Why Choose an International Curriculum for Your Child’s Future

The main tool for the overall development of a country, national consciousness and the formation of the future generation is its education system.

But in present-day Bangladesh, a silent and profound psychological transformation is taking place in the education sector.

In recent years, a kind of latent reluctance and distance is being created among the middle class, upper-middle class and upper-class families towards the national curriculum (National Curriculum and Textbook Board or NCTB).

In contrast, people’s attraction towards English Medium (International) curricula like Pearson Edexcel or CambridgeEnglish medium (O/A Level) and various English Medium streams (IB or English Medium Baccalaureate) is increasing at a geometric rate.

A recent report has shown that in 2018, where the growth rate of students through the English medium was only 5 to 7 percent, in 2021 it increased to 13 percent and in 2026 it increased to 28 percent.

This is not just an educational choice, but there are deep economic, social and psychological reasons behind it. This is undoubtedly a bad sign for the indigenous curriculum.

Among the main reasons for people’s aversion to the indigenous or national curriculum are usually notable:

1. Frequent policy changes and experiments:
In the last two decades, Bangladesh’s national curriculum has undergone as many experiments as it has in very few countries in the world. From the traditional method to the creative method, then the inclusion of public examinations like PEC and JSC and later its cancellation – has left students and parents in extreme confusion.

The lack of coordination and unpreparedness among teachers, parents and education experts at the field level with the new curriculum (competence-based assessment system) introduced from 2023 has created severe dissatisfaction.

As a result of these frequent changes, parents are losing confidence in the sustainability and future of the national education system.

2. The past wounds of memorization and question leakage:
The main purpose of introducing the creative method was to avoid memorization. But in reality, due to the violence of guidebooks and coaching centers, it has turned into more complex memorization.

In addition, the question-leaking incidents in various public examinations in the past years and the controversy over the credibility of the assessment have left deep wounds in the minds of the parents. They are leaning towards a system where the assessment method is English Medium as recognized and completely uncontroversial.

3. Disconnection between higher education and the English Medium workplace:
A major weakness of the national curriculum is that it is not able to make students suitable for the global workplace of the 21st century.

There is a huge gap between the theoretical knowledge of the textbook and its practical application. Especially in acquiring language skills (English and communication media) and modern IT skills, the national general medium is very backward. As a result, the students of the national medium have to work extra hard in multinational organizations or the corporate sector.

4. Political instability and session jam:
The opportunities for quality higher education in government universities are limited and there are chronic problems like political influence, instability and session jam.

Parents do not want their children to go through this uncertainty. Studying a foreign curriculum smooths the path to direct admission to foreign universities, which ensures a hassle-free and assured career.

On the other hand, the following factors are very important as a reason for increasing attraction towards English Medium curriculum:

1. Global acceptance and standardization:
The Edexcel or Cambridge curriculum is conducted at the same standards all over the world. Its syllabus is very specific, modern and practical. After completing O-level or A-level, a student becomes eligible to apply directly to a university in any country in the world, which makes their higher education path easier on a global level.

2. Skill-based and practical learning method:
The International curriculum emphasizes analytical skills or analytical abilities rather than memorization. The student’s thinking power is developed through laboratory work, case studies, presentations and project-based work. It not only prepares students to get GPA-5, but also teaches problem-solving skills.

3. Social Status and Psychological Reasons:
In the current social system of Bangladesh, teaching children in English has become a kind of ‘social status’ or a symbol of social status. Middle-class and upper-middle-class families do not hesitate to spend a large portion of their income on their children’s English-medium education, because they see it as the safest investment in the future.

In such a curriculum-centric situation, a kind of deep crisis and two-pronged trend is being observed in our education. As a result, several long-term and negative effects are becoming clear on the social and state structure of Bangladesh, such as;

1.Class discrimination and commercialization of education: Where education should have been a tool for achieving social equality, it has now become a means of intensifying class division. Children of rich and affluent families are becoming global citizens by being educated in expensive foreign education, while children of marginalized and lower-class families are trapped in the shabby national medium.

2. Brain Drain: The vast majority of students studying in foreign curricula go abroad for higher education and do not return to the country after completing their studies. As a result, the country is losing its most promising talents, which is an irreparable loss for the state in the long run.

3. Isolation of culture and national consciousness: The inclusion of Bangladesh’s history, tradition, language and culture in foreign curricula is very limited. As a result, a large part of the generation raised in this medium is mentally isolated from the uniqueness of the country’s soil, the lifestyle of the common people and the national consciousness.

It is time for us to think about the ways and actions to overcome this crisis in the country. The state must take some revolutionary steps very quickly to restore people’s trust in the national curriculum and eliminate this imbalance, such as;

1. Sustainability and continuity of the curriculum: Long-term research and adequate training of teachers should be arranged before changing the education policy or curriculum. There should be a constitutional or legal guarantee so that the education policy does not change with the change in the political landscape.

2. Improving English language skills: The standard of English language education in the syllabus of the national curriculum (especially in Bengali medium) should be raised to English Medium standards so that students do not lag behind due to language skills. It is important to emphasize practical language skills rather than changing the ‘version’.

3. Technical and skill-based transformation: A direct link between education and employment should be created from the higher secondary level. Modern subjects like coding, data analysis, financial literacy and critical thinking need to be made mandatory in the national syllabus.

4. Upgrading the quality of government institutions: The infrastructure and learning environment of government schools, colleges and universities must be improved in such a way that people choose national government institutions as their first choice over private or foreign institutions.

The increasing trend towards English Medium curricula in Bangladesh is not a sudden phenomenon; it is mainly a result of the structural weakness, uncertainty and failure of the national education system to keep pace with the times.

As an independent nation, the lack of trust of citizens in our own education system is very worrying. This problem cannot be solved by banning or discouraging foreign education.

The solution lies in making the national curriculum so modern, up-to-date, stable and of global standards that parents can say to themselves—”The national curriculum is the best and sufficient to build the future of my child.”

(Writer: Founder and CEO, EduVation Bangladesh, Principal, Naafein English Medium Academy, Dhaka)