Students of Rajuk Uttara Model College pose for a group photo yesterday. Their school beat all other schools in Dhaka Board in this year's SSC exams. Photo: Star

New criteria for selecting top schools in SSC and equivalent examinations have pushed last year's chart leader Viqarunnisa Noon School to fourth position while bringing Rajuk Uttara Model School to the peak from eighth place.
Heads of the two schools noted that it's the new yardstick that has brought such big changes in the rankings.
Since introduction of the GPA system in 2001, the education ministry had been selecting top ten schools on the basis of the number of GPA-5 achievers and pass rate.
This year the ministry has ranked top 20 schools under each board by academic standards in four categories.
The four criteria were the number of students registered with a school, percentage of regular students among those registered, percentage of successful students, the number of students getting GPA-5 and the number of examinees. The ministry set 100 rank points for the four scales.
Rajuk school obtained 94.29 points and Viqarunnisa 92.07.
The number of students of Viqarunnisa who secured GPA-5 is higher than that of Rajuk school. A total of 926 students out of 1,151 of Viqarunnisa got the highest score while 344 Rajuk students out of 366 got the score.
ASM Mushfiqur Rahman, principal of Rajuk School and College, told The Daily Star the new set of criteria has brought his school to the top of the list.
"The criteria in previous years were not logical. They had created an unhealthy competition among the schools," he added.
Meanwhile, Viqarunnisa school's principal Rokeya Akhter told The Daily Star, "Our school's results are good. As per the old criteria, we are still the best."
She said though the newest of criteria has changed the orders of best schools, she welcomes it.
Ideal School and College, which secured second position last year, has dropped to third on the list. Monipur High School, which was in third place last year, has slipped to eighth this year.
Motijheel Model High School, which was ranked fourth among the schools across the country, is not even on the list of 20 best schools under Dhaka board.
Meanwhile, Selim Bhuiyan, principal of Dania AK School and College, in a press release yesterday opposed the new criteria and said they have been introduced to make some schools happy.
Under Dhaka Board, top 10 institutions as per new ranking are: Rajuk College, Residential Model College, Ideal School and College, Viqarunnisa Noon School, Mymensingh Girls' Cadet College, St. Joseph High School, Mirzapur Cadet College, Tangail, Monipur High School, Holy Cross Girls High School and Govt Labrotary High School.
Pabna Cadet College ranked the list of top institutions under Rajshahi Board followed by Rajshahi Cadet College and Joypurhat Girls' Cadet College.
Under Comilla Board, Feni Girls' Cadet College topped the list while Comilla Cadet College and Comilla Zilla School came second and third respectively.
Jhenidah Cadet College ranked first under Jessore Board while Military Collegiate School Phultala, Khulna and Govt Coronation Secondary School came second and third.
Under Chittagong Board, Collegiate School topped the list followed by Fauzdarhat Cadet College and Ispahani Public School and College respectively.
Barisal Cadet College topped the list in Barisal Board while Barisal Zilla School and Barisal Govt Girls' High School secured second and third positions.
Sylhet Cadet College ranked top under Sylhet Board followed by Sylhet Govt Pilot High School and Blue Bird High School.
Under Dinajpur Board, Rangpur Cadet College topped the list and Syedpur Govt Technical High School and College and Amena-baki Residential Model School came second and third respectively.