Govt to make primary education compulsory and free up to class 8

State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj says the government is planning to extend primary education up to class 8 and make it free for students aged 4 to 13.

Speaking at an event organised by the Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) on Wednesday, the state minister outlined the administration's vision to restructure the fundamental tier of the country’s schooling system.

"We want to extend primary education to class 8 and make it compulsory. This is our plan," Bobby said.

The concept of extending primary education is not new to Bangladesh's policy landscape, though its implementation has seen various shifts and hurdles.

The previous Awami League government first introduced a National Education Policy in 2010, aiming to make education compulsory up to class 8.

The move marks a significant shift in education policy, aiming to provide a longer duration of foundational learning under a single, cost-free umbrella.

In 2023, a new experimental curriculum was launched to facilitate this transition.

Following the fall of the Awami League government in the 2024 July Uprising, the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government scrapped the 2023 curriculum, citing various inconsistencies, and reverted it back to the 2012 framework.

Primary education concludes at Class 5 at the moment and is provided free of charge.

Previously, the government introduced secondary-level classes --from Class 6 to Class 8 -- on an experimental basis across 729 government primary schools.

However, in March 2025, the interim government decided to shut down the educational activities of those three classes in those schools starting from the current year.

Following this, different non-governmental organisations under the banner of the Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), along with several prominent educationists, had been advocating for the extension of primary education up to eighth grade.

Bobby has highlighted severe infrastructural gaps in the primary education sector, noting that over 65,000 schools currently operate without guards or cleaners.

The minister expressed scepticism about high-tech initiatives like "one teacher, one tab" or multimedia classrooms when basic security and land rights remain unprotected.

The state minister expressed deep frustration over the persistent illegal occupation of government primary school land in metropolitan areas.