No public exams before class 10, no exams till class 3 from 2023: Education Minister

In a sweeping change to primary and secondary curriculum, the government is going to scrap all public exams before class 10 and all exams till class 3.

The government is also going introduce streams -- science, humanities and business studies -- from class 11, Education Minister Dipu Moni said in a press conference today.

She said that students will be evaluated based on continuous assessment till class 3 at schools.

The education minister said 60 percent evaluation of Bangla, English, mathematics, social science and science for classes four to eight will be done through continuous assessment, and the rest through "overall evaluation".

For rest of the subjects, continuous assessment will be done.

Fifty percent evaluation of Bangla, English, mathematics, social science and science for classes eight to nine will be done through continuous assessment, and the rest through "overall evaluation".

Dipu Moni said that students will need to take public exams after class 10, based on the curriculum of that grade.

The minister added that students will need to take public exams after classes 11 and 12 based on the respectivecurriculum.

"And final result of HSC (Higher Secondary Certificate) exams will combine the results of exams in classes 11 and 12," she said.

NCTB Member (curriculum) Prof Moshiuzzaman told The Daily Star, "We did not keep any public exams before class 10."

The education minister arranged the press conference following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's approval of the outline of new curriculum that will be implemented by 2025.

Government will begin implementation of the new curriculum from 2023 in phases.

Students of classes 1, 2, 6 and 7 will get new books, based on the new curriculum, in January 2023. Students of classes 3, 4, 8 and 9 will get books in 2024.

Students of others classes will get new books in 2025.