New primary curriculum: Rolling out with unprepared teachers

Without any piloting, the government is rolling out the new curriculum at the primary level as the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) officials failed to prepare the teachers' guide on time.

The piloting of the curriculum is necessary to familiarise the teachers with materials and the accompanying pedological changes and to inform them on how to implement it in the classroom.

It also helps to decipher whether the students can grasp the new material and its approach.

The new curriculum, which was approved by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August last year, aims to reduce the emphasis on memorising study materials and prioritise experiment- and activity-based learning.

The phase-wise implementation of the new curriculum was supposed to begin in January last year but has been delayed by two years for the pandemic.

Now, it will kick off in January next year at the primary level with class-1 students and the secondary level with pupils of classes 6 and 7.

The piloting of the new curriculum for the secondary level has been going on at 62 secondary schools since February.

But due to the delayed release of funds for printing textbooks and teachers' guide, it could not begin at the primary level, according to two members of the NCTB's primary curriculum.

"We got the money in April and then came Ramadan. So we could not start the process on time," said AKM Reazul Hassan, a member of NCTB's primary curriculum.

In Bangladesh, Ramadan was observed from April 2 to May 2 this year.

Now, the NCTB is aiming to start piloting at 65 primary schools from 2023, he said.

Usually, the textbooks published in the first year are experimental editions and see the necessary revision in the following year's print run.

So there will be scope to revise the books if needed, Hassan added.

"We tried our best but the teachers' guide was not ready," said Aminul Islam Khan, senior secretary to the primary and mass education ministry.

Piloting could have been done on a limited number of students and the NCTB could have worked with that feedback, said Mohammad Tariq Ahsan, professor at the University of Dhaka's Institute of Education and Research.

"It will be a challenge now as piloting would be done on all students of class-1 across the country," said Ahsan, also a member of the Curriculum Development and Revision Core Committee.

In 2018, the government began the process of overhauling the education system.

Under the new curriculum, there will be no public exam before class-10 and no exams for students up to class-3.

Science, humanities and business studies will be introduced in class-11 instead of class-9 under the existing curriculum.

Students of classes 2, 3, 4, 8 and 9 will get books in 2024 and those of classes 5 and 10 in January 2025.