Following the announced drop in this year’s pass rates in the HSC exams, there has been much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, as people have taken it as the latest sign of the apocalypse.
The prime minister along with the education minister pointed fingers at the opposition parties for staging hartals, where students missed key classes and exams, as the reason for the drop.
We would suggest that focusing so obsessively on pass rates, as well as the numbers enrolled, as we do in Bangladesh, is part of the problem. Enrollment numbers are important. Pass rates are important. But they are not the be all and end all for measuring educational achievement.
The real issue is with the quality of the education on offer, that has been diminishing steadily over the years. Nor has our curriculum kept up with the changing times or the needs, either of the nation or of the students themselves.
In education, as elsewhere as a nation, we consistently look to the wrong markers to judge whether we are advancing or not.
The question is not how many students pass the HSC or how many achieve GPA-5. The question is whether the ones who have passed are adequately prepared for further education and the job market.
Obsessing on pass rates is beside the point and misdirects our energy from more productive inquiries into the dismal state of education in the country.
