New education curriculum to be introduced by 2028: Milon

A new education curriculum will be introduced across the country by 2028, Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon has said.

"There is no education system like ours anywhere in the world. This needs to change," he said today (11 August) at the "Reconstructing Fragile Economy and Achieving SDGs" session of the national SDG conference at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.

He said students were dropping out at every stage of education, describing it as a "system loss" that could not be recovered.

"System loss in electricity can be recovered, but this loss in education cannot," he said.

Milon said repeated protests over examinations, results and other issues were disrupting work after the July uprising.

"Whether we hold exams or not, there are protests. Whether students pass or fail, there are protests. We are not being allowed to work because of these movements," he said.

He urged people to be patient and said criticism should be constructive.

SSC results remain good despite challenges

At a separate seminar yesterday, Milon said this year's Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination results were good despite various crises in the education sector.

"We are working with a fragile education system. Over the past 20 years, we have fallen further behind. The shortage of teachers is alarming," he said while speaking as the chief guest at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council auditorium.

He said the result was certainly good despite the many crises in the education sector, adding that the government was working to address the country's fragile education system.

Commenting on the decline in the SSC pass rate this year, Milon said it would be wrong to describe the result as a drop in standards.

The minister said the results had been determined through genuine assessment of students' performance.

"You cannot say the SSC results have dropped. Can students be forced to pass?" he questioned.

He added that the impact of the education sector's long-standing problems was reflected in this year's results.

No decision yet on MPO teachers

At the same seminar, Milon said no final decision had been made on including MPO-listed teachers in the managing committees of educational institutions.

He said media reports had omitted part of a meeting resolution on the issue, causing confusion.

"The information published about including MPO-listed teachers in managing committees was part of the meeting's resolution, but a portion of the discussion was omitted. A gazette will be issued only after the matter is reviewed and examined at the ministerial level," he said.

He said students at Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka University and Jagannath University had staged processions after the reports were published.

On Monday, Milon had also said no final decision had been made on restoring the authority to recruit teachers to the managing committees of private educational institutions.

He said the recruitment process for 77,000 teachers would be determined after the selection process.

Milon alleges Tk7,000cr retirement fund embezzlement

At the SDG session, Milon also alleged that the previous Awami League government embezzled Tk7,000 crore from teachers' retirement benefits.

The education minister also alleged that the previous government spent thousands of crores of taka on programmes marking 15 August, reports BSS.

He said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was working to address people's needs while giving equal priority to education, health and housing.

"Instead of only criticising, let us all work together," Milon said, urging political parties to cooperate in the country's development.