New curriculum: Say goodbye to rote learning and traditional tests

The new curriculum marks a departure from old test methods: there will also be no questions in the form of “answer any three of the following five questions,” no bells will ring before an exam and there will be no pressure on students to sit through lengthy three-hour exams.

Stakeholders said that despite these significant changes, students would still undergo fair assessment.

The government started implementing the new curriculum in the first, sixth and seventh grades in 2023 and the second, third, eighth and ninth grades this year.

The new curriculum will be introduced in fifth and 10th grades next year, 11th in 2026 and 12th in 2027.

Among the notable changes, the new curriculum eliminates tests until the third grade, postpones public examinations until the school-leaving SSC exams and eliminates the science-arts-commerce divide from ninth and 10th grades. Timed exams are replaced with learning-period and summary evaluations at the end of the year.

Critics, particularly guardians, have voiced concerns since the abandonment of traditional exams, demanding alterations to the new evaluation system. 

Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury last month said the evaluation system would be simplified so that the parents could understand it easily, adding that experts were working to help parents understand their children's strengths through the new assessment method.

The minister also said the new assessment system had been introduced to eliminate tests that required rote learning and make evaluation stress-free for students.

Written exams

Following the education minister's statement, many had assumed that the traditional examination system might not be scrapped completely, and students would still sit for examinations, even if in a slightly different method.

But there will be evaluations and no traditional written tests.

NCTB officials said the new curriculum was competency-based, leaving no room for evaluations through written tests.

However, the evaluation method in three grades, implemented last year, will undergo some adjustments.

“Our earlier assessments also had a written component. There may have been report writing in the assessment in one subject; they (students) may have collected data and processed it, which is the way it is supposed to be in the curriculum. Students will submit reports and assignments written on paper. If one completes one task, one will write it down and submit it. Students will make posters, hang their work on the wall… all of these are written components; there will be such written work. Assessments in June and December last year were like this,” said National Curriculum and Textbook Board Member Prof Md Moshiuzzaman.

No more worrying about the bell

It is all but certain that times exams will now be a thing of the past, and discussions are underway on what their alternative will be. 

Those involved in the formation and implementation of the new curriculum said SSC would also see adjustments.

Prof Moshiuzzaman said he wanted to make it clear that under the new curriculum, students would not sit for timed exams where they would have to answer three out of five questions on definitions or classifications. 

If such types of examinations were still to be held, another curriculum should be created after getting rid of this competency-based one, he said.

In the past, students would read a book and regurgitate what the book said, the NCTB member said. “Now children will write everything in their own words.”

Assessment in one subject in 5 hours

In response to inquiries about changes in the evaluation system, the professor explained that previously, students were assessed in six subjects in a single day. 

“Following field-level visits, we found that six evaluations in a single day were tough to do properly. Then we did three subjects in one day when we took exams in November. And now the evaluation on one subject will be done in one day. 

“There will be an orientation first, after which a student will do the final task. There will be a group task, and everyone will have to perform individually as well. These have to be done in 5 hours.”

Results at the end of the year

At the end of each year, students will be evaluated through an exam, and their results will appear in the form of symbols like a triangle, square or circle instead of marks. The NCTB said experts were working on how to present assessments and results to parents so they could understand them with ease.

SSC, HSC exams

Under the new curriculum, akin to the assessment approach adopted up to the ninth grade, there will be collective assessments in SSC, HSC and their equivalent exams. 

While examination centres, invigilators, written documents and other activities for collective evaluation will remain, traditional questions with easily memorizable answers will be phased out.

Instead, students may be tasked with writing descriptions of assigned tasks or engaging in creative writing sections, aiming to foster critical thinking and comprehension skills rather than rote memorization.

Finalizing the assessment process

The government on Monday established a coordination committee composed of key officials from various organizations to finalize the implementation and evaluation framework of the new curriculum. This committee will oversee the execution and advancement of the new curriculum, offering recommendations and insights. Additionally, it will assess and finalize evaluation methodologies, particularly for public examinations, and provide necessary suggestions for the preparation, correction and enhancement of textbooks.