‘Govt reviewing pry school admission process’

Minister for Education and Primary and Mass Education ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon on Sunday said the government is reviewing the current primary school admission process and will decide on the system for 2027 after consulting with the concerned stakeholders.

Responding to a supplementary question from Md. Abul Hasnat from Cumilla-4constituency in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS), the minister said pressure on admission is mainly seen in urban areas, particularly in Dhaka, while rural schools usually do not face such competition due to relatively lower student numbers.
“The lottery system was introduced earlier to address the admission pressure in the city schools, but I personally do not think it is a very logical system,” Milon told the House.

He said the government will hold seminars and discussions with stakeholders, including parents, to build public opinion before finalising the admission system for January 2027.

Hasnat Abdullah, in his question, raised concerns about the shift from merit-based admission to a lottery system at the primary level.

He argued that the change has weakened the quality of feeder institutions, which ultimately affects the quality of students entering universities.

In response, the education minister acknowledged that Bangladesh currently has multiple streams of education, including Bangla medium, English medium, madrasa and Qawmi systems, and said integrating those is a complex challenge.

However, Milon said the government has already formed a committee to bring English-medium schools under a regulatory framework aligned with national policies.

He said that work has also begun to reform the Ebtedayee (primary madrasa) system and explore ways to incorporate the Qawmi based education within a broader national education framework.

“We are taking initiatives to gradually coordinate these different streams so
that the education system becomes more unified in the future,” he added.