The Crime Desk: After the fall of the Awami League government, Wahiduddin Mahmud, the education advisor of the interim government, gave a message to wrap up the much-discussed new curriculum and go back to the old system in the ‘wind of reform’.
While talking to reporters at the Ministry of Education Secretariat on Sunday, he said that the curriculum created during the previous Awami League government is ‘not feasible’. We will go back to the previous curriculum. But I will go in such a way that there is no discomfort in any student’s studies. This curriculum appears to be unworkable. How we will go back to earlier education is under review.
The Awami League government created curriculum in 2012 to spread creative education with emphasis on information technology in front of the National Education Policy of 2010. At that time, questions were raised about creative methods and PSC and JDC exams. After that, the implementation of the new curriculum started step by step from 2023 to get out of dependence on tests and memorization. In that year, the new curriculum was introduced in all primary schools of the country in the first and second classes and in the secondary schools in the sixth and seventh classes. Then this year, third, fourth, eighth, and ninth classes will be added to the list of new curriculum. The new curriculum brought a host of changes, including no examination till third grade, no public examination before SSC, and the and the abolition of departmental division in classes IX-X. To reduce stress, assessment during learning takes place throughout the academic year before the summative assessment at the end of the year. In many subjects, the assessment during learning is 100%.
It was being demanded by the Awami League government that the new curriculum has made the learning process more enjoyable by moving away from reliance on tests and memorization and through experiential learning. However, many criticize various aspects of the curriculum, including the reduction of examinations, the removal of divisions of departments, and the and the evaluation system.
The interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus after ending the 15-year rule of the Awami League in the student movement is emphasizing reforms at all levels of the state system as per the demands of the protesting students. Initially, the Ministry of Education was in the hands of the chief advisor, but now the new member of the advisory council, economist Wahiduddin Mahmud, has got that responsibility. Apart from education, he is also responsible for the planning ministry.
Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud came to the Ministry of Education for the first time yesterday after taking oath last Friday. And on the first day, he gave a glimpse of the change in the curriculum.
