Educationists for preparing teachers before introducing new curriculum

Highlights:

• National Curriculum and Textbook Board plans to train teachers for five days for the new curriculum
• Educationists say 42 days of training on new curriculum are necessary 
• Ensuring proper evaluation of classroom performance is also necessary as it will account for significant portion of the students' final score

Introducing the creative curriculum in schools in 2008 without training teachers properly was not very effective, but the government is going to introduce a new curriculum next year in the same way, which might prove equally ineffective, said educationists. 

The government trained the teachers for only five days before introducing the creative system, replacing the traditional system in 2008 and started taking public examinations on the basis of that curriculum from 2010. 
 
When the creative system was followed, many teachers did not understand it and failed to impart proper knowledge to students. 

In 2019, the Campaign for Popular Education found that more than 56% of the teachers at the secondary level in Bangladesh could not prepare question papers for exams under this system.

The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education of the education ministry found in the same year that around 42% of teachers could not teach and prepare question papers in the creative system.

As a result, only 8% of third-graders could read English and 79% of children lacked the skills in reading and understanding Bangla, according to the 2019 report of the National Academy for Primary Education. 

Under these circumstances, the government again plans to introduce the new curriculum with the same teachers who have not been trained properly to handle the new system. 

Sources at the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) said they have a plan to provide five days of training to all the teachers for the new curriculum too, but educationists said a teacher needs at least 42 days of training for implementing it properly. Otherwise, the education sector might face another disaster.

Professor Dr Siddiqur Rahman, former director of the Institute of Education and Research at Dhaka University, told The Business Standard, "Many teachers still struggle to cope with the creative system which was launched in 2008. The new system will go in vain if the government fails again to train the teachers properly this time." 

He said the teachers received five days of training on the creative system, but that did not enable most of them to implement it properly. So the education ministry should change the training system along with increasing the number of days of training. 

"A teacher usually takes classes on at least three subjects, so she needs 14 days of training for every subject – 42 days altogether. The training can be arranged in phases but it is mandatory," he said. 

"Besides, there is a lack of morality and transparency among teachers when it comes to assessing students' performance in the practical exams. Currently, many teachers give marks in practical exams without evaluating the students' performance properly. How can these teachers evaluate the students accurately based on their class work?" he asked.

"We found that a good number of students get 25-30 marks out of 75 in exams on the theoretical part of a subject, but they get 23-24 out of 25 in the practical exams. How can we depend on our teachers? As such, a strong management system is needed before introducing the new curriculum," he added. 

Voicing a similar opinion, Professor Emeritus of Brac University Dr Manzoor Ahmed told TBS, "The NCTB's training design is a faulty one. Five days are not sufficient to train teachers properly for the new system. Of the five days, two will be spent on introduction and conclusion and the remaining three days will not be sufficient for training. The ministry should think more in this regard." 

Professor Md Moshiuzzaman, member (curriculum) of NCTB, told TBS that the board has started piloting the new system at 62 schools of 62 upazilas in 24 districts across the country.

"After using the new curriculum on a pilot basis, the NCTB will provide an evaluation and identify the problems. We will prepare the next course of action after evaluating the teachers and students," he said.

"We have trained 900 teachers and 106 academic supervisors. We will continue to train the teachers," he added.

The new curriculum

As per government policy, students of grades one, two, six and seven will get new books based on the new curriculum in January 2023.

Students of grades three, four, eight and nine will get new curriculum books in 2024 and students of grades five and 10 will get books in January 2025.

The ministry will provide new books to the students of grade 11 in 2026 and grade 12 in 2027. As a result, students will take part in the SSC examinations under the new curriculum from 2026 and in the HSC exams from 2028.

The new curriculum from the pre-primary to the higher secondary level in the country will go through massive changes from 2023. There will be no annual exams up to class three, no public examination before SSC and no separate streams of education in grades nine and 10.

According to the proposed curriculum, all students from grades six to 10 will have to study 10 common subjects, while the SSC examination will be based on the syllabus of class 10 only. Currently, the public exam is conducted on the basis of the syllabi for classes nine and 10.

Moreover, there will be two public exams at the higher secondary level – each held at the end of grades 11 and 12. The final result of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) will be published by combining the results of these two examinations.

Subject orientation, contents, and their delivery and distribution pattern will also change under the new system. 

Students of grades one to three will be evaluated on the basis of their classroom performance alone. 

In grades four and five, classroom performance will account for 40% marks in Bangla, English, Mathematics and science subjects. Classroom performance will account for full marks in subjects like Physical and Mental Health and Religion.

From classes six to eight, students' classroom performance will account for 60% of the marks in Bangla, English, Math, Science and Social Science subjects, while performance in annual exams will account for 40% marks. 

Students in these grades will be evaluated in subjects like Life and Livelihood, Science and Technology, Physical and Mental Health, Religion, Arts and Culture based on their classroom performance only.

In grades nine and 10, class performance will account for 50% marks in Bangla, English, Mathematics, Science and Social Sciences and annual and public exams will account for the remaining 50%. 

Students' performance in Life and Livelihood, Science and Technology, Physical and Mental Health, Religion, Arts and Culture subjects will be determined solely on the basis of their classroom performance in grades nine and 10.

For students of grades 11 and 12, 30% of the marks in all their subjects will be given on classroom performance and the remaining 70% will be calculated on the basis of their performance in public examinations. ***