The grade point average (GPA) 4 grading system will be introduced at all public examinations from 2020, says Education Minister Dipu Moni.
"We have analysed [the method] and we hope to introduce it next year," she told the media while briefing the highlights of results to this year’s JSC and JDC examinations at the ministry on Tuesday (Dec 31).
Earlier in June, a proposal was floated to restructure the grading systems of public exams held under education boards. The inter-education board proposed to introduce Grade Point Average or GPA instead of Cumulative Grade Point Average, CGPA. In this system, GPA-5 will be discarded and 10 grades will be introduced.
The result in first grade will be termed ‘Excellent’ with the education boards saying that students with the current system of GPA 5 grading in SSC, HSC and JSC face problems in getting admitted overseas.
The minister said that there was an unhealthy competition over achieving GPA 5.
According to the ministry, the decision was taken to comply with grades of international and local private universities, through which problems, while getting a job, or enrolling in foreign universities, could be avoided.
According to the new system, A+ would be equivalent to grade point 4 under the class interval 90–100, A equivalent to 3.5 under class interval 80–89, B+ equivalent to 3 under class interval 70–79, B equivalent to 2.5 under class interval 60–69, C+ equivalent to 2 under class interval 50–59, C equivalent to 1.5 under class interval 40–49, D equivalent to 1 under class interval 33–39, and F equivalent to 0 under class interval 0–32.
The current grading system in schools was introduced in 2001 to replace the division system of first class, second class, and third class. Under this, there are seven levels of the letter grading system: A+, A, A-, B, C, D, F.