Govt warns classes 6 to 9 students against copying, using guides in assignments

The government has warned all sixth to ninth-grade students that if they complete assignments using third-party guidebooks or copy from others, teachers would cancel the assignment and ask them to resubmit it.

It made the warning when notifying all teachers and school authorities what will be assignments for students of sixth to ninth grades, in place of annual examinations.

Assignments will be given to school and madrasa students on first day of the week and they would submit handwritten copies at the end of the week. Students will be able to submit and take the assignment in person or via a guardian from the school, or online.

Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) officials said they took the measure as students will get the necessary elements of doing assignments from textbooks. It will also help students reduce undue dependency on notebooks, guidebooks, they said.

"We have uploaded the assignment process on our website. We hope guardians will help students regarding avoiding guidebooks," DSHE Director General Prof Syed Md Golam Faruk told The Daily Star.

"Teachers will strictly supervise and monitor whether any students are using guidebooks," he added.

Classes at schools and madrasas have remained shut for more than seven months amid the Covid-19 pandemic since March 17. The government has already announced extension of the closure until November 14.

The government is starting assignment-giving and taking process, after Education Minister Dipu Moni on October 21 announced that students of sixth to ninth grades would be promoted to the next classes this year without any annual examinations.

Instead, school authorities will give assignments to the pupils every week to identify their learning shortcomings. 

According to the academic calendar, their annual exams were scheduled to be held between November 28 and December 10.

Before the announcement, students and guardians all over the country were confused about the process of promotion to higher classes.

The directive issued regarding assignments, uploaded on DSHE website on Saturday midnight, said the government took the initiative as students were not able to complete the syllabus due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Each school should open assignments boxes and copies would be submitted by strictly maintaining social distancing and following health protocols, the notice said.

Each student will need to complete three assignments in a week, and those must be handwritten by the students. Authorities will complete assignment-giving and submission process by December 15.

Teacher will evaluate students as four categories -- superb, very good, good and progress needed -- and school authorities should preserve the assignments.

Students would have to answer descriptive questions, short questions, board questions and creative questions for the assignments, the directive said.

Officials said they prepared the assignments following the short syllabus finalised by National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) for sixth to ninth grade, so students can achieve the minimum learning outcomes.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Education and Statistics (BANBEIS), there are about 1.05 crore students in class VI-IX across the country. Of them, about 87.32 lakh are in schools and the rest in madrasas.

Dipu Moni on October 21 said students who have been displaced due to the pandemic will be able to collect and submit assignments from nearby educational institutions.

She also said no one will be allowed to give any kind of tests during this assignment process.