Staff Reporter :
The government has decided to shut down lower secondary classes in public primary schools in accordance with the latest National Education Policy.
The 729 government primary schools that had been running grades six to eight on a trial basis will discontinue these grades starting next year.
The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has instructed that no new students be admitted to grades six to eight in these schools from the 2026 academic year.
Masud Akhtar Khan, additional secretary of the School Division at the ministry, told media on Thursday morning, “We want to focus on primary education, so government primary schools will only offer education up to the fifth grade.
“An administrative decision has been made to discontinue grades six to eight in primary schools and to halt new student admissions in these grades.
The honorable chief adviser has approved this policy decision. Therefore, new student admissions in grades six to eight in these schools will not be allowed from the next academic year.”
According to the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, 729 government primary schools currently offer grades six, seven, and eight. On March 12, the Ministry issued an order instructing these schools to stop admitting new students at the lower secondary level. The Directorate of Primary Education has been tasked with implementing this directive.
Currently, primary education in Bangladesh extends up to the fifth grade. The most recent National Education Policy, formulated in 2010, proposed extending primary education up to the eighth grade and secondary education up to the twelfth grade.
Since 2013, the government had been approving the introduction of grades six to eight in primary schools on a trial basis.
In 2016, there was even an announcement to officially extend primary education up to the eighth grade, though it was never implemented.
Most recently, in May 2024, the then-ruling Awami League government decided to extend primary education up to the eighth grade and make it free.
However, Additional Secretary Masud Akhtar Khan believes that the decision to introduce grades six to eight in primary schools was not carefully considered.
“Our primary schools lacked sufficient infrastructure and manpower. As a result, education in grades six to eight at these schools was not very effective.
The government at the time did not take a well-thought-out decision. Moreover, grades six to eight were already under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education.”
Going forward, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education will focus solely on primary education up to the fifth grade, according to the official.
