The government has partially introduced a new curriculum for primary and secondary level students from January 2023.
Though educationalists admit that the move is a much needed upgrade to Bangladesh’s public education system, they warn that the lion’s share of teachers is underprepared to deal with the latest changes, making the new curriculum implementation more challenging.
They argue that the government introduced this new system of education without properly training the teachers, and informing the guardians. Besides, the average class sizes, and teacher to student ratio is unfavourable to the new system.
Speaking to The Business Post, Institute of Education and Research at University of Dhaka former director Prof Dr Siddiqur Rahman said, “This is an ambitious curriculum. It will be very tough to implement it as the teachers are not ready to properly implement the new system.
“At this time, only one fifth of the teachers has the capacity to handle the new curriculum even after being trained. So, how would the new system get implemented if the teachers are not ready?”
Prof Siddiqur Rahman, who led the creative curriculum in 2012, said, “The immediate past curriculum could not be implemented properly due to a lack of quality teachers. Now the new one would face similar challenges due to the teachers’ incapability.
Echoing the same, Professor Emeritus at Brac University Dr Manzoor Ahmed said, “The key weakness of our schools is the absence of effective teaching and learning in classrooms, mainly due to the teachers' weak professional skills, lack of capabilities and motivation.
“Training teachers across the country for a few weeks cannot remove the many prevailing obstacles. Ideas about activities, projects, and student engagement existed in the 2012 curriculum, but very few of those found their way into classrooms.”
He further said, “Preparing teachers, a good recovery plan for school education, and implementing it well is likely to prepare the ground for achieving the objectives of the new curriculum.
“Otherwise, the teachers and the students will be forced to depend on the traditional notes and guides. And the implementation of the new curriculum will turn into a wasted effort.”
In response to a query, education ministry officials said the new curriculum was adopted following international standards. The ministry is optimistic that the teachers will be skilled enough to implement the new curriculum effectively.
Prof Md Moshiuzzaman, member (Curriculum) of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), said on the issue, “We have introduced an excellent education system in Bangladesh. The students from all classes will learn with much joy and happiness.
“They will have no need to study at home as they will complete all their studies in the classroom. The teachers will give the students assignments for homework. They can do it with the help of their guardians, and peer group members.”
Voicing optimism, he said, “It does not mean that the students will have to finish assignments with skill. They just have to complete their assignments with what they absorbed from their classrooms.
“I think the teachers will be able to build a skilled future generation who can cope with the fourth industrial revolution.”
Prof Nehal Ahmed, director general of the (Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education) DSHE, said, “We are trying to raise awareness among the guardians along with the teachers about the new system of education.
“We will hold many assemblies for the guardians. At the same time, each school will take the initiative to convey positive aspects of the curriculum to guardians. So that they can help their children do homework properly.”
He then pointed out, “We have received good results after completing a pilot programme in 62 schools across the country for Class VI in 2022. We will change the curriculum when we find a good angle. It will be continued until a perfect system is established.”
Implementation of the new curriculum – which is set to transform the country’s education system up to the secondary level – has begun in phases from 2023. Back in 2022, the government had launched a pilot programme in 62 schools across the country for Class VI.
How many teachers trained?
There are around 12 lakh teachers at primary and secondary levels across the country. Only 3 lakh teachers had received training till December 14. The government is training another 5 lakh teachers from December 17 to December 30 through an online platform.
In the previous curriculum, most of the teachers had received training, but only a few were able to absorb this training. This is evident by the fact that 46 per cent of the teachers cannot make question papers, DSHE documents show.
The teacher-student ratio now stands at 1:37 at the primary, and 1:45 at the secondary levels. The teacher-student ratio (TSR) in Bangladesh is far higher than the international standard ratio of 1:20.
In most middle income nations, the ratio is 1:24 in primary and 1:18 in secondary levels.
Professor Belal Hossain, director (Secondary) of the DSHE, said, “We will provide more training to the teachers from next year. The education ministry has already sent messages to teachers and guardians about the new system.
“Leaflets have been distributed at each school across the country to raise awareness among students and guardians regarding the new curriculum. We have also provided a guideline to teachers throughout Bangladesh.”
The new curriculum will emphasise competency rather than theoretical knowledge.
The competencies are – a student's ability to communicate, collaborate, express themselves, honour other people's opinions, think critically, solve problems, learn languages, communication, mathematics and reasoning, science and technology, the ICT, environment and climate, and values and morality.
Subject orientation, delivery and distribution patterns will also change. Content will be made following the framework of the new curriculum.
What’s the new curriculum?
All students from classes VI to X have to study ten common subjects, while the SSC examination will be based on the syllabus of class X only. At present, the public exam is conducted on the basis of the syllabuses for classes IX and X.
There will be two public examinations in classes XI and XII – meaning public examinations will be held at the end of each year. And the final result of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) will be published by combining the results of these two examinations.
The new curriculum, featuring major changes in the education system from pre-primary to higher secondary levels will be started experimentally, from next year.
In 2023, students of classes I, II, VI and VII received textbooks under the new curriculum. Students of classes III, IV, VIII and IX will get the new books from 2024, and the 5th and 10th graders will receive new textbooks in the next year.
The ministry will provide the new books to the students of class XI in 2026 and class XII in 2027. As a result, students will participate in SSC examinations under the new curriculum from 2026, and the HSC exams from 2028.
Students of class I-III will get their result from their performances in classes. Students of classes IV and V will get 40 per cent marks for Bangla, English, Math and Science subjects on the basis of their performance in classes, while 60 per cent will be determined by annual examinations.
All marks in Physical and Mental Health, and Religion subjects will be based on class performances only.
For students of classes VI-VIII, 60 per cent marks in Bangla, English, Math, Science and Social Sciences subjects will be based on class performance and another 40 per cent will be determined on the basis of their performance in annual exams.
Full marks in subjects, such as Life and livelihood, Science and Technology, Physical and Mental Health, Religion, Arts and Culture, will be given on the basis of class performance.
Students of classes IX and X will get 50 per cent of the marks in Bangla, English, Math, Science and Social Sciences on the basis of the class performance and the remaining 50 per cent marks will be given on the basis of annual and public exams, respectively.
Their full scores in Life and livelihood, Science and Technology, Physical and Mental Health, Religion, Arts and Culture subjects will be determined on the basis of class performance.
For students of class XI and XII, 30 per cent of the marks in all their subjects will be given to class performance and the remaining 70 per cent will be calculated based on their performance in public examinations.
What do stakeholders say?
Sujit Bhoumik, head teacher of Narikel Bari High School, told The Business Post, “The teachers need more training to handle this new system. I am optimistic that the teachers – after getting trained properly – will be able to teach students efficiently under the new curriculum.”
Nejamul Haque, a guardian of Monipur High School and College, said, “This is a challenging curriculum. We have to concentrate more compared to the previous system. The new system sometimes gets too difficult for us to utilise properly.”
