The government is set to bring changes to the educational curriculum of grade one to grade 10 from 2021. The changes include reducing content and the number of books for primary school students.
According to the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NTCB) books under the new curriculum will be handed over to the students in phases from 2021 to 2025.
NTCB chief Narayan Chandra Saha told Bangla Tribune that work was underway for the changes in the curriculum.
“A committee is analyzing the controversial topics in the syllabus,” he said.
According to NTCB sources, under the new curriculum, ninth graders will no longer have to choose between Science, Arts and Commerce. Instead, ninth and tenth graders will study the same textbooks.
Although the changes are supposed to come every five years, the last change made to the secondary curriculum was in 2013 and the primary curriculum in 2011.
The changes will be made in several steps. At first the shortcomings of the current curriculum will be identified. The new curriculum will be finalised after workshops and research held based on the feedback experts bring from teachers, students and guardians.
As an example of reducing the number of textbooks, NTCB chief Saha said that religion and moral education will be brought under the same book.
Responding to queries on how many books will be there, he said, “It can be determined after a committee is finalised.”
He added that the move was to ensure that education does not become a source of burden for the children.
Meanwhile, Dr Moshiuzzaman said that more important than reducing the number of books is reducing content.
“The problem is—if you give questions that are not necessary the child has to learn the entire book even though they don’t have to know that topic. This is where they are suffering.”
He added that in order to reduce the pressure of tests they are opting for continuous assessment so that there is more space for activities for a child.