur and among those who gave the equivalent Madrasa and Technical board exams, while Cumilla board saw a rise in number of students passing in English and math. Cumilla Board was an unusual exception, scoring a 21.03 percent higher pass rate than last year. The Barishal board too saw a rise in number of students passing the math exam. The same question paper was used across the country, with the creative questions in math held responsible for the lower pass rate. While it remained unchanged for science and business Studies, the humanities subjects saw the pass rate drop to 69 percent from last year's 80.21 percent. “There is a dearth of standard math and English teachers in rural areas, resulting in more students studying humanities,” said Inter-Education Board Coordination Sub-Committee President MU Ziaul Haque adding that more students failing in math, English and the humanities led to the ‘disaster’ in overall pass rate. “Teachers have to update themselves on the syllabus and curriculum. They have to take the initiative to address the problems. We will instruct them on the issue,” he said, stressing the need for training of math and English teachers. Madrasa Education Board Chairman AKM Sayef Ullah said the pass rate in math saw a dip of 17.70 percent from last year among Madrasa Board students. Also, pass rates in two other subjects- Civics and Computer Education saw declines of 22.30 percent and 13.51 percent, which have contributed to the overall lower pass rate in the Madrasa Board, he said. The Sylhet board has the lowest pass rate in SSC exams this year- 70.42 percent, 9.84 percent lower than last year. The Sylhet board’s pass rate in math dipped 14.58 percent below that of the results last year and dropped 4.81 percent in English. Kabir Ahmed said the Sylhet Board has more students in the humanities division, resulting in more number of students failing in SSC exam. "Generally these students are weak in math and not habituated to answering creative questions; not even the teachers are used to it," he explained the reason. SSC pass rates in the past nine years ranged from 77 percent to 92 percent with the highest number in being 92.67 in 2014 and the lowest this year - 77.77 percent Latest News