Abysmal Outcome
The deterioration in the pass percentage expose huge weaknesses in country’s education system
By A CORRESPONDENT
When the results of this year’s School Leaving Certificate (SLC) were published this week, it showed the country was marching behind in education.
The pass percentage of this year’s SLC stood at hopeless 38.72 percent showing how a huge amount of resources spent on education was going down the drain. The pass percent instead of improving had slipped by eight percent compared to previous year.
Mere 38.72 percent or 83,747 students of the total of 216,303 regular examinees have passed this year. Likewise, 1856 regular examinees secured first division with distinction, 31,029 came out in first division, 45,888 were in the second division while 4974 came in the third division. On the exempted side, of the total 57,860 students who appeared for the examinations, only 5124 or 8.86 percent passed.
In results published on Monday (June 13) night, Samir Shrestha of Kavre Mahavidyalaya, Banepa became the nation-topper securing 91.37 percent marks. Shubha Acharya of Galaxy Public School stood first among the girls, securing 91 percent marks.
But their happiness could not be shared by overwhelming majority of Nepalese students who have just not been able to pass the exams.
At a time when the schools in the country – particularly in villages – are running in an extremely adverse environment, the downfall in the pass percent may not be entirely unexpected. When schools remain closed for weeks, when students and teachers are regularly abducted, when bombs explode in schools – it is not justified to expect better results.
The series of strikes have dealt a bloody blow to the future of millions of young Nepalese. Due to inherent instability in the country, tens of thousands of youths are leaving the country to seek job opportunities in India and overseas. “Every year over 150,000 youths go overseas for works. And about 70 percent of them are educated only up to secondary level,” said a manpower agent. And even among those who stay behind to continue education up to SLC level, vast majority fail the exams, which leads them to drop their education and pursue other works – adding up to the growing pool of semi-educated and unskilled workers who cannot expect to earn much even if they leave for overseas jobs.
The SLC results also show that private schools have fared much better in imparting quality education. This calls for policies that would upgrade the quality in government schools in the days to come.
This also calls for better appreciation of the contribution of private schools. At a time when a section of people have demanded the total nationalization of education and scrapping of private schools, the SLC results show how utterly destructive such a move would be.
