One Life-time Chance – Win or Lose!

Photo: Prabir Das

How necessary and reasonable is it to allow only one shot to sit for the Dhaka University entrance test? Students have been on hunger strike demanding that this decision be revoked. They have a good case. And Vice Chancellor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddiques' explanation does not quite stand up to educational logic and reason.
The decision was announced last month by the VC after a row in the media and public controversy about students performing very poorly in the admission test and complaints about question paper leak. One may wonder if the move is a diversion from real problems that our educational authorities are reluctant to address.
The reasons given for the University Syndicate decision for only one shot was explained and defended by the Vice Chancellor.
The first reason cited is that those who sit for a second chance enjoys an undue advantage over the first-timers. As the Vice Chancellor put it, “Many of the students who sit for the second time in the admission test have already got admitted in various universities and even in many departments of the DU.
They enjoy all infrastructural facilities of the university and take a narrow focused yearlong preparation for the admission test in various coaching centres. On the other hand, the fresh HSC graduates get a few months time and rely mostly on their preparation on HSC curriculum. So ultimately the fresh HSC graduates have been facing discrimination in the admission test.” (“The Second Chance,” Star Magazine, 21 November 2014)
If an applicant wants to work hard and prepare well devoting one's time and energy for a second shot, should he/she be punished for that? The first-timer can have the same opportunity the next time around, if they so wish.
Moreover, there are problems with the test itself, supposedly designed to judge a student's innate merit and aptitude for university education, if a few month's coaching in a coaching centre leads to significantly improved scores.
The second reason put forward is that students already admitted to certain departments in Dhaka University try to move to their subject of choice leaving vacant seats in the original departments. A choice of a university subject is a life-time decision related to one's career and life plan. Why should a student not try a second time to get into a discipline that fits one's career and life goal?

Why should a student not try a second time to get into a discipline that fits one's career and life goal? Photo: Prabir Das

The problem of vacant places can be solved by admitting a few more students in subjects where these vacancies are likely to arise – a small percentage can be added to the admission quota based on past experience. After all, something similar is done by the best universities in the world keeping an allowance for a percentage of admitted students who do not show up or join a different institution.
The third argument is that too many applicants create logistical problems and increase chances of malpractice. The university must find ways of solving the logistics and test security issues and should not let these problems determine the character of the test and the criterion about who should be allowed or not allowed to take the test.
There are real issues about whether the test measures the intellectual ability of the applicants and what predictive value the test has for selected students' performance later. There should be serious technical assessment of this question. The matter of one common test like the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in USA for all public universities has been raised.
Most public universities, including Dhaka, have been unresponsive to this sensible suggestion. This would spare students and their parents the agony of running around to take different admission tests in different cities during the admission season. Applicants can indicate as many choices of institutions as they wish in order of their preference and they can be matched with their choices based on their score. This is a practice used for tertiary education selection in some countries.
The rather hasty decision about allowing only one chance, and that's it, does not address the more serious concerns about the university admission test.
The writer is Professor Emeritus, BRAC University.