Will the new curriculum meet the desired standards?

Wares Ali Khan :

The year 2023 started with the learning loss of a huge number of learners due to the unprecedented shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, and faced multifarious deficits in the education system in the form of unforeseen challenges. Besides, the fourth industrial revolution, the inflationary threat, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the depreciation of the domestic currency (Taka) and the increase in the value of the Dollar, global inequality, and the impacts of climate-induced misery have appeared to be gravely confronted by barriers with an underlying set of challenges and mighty setback.
Under the guidance of the education policy – 2012, the new National Curriculum Framework has been adopted and launched in this year and has been in operation with massive aspirations, and changes for a robust future in education of Bangladesh.
The new curriculum framework aims to ensure responsive, accountable, integrated, participatory, industry-oriented, and life-changing perspectives. It will navigate the basic foundation towards the enhancement of the attitude, knowledge, competencies, values and skills of the learning fellows. The outline of the new curriculum is projected to be implemented emphasising the four basic principles of the Constitution of Bangladesh so that all learners can develop their inherent potential effectively and flexibly. The core aspects of the new curriculum reflect the below-mentioned perspectives:
i) Making the educational institution a socially accredited hub for learners in pursuit of knowledge, excellence, and grand advancement.
ii) Creating and recognising multi-dimensional learning opportunities within the institutional domains and beyond.
iii) Ensuring a responsive, accountable, integrated, and participatory educational approach.
iv) Recruiting sensible, self-motivated, skilled, and top-notch academics at all levels of the entire educational settings throughout the country.
By determining the required capacity and earned expertise in combination with knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes for better adaptation to the changing context, the new National Curriculum Framework focuses on the spirit of the war of liberation, human dignity, social justice, equity, and equality.
To be candid, in some futuristic moves, it is invariably true that the new curriculum has many positive change-driven aspects. Creative pedagogy and method was introduced earlier, but could not properly intervene in our education system which had drawn a lot of repercussions over the years by the notable academics of the country and learned citizenry. To meet the accrued due in education, the new one has emerged as a trailblazing, fulfilling framework for the nation.
Curriculum experts opine that the new curriculum is methodologically sound. But this has appeared as a deficit character in a set of some core components, the presence of which is very crucial for its practical attainment.
i) Learning-friendly environment and infrastructures: Congenial environment caters to a better learning experience for the learners. As we know, many of our educational institutions do not have open ground and learning-aided infrastructure. The absence of which integrated psych-social and intellectual well-being remains unaccomplished. On the other side, diverse learning tools and equipment are essential to unleash the learners’ innate potential which has not been portrayed for many.
ii) Student-teacher proportion: For ideal impartation of education following the prescribed standard indexes of the new curriculum, institution-centered continuous assessment requires the proportional allocation of a teacher against a maximum number of 30 students for a certain classroom. But the class-wise ratio is disproportionately high still in the country. Even, after the intromission of the new curriculum; the secondary schools now have a ratio of 39:1. However, this ratio is higher in government secondary schools, which is 52:1. Yet, in some schools, teachers are to conduct classes for 55-60 students in a particular class.
The ratio reality is surprisingly thought-catching in state-run elementary schools. As per the Annual Primary School Census 2021, there are 1,18,891 primary-level educational institutions run by the government, NGOs, and homegrown stakeholders in the country where the total number of students is about 2 crore. There is an average ratio of 39:1 in the elementary schools. This tightened-up classroom-based grim scenario of the student-teacher disproportionate ratio might be contradictory to the classroom-based practical orientation of the new National Curriculum triggering the inconsistency of learning outcomes.
An NCTB survey furthermore depicts that some of the selected countries around the world like- Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand Indonesia, Cambodia Australia, Finland, and Denmark have an ideal average student-teacher ratio which is very conducive to OBE (outcome-based education). Even, our neighbouring country India has an average ratio of 28:1 as they have ensured a meritocracy-accommodated classroom environment.
iii) Skill-bound and well-trained teaching staff:
Appropriate training for teachers who impart education is a primal issue and is subject to the execution and implementation of the new curriculum as expected. Teachers need to be incentivised to professionalism, dedication, integrity, and ethical neutrality to reflect the purpose for which a special mode of learning assessment has been incorporated. In particular, the payroll provision, salary structure, fringe benefits, social recognition, safety and dignity, promotion, and career growth of the teachers must be determined. If the aforementioned aspects come into reality, it will be sure enough to attract more talented individuals from our society to this noble-tagged profession, which will help to promote the quality of education ceaselessly.
iv) Activities-based formative assessment and evaluation: Finland and Singapore this duo are considered the world’s best hubs in education. Professional development of teachers is highly accomplished and valued in the Singaporean education system. There the learning environment is majorly prioritised and formative assessment is a mandatory provision in the learning process. Public exams are treated as less important to reduce the unproductive burden, study anxiety, or mental stress for the learning fellows. They only arrange an integrated public examination at the end of the secondary level to keep the channel intact of entering the tertiary level education.
Unlike other educationally exemplary countries, we are far behind in terms of quality assessment based on activities performed in the classroom. The new curriculum will have more continuous assessment (in learning) in the educational institutions than existing tests or exams from pre-primary to higher secondary level. There will be no examination up to grade III, and all assessments will be based on engaging activities performed throughout the year. Both tests and continuous learning modality will remain active as a method of assessment for subsequent classes. The teachers who will implement the new curriculum must be brought under continuous progressive training to have the desired expertise in teaching, evaluation methods, formative assessing techniques, and impartial evaluation.
There is a lack of coordination between primary and secondary level authorities concerned, particularly in training and assessment which has also been disclosed earlier in the maiden training and assessment termed ToT (training of teachers) session held in January 2023.
v) Development of textbooks and coordination: Successful implementation of the new National Curriculum requires a properly designed syllabus and content-based appropriate texts. Earlier there was conflicting discussion going around about the newly adopted textbook contents that drew massive repercussions. Tight-laced measures should be taken on inappropriate content, plagiarism, and hoaxes to display the accuracy and correctness of the respective NCTB-guided textbooks. The dearth of qualified writers to write academic books, produce learning materials, training modules, and quality content for teachers still are the issues to address.
vi) Bridging the gap of the learning losses: According to official data, a large number of primary, junior, and secondary-level students are lagging in English and mathematics. It is mentionable that 61 percent of students in sixth grade have poor ground in English. In the same class, 43 per cent of students are poor or average in mathematics. A considerable number of learners are not able to acquire the desired skills in subjects like- Bengali, English, and Mathematics at the primary level. To palliate the learning loss that took place over the years must be addressed properly. Otherwise, the back-footed kids without having the desired aptitude in those basic subjects might not be fit to adapt to the new curriculum.
vii) A handsome portion of GDP must be allocated: Experts opine that despite the expansion of education in the country, the monetary sanction in education is inconsistent and bated. The budgetary allocation which comes from public money in the form of GDP, must be augmented with an empirical master plan to boost the effective implementation of the National Curriculum. At the same time, whether the investment is appropriate or not, it should essentially be monitored so that the summation of money is apportioned duly to be spent for the public interest in the promotion of quality education.
Time-required education is essential to build our motherland prosperous and architect a knowledge-based productive nation so that we, the Bengali Nation, can keep pace with the rapidly changing world. We are optimistic enough that, the new National Curriculum will play a pivotal role in achieving the optimal goal and thence become the catalyst for securing desired learning outcomes.

(The writer is an academic).