2025 curriculum drops exams for some grades, adds more classwork assessment

Bangladesh will institute a new curriculum from 2025 that will scrap examinations up to Class III, Education Minister Dipu Moni has said.

The new curriculum will not have distinctions between science, arts and business studies streams in classes IX and X, the minister said at a news conference on Monday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the outline of the national curriculum.

The rollout of the new curriculum will begin next year with pilot programmes being used at 100 primary and secondary institutions. The government will gradually start implementing the curriculum nationwide from 2023.  

Initially, it will be launched in Class I and Class VI in 2022, the education minister.

Classes II and VII will be added in 2023, classes III, IV, VIII and IX in 2024 and classes V and X in 2025.

“The full curriculum will take effect by 2025,” Dipu Moni said.

Secondary School Certificate or SSC tests will be held in line with the curriculum of class X.

The Higher Secondary Certificate or HSC assessment will be based on two exams held in classes XI and XII.

Other classes will have completion exams, in which the students will be assessed continuously and then evaluated comprehensively.

The timing for lessons will also be fixed.

Asked whether the new curriculum will have Primary Education Completion or PEC and Junior School Certificate or JSC exams, Dipu Moni evaded the question.

“We want to ensure competence, not education for certificates,” she said.

“We haven’t talked about public exams in Class VIII and the primary level. There won’t be any exams up to Class III, but other classes will have completion exams. Public exams are not required for certificates. PECE is still a class completion exam while JSC is a public exam.”

“At the end of the year there will be evaluations in each class. We discussed public exams in classes X, XI and XII. HSC results will be based on grades of classes XI and XII.”

Dipu Moni said the new curriculum has been outlined for pre-primary to higher secondary to ensure a smooth transition and that it was “totally focused on students”.

“Learning will be fun. The burden of subjects and textbooks will be eased. Thorough understanding of the subject will be emphasised. Learning based on experience and activities will be prioritised to remove the dependency on memorisation.”

“Sports and other activities will also be given importance for physical and mental growth of the students.”

The minister said the curriculum was set up to allow most of the learning to be done in classrooms.

“Students will have more free time after classes to spend how they want. Engagement with sports and other activities has decreased and we don’t want that to happen again. [Students] must gain a combination of knowledge, skills, values and the proper attitude through their education.”

HOW EVALUATION WORKS IN THE NEW CURRICULUM

In line with the outline of the new national curriculum, students will be assessed in class and have a comprehensive evaluation.

Here are some key points of the planned evaluation:

>> Assessment of students of pre-primary level and up to Class III at the primary level will be done fully in class, without exams.

>> 60 percent of the assessment of students from Classes IV and V will be based on their classwork in the Bangla, English, Math, Science and Social Science subjects. The remaining 40 percent will be based on the collective assessment of term exams. Assessment of Physical and Mental Health and Safety, Religious Studies, and Arts subjects will be based on classwork alone.

>> From Class VI to VIII, 60 percent of the evaluation will be done through classwork in Bangla, English, Math, Science and Social Science subjects, while the rest will be based on term-exam assessment. Life and Livelihood, Digital Technology, Physical and mental health and safety, religious studies, and arts and culture subjects will be assessed only on classwork.

>> Half of the evaluation for Bangla, English, Math, Science and Social Science subjects will be done through classwork, and the rest will be the collective assessment of term exams for Classes IX and X. Life and Livelihood, Digital Technology, Physical and Mental Health and Safety, Religious Studies, and Arts and Culture subjects will be evaluated on classwork. Public exams will be held on the Class X syllabus after the academic year ends.

>> In Classes XI and XII, 30 percent of the assessment will be done through classwork, while term exams will account for the rest of it. Projects, practical learning and other systems will be included in classwork. Evaluation of applied subjects will be fully based on classwork.

>> Exams will be held after the completion of Class XI and XII. The results will be combined for a final evaluation.