Admission rush
5 city schools may be turned into colleges
Staff Correspondent

The government contemplates upgrading at least five reputed schools into colleges in the capital to ease the possible heavy rush for admission to good colleges as the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination results markedly improved this year.The education ministry has already made a preliminary selection of the schools likely to be upgraded, official sources said.

"We are considering upgrading of at least five reputed schools into colleges to accommodate several thousand students in view of the likely rush of admission-seekers at good colleges in the city," said a top official of the education ministry.The government also contemplates selecting good schools at district level to upgrade them into colleges in phases.

The percentage of pass in the SSC examinations this year rose to 48.03 from 35.91 last year and a record number of 8,597 students secured the highest grade point average (GPA) 5 and about one lakh students got more than 60 per cent marks.Only about a dozen colleges out of 130 in the capital are considered good ones. They can accommodate around 8,000 students.

Students, teachers and guardians anticipate a stiff competition for admission to good colleges this time. Thousands of students from outside Dhaka prefer to get admitted to good colleges in the capital, adding to the intensity of the competition.There are 2,484 colleges including 209 government colleges in the country, according to statistics of Bangladesh Bureau of Education Information and Statistics (BANBEIS).

The district towns mostly have one good college each, resulting in an admission rush there too, BANBEIS officials said.In the capital, admission-seekers mainly target Dhaka College, Notre Dame College, Viqarunnisa School and College, Holy Cross College, Residential Model College, Badrunnesa Government Women's College, Dhaka City College and Dhaka Commerce College.

Source:"The Daily Star" Saturday July 17, 2004