Low exam pass rate
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The results for this year's basic education exams have seen a low pass rate in grades 5 and 9, which were designated as government-controlled exams by the No.3 Basic Education Department (BED).
Grade 5 saw 76 per cent passes whereas grade 9 had a 54 per cent success rate with those failing having to re-sit the exams, according to the No.3 BED.
“My daughter failed English and mathematics. She will re-sit these subjects. Lots of students are failing the exams and are disqualified,” Thandar Ko, a Bahan resident, said.
The mother of Thant Zin, a grade 9 student at No.7 Basic Education Middle School, Thaketa Township, Yangon, said: “My son could do the exam well since the beginning of the school year. So he passed the exam. There are a lot of students failing the grade 9 exams because they got used to the continuous progress system. For them, the government-sponsored exams became a barrier to success. But I think these exams are to promote the students’ ability. The students passing these exams are qualified. Now my son is preparing for the next grade.”
More than 800,000 students sat the grade 5 and grade 9 exams across the country, according to the No.3 BED.
Shwe Kyin, the mother of the grade 9 student, said: “The exams had stayed the same for two decades. Now the grade 5 and grade 9 tests have changed into government-controlled exams. In the past, I took it easy because all the students passed the exams without difficulty. This year, I was worried about my daughter but she passed the exams.”
More students passed grade 5 than 9 this year. Students can re-sit their exams on May 14, 15 and 16. Students who failed will be given lectures on April 27.
There are 82,464 grade 9 students in the Yangon Region and only 34,068 or 41 per cent passed the exams.
Khin Than Swe, head of No.1 Basic Education High School, Thingangyun Township, Yangon, said: “Students who failed one or two subjects will be kept separate from those who failed all the subjects. Most failures were in mathematics, history and English. A total of 295 students from my school failed the exams.”
Myanmar’s education quality has been a worry, as the country needs more skilled workforce to satisfy the increasing demand.
Last year, out of a total of 541,946 high-school students who sat for the matriculation examination in March, only 171,647 students or 31.67 percent passed, according to the Ministry of Education. In Myanmar, basic education students, who pass the matriculation exam, will be basically admitted to the universities.
