With new curriculum, few takers among students who failed old matriculation exam

By Admin 26 Oct 2023

DMG Newsroom
26 October 2023, Sittwe
 
Nearly 7,000 students failed the matriculation exam under the old curriculum in the previous academic year in Arakan State, and only 576 of them have registered to sit the matriculation exam or Grade 12 exam under the new curriculum to be held next year, according to the state education office.
 
A total of 6,964 students failed the matriculation exam under the old curriculum in the academic year 2022-23. A total of 17,645 new students have registered to sit the Grade 12 exam in the academic year 2023-24, according to U Ba Htwe Sein, head of the state education office.
 
“The number of students taking the matriculation exam is low this year because of the high pass rate last year,” he said.
 
A total of 16,928 students took the matriculation exam under the old curriculum in the academic year 2022-23, and 9,964 of them passed the exam. The pass rate was 58.86 percent.
 
Ma Pan Myat Thu from Mrauk-U, who failed the matriculation exam last year, said: “I will have to learn the new curriculum if I am to take the exam this year. I am a little discouraged to take the exam, so I didn’t register.”
 
Ma Pan Myat Thu said she decided not to take the exam because she heard that Grade 12 students at public schools are not satisfied with the teaching from their schoolteachers.
 
The new curriculum is more difficult than the old one, said some students and teachers.
 
Boarding school teacher Daw Nu Nu Yi from Sittwe said: “Over 10 students failed the exam last year. Only two of them are attending under the new curriculum. The new curriculum is very difficult, and there is one more subject.”
 
There are six subjects in Grade 11 (matriculation) under the old curriculum, and there are seven subjects in the new curriculum. The new subject is social science.
 
A schoolteacher from Ponnagyun said she has no difficulties teaching her pupils because she has received relevant training provided by the Education Ministry.
 
“It is not very difficult as I have received training. But I am not yet very familiar with the new curriculum.”
 
A total of 41,755 students took the matriculation exam in the academic year 2021-22, and a total of 19,729 students passed the exam. The pass rate was 47.25 percent..