Govt plans incentives for science

The government is planning special incentives for science teachers and students in secondary schools and madrassahs, education ministry officials said on Sunday.
The incentives will include monetary benefits and higher training for teachers and scholarship and opportunities of overseas education for science students.
The plan is aimed at arresting the process of decline in the number of science students at secondary and higher secondary levels, the officials concerned told New Age.
The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, after a series of discussions on relevance of special incentives, recently sent a proposal in this regard to the education ministry.
Statistics show the number of students of science group has been declining over the years while the number of students of business studies is increasing, said Professor Noman-ur-Rashid, director general of the directorate.
‘We are thinking about giving special incentives under a project to science teachers and special scholarship for meritorious students who want take up science subjects in Class IX,’ he said. ‘If special incentives are given to science teachers and students, we strongly believe they will be encouraged to study science.’
In the existing system, a student needs to choose science, humanities or business studies courses in Class IX.
They take Secondary School Certificate examinations after two years of studies.
The percentage of science examinees in secondary school certificate exams in 1990 was 42.21 while it declined to 22.32 in 2010, according to official statistics.
In the Higher Secondary Certificate exams of 1990, the percentage of science examinees was 28.13 and that percentage came down to 19.41 in 2008.
As for small number of science students in schools in remote, rural areas, an education ministry official said they could not get additional tutoring outside classrooms because of poverty and lack of awareness among guardians.
‘Students in rural areas are afraid of taking up science subjects as there is a shortage of teachers and they need to take private tuition,’ said Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, professor of computer science in Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.
‘It is a dangerous sign that we as a nation are walking backwards while others are developing fast with science-based basic education.’