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Biggest exams begin

20 lakh primary school children participate under new system

Staff Correspondent
About 1.83 million class V students took part in the newly introduced public examinations across the countryyesterday with great enthusiasm.
Of the total 1.98 million students, 92.27 percent appeared on the first day of the Primary Education Terminal Examination, according to the control room of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education at 9:00 last night.
A number of students and their guardians in
the capital and elsewhere passed an anxious day on the first day due to the new system beginning with two exams with an interval of two hours.
Otherwise, a festive look wore in the examination centres in the country as the students for the first time in their life attended the public examinations.
The largest public examination of the country started at 10:00am at 5,343 centres across
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the country with the number of female students higher than the males.
The exams began with Bangla in the first phase followed by science at 2:00pm. The students will sit for mathematics and religion today and English and social science on November 24.
Both the students and their guardians believe the questions were apparently easy which was a relief for both the groups.
Primary and Mass Education Minister Afsarul Amin visited different exam centres and talked to the examiners, centre officials and students.
While visiting some centres in Narayanganj, he said the government is putting utmost efforts to upgrade the standard of education. They will improve the exam system next year, he added.
A number of examinees in the city told The Daily Star the questions were easy and they performed well on the first day.
"The questions were quite common and I did very well," said Nazmun Nahar of Uttara HighSchool.
She however said it would have been better for them if one exam was held each day.
A different angle was revealed by Redwanul Islam of Azampur Govt High School. He told The Daily Star he could have done well if the questions were not so easy.
"My teachers and parents taught me answers to the tough questions. But the questions in the exams were easy which was beyond our imagination."
A significant number of guardians welcomed the new system. But most of them say it would have been better if the authorities took six exams in six days as two exams a day is a huge pressure for the little ones.
"Except the talented ones, the general students are not accustomed to giving two exams in a day. It was a huge pressure on them," said NasimaAkhter, a guardian.
"Even there has been a gap between the exams in the School Secondary Certificate (SSC) examinations, but there is no gap here," she added.
The guardians also say they did not have much time to prepare their children, while some point out to anxiety of their children for going to new exam venues.
"My daughter got panicked during the search for her sit in the exam centre, which was completely new to her," said an anxious mother Rozina.
The new system will make the students more attentive as they have to study the entire books to sit for the terminal exams, the guardiansobserve.
Another guardian Mizanur Rahman said all students do not have same merit or capability and it was too tough for the general students to complete entire syllabus within a few months.
"It would be better if the authorities hold the exams next year after a yearlong preparation," he added.
Every exam venue in the capital was thronged by the guardians, especially by the
mothers of the children. They say traffic jam and shortage of public transport put much trouble on them to reach the exam centres in time.
The teachers concerned say initially there might be some mismanagement in the system but it will create a sense of competition among the children from their early life.
They also point out to the fact of having less time for the preparation of the students.
Our correspondents from different districts report that the first day of the examinations passed peacefully with Jot of enthusiasm among the students.
At least 1,197 students were absent on the first day in all the seven centres in the district, reports our Satkhira correspondent.
Around 13 percent of the total examinees in the district were absent, writes our correspondent from Kurigram.
The Awami League government introduced the new public examination in place of primary scholarship exam-ination with a view to imparting equal education to all students.
From now on, there will be no separate scholarship examinations. The students must pass the terminal exams to get enrolled in class VI. Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of their results in two categories --talent-pool and general -half to boys and half to girls.
Earlier, only 40 percent of primary school students across the country used to sit for the scholarship exams. In that system, teachers had to remain busy with an exam meant for some selected students.
The result of the exams is likely to be announced on December 20 and the students would get certificates after that.