Reduce number of subjects for SSC

Educationalists have come up with a 15-point recommendation, including reducing the number of subjects in the SSC syllabus, making some textbooks easier and holding public tests with uniform question papers, to improve the standard of secondary education in the country.

The other suggestions include creating a question bank for the betterment of multiple choice and creative question patterns and observing a day of reading books at all schools.

“Steps are being taken to implement these recommendations gradually," Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said while reading out the recommendations at a press conference at his ministry yesterday.

As per the suggestions, he said, all the education boards will take public examinations with the same question papers from 2019.

The minister also said some textbooks of class IX and X would be modified soon so that the students would get them in their hands on January 1, 2018.

He said the 15-point recommendations were finalised at a two-day workshop on the standard of secondary education at a hotel in Cox's Bazar on November 25 and 26. The workshop was participated by prominent educationists and academicians of the country.

There has been a longstanding debate over the quality of secondary education in the country. Though the public examinations are witnessing dazzling pass rates every year, educationalists on several occasions argued that the education system is flawed.

The education ministry held several programmes with the educationalists to get their views on the solution.

At the workshop, the academicians said subjects like Physical Education, Health Sciences and Sports, Arts and Crafts, and Career Education should be removed from the SSC syllabus to lessen pressure on students during the public examinations.

Instead, they said, the subjects should be taught at the schools with a regular evaluation system. They stressed on finding out ways to teach these subjects to the students in a proper and attractive way.

Competitions should be arranged on these subjects at the schools, Nahid quoted them as saying.

The academicians suggested forming a committee comprising educationalists to review the school curriculum formulated in 2012, he said.

Nahid said the educationists recommended making a panel to modify some textbooks of class IX and X so that those become attractive and more comprehensible.

Co-curricular activities should be incorporated in the schools so that the students feel encouraged to read more. A day for reading books at all schools should be declared as well.

As per the recommendations, all teachers will have to prepare questions and evaluate answer scripts mandatorily, he said, adding that another suggestion was to create an item bank (question bank) to improve the multiple question and creative question patterns.

All the educationists underscored the need for increasing budgetary allocation to education section.

They said the government should consider introducing "standardised score" to prepare the results of public examinations in order to keep consistency with the existing examination system around the globe.

As an experiment, they said, the results of SSC results in 2017 could be prepared using the "standardised score". Bangladesh Examination Development Board can do this work, they added.

This system is used everywhere in the world. This system, if introduced, would not put any effect on students getting GPA-5, said noted academician and writer Prof Muhammad Zafar Iqbal at yesterday's press conference.

Founder and Chief Executive of Bishwo Shahitto Kendro Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed, Campaign for Popular Education Executive Director Rasheda K Choudhury, Education Secretary Sohorab Hossain, and Dhaka University Pro-vice Chancellor (administration) Prof Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman also spoke.