Prominent people demand withdrawal of preliminary scholarship examination decision

Eminent people have demanded to withdraw the decision to conduct scholarship examination at primary level. They made this claim in a statement on Monday. The statement makers are Professor Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, Rasheda K Chowdhury, Syed Manjurul Islam, Ramendu Majumder, Professor MM Akash and 30 others.

In the statement, they said, "It is well known that the present government, along with the nationalization of 26,193 primary schools in 2013 and the curriculum reform undertaken at present, has brought many visible achievements in the education sector of Bangladesh in the 50 years of independence, with some education-friendly strategies and timely measures." These achievements are now recognized all over the world.

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Once upon a time, as a means of awarding merit scholarships in the conventional system, 'Primary Scholarship Examination' was held for the selected students. In 2009 it was abolished and the 'Primary Education Completion (PEC)' examination started. However, we know that the PEC exam is not being conducted for three years considering the post-corona situation and the new curriculum outline.

The new curriculum is being launched in the first, sixth and 7th classes from the next academic year, in which the public examination is offered at the initial stage and more importance is placed on continuous evaluation in the educational institution. In this situation we are concerned about the rationale and negative impact of the decision to suddenly conduct 'Primary Scholarship Examination' like the old system at the very end of the year.

According to the statement, it is said that the positive policy of change in education is being created according to the outline of the new curriculum. We believe that if the decision to start the scholarship examination is taken and implemented suddenly, there will be various mental and physical pressure on the students. Also, in the new curriculum, where full development of all students' talents is being encouraged, if only 20 percent of the students are selected for 1 scholarship program, there is a danger of further increasing the disparity between the privileged and the disadvantaged. It is against the principles of our constitution.

It is said that in order to adapt to the fast-changing world, we have been inspired by the recent Prime Minister's calls to move away from the current traditional learning assessment methods and test-based, standardized education systems. But the announcement of starting a scholarship test for only 20 percent students at the primary level has disappointed us. So much experimentation in education often confuses students and parents, which is not desirable at all.

Moreover, the way in which our students from different levels and socio-economic status, including those with disabilities, are selected by the 'Creative Talent Search' competition every year, initiated by the Ministry of Education and inter-ministerial coordination, is highly commendable. We don't understand why 'scholarship test' is suddenly started for only 20% of students despite having such a wonderful system of screening students' merit. Moreover, there is a danger that the introduction of this examination will increase the violence of the coaching trade and guide books, which has been proved beyond doubt in various studies conducted on the Primary Education Ending Examination. Due to this, parents will have to face additional costs and educational institutions will engage in unhealthy competition.

The statement expressed the hope that the policy makers would consider awarding merit scholarships through upazila-wise selection for all students in the light of the guidelines of the National Education Policy 2010, instead of public examinations like the 'Primary Scholarship Examination' which was suddenly announced and conducted nationally. . Through this we think that education management will move forward on the path of decentralization. Which will add a new dimension to the realization of Bangabandhu's dream of 1 prosperous Bangladesh by 2041 and the establishment of the right to inclusive and equitable quality education and life-long education, the target of JHA4, the national collective effort will accelerate - this is our hope.