Kazi Khaliquzzaman Ahmed, co-chairman of the National Education Policy-2010 formulation committee, has repeatedly criticized the examinations for students, including the final examination of primary education. He asked the question, when will the students learn if they are in exams all year round?
Kazi Khaliquzzaman made the remarks while addressing a discussion jointly organized by the Center for Policy Dialogue (CDP) and the Mass Literacy Campaign on Saturday. The discussion was held at the Spectra Convention Center in the capital’s Gulshan under the theme ‘Education Budget: Budget Education, Education and Human Resource Development: Where We Are’.
Speaking as the chief guest on the occasion, Planning Minister MA Mannan said more investment should be made in education. Although funding is low. The stipend money should be increased. In these cases, he will do as much as the Ministry of Planning needs to do.
Speaking on the occasion, Kazi Khaliquzzaman Ahmed, President of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) said, “There is a lot of progress in education, more progress needs to be made. Education means not paying as much attention as it should. There are still a lot of problems with quality for him at almost all levels. One of them is experimentation. One test after another. When will you learn if you are in exams all year?
There has been a long-running debate over the final examination of primary education. According to many educators, this test creates stress on young children. For this reason, they have been proposing to omit this test. This test is not mentioned in the new curriculum. However, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has not yet made a clear announcement as to when it will be canceled.
Kazi Khaliquzzaman Ahmed said that there is no problem in planning in education. But the implementation is not going as it should. The national education policy was made in 2010, but the education law was not. As there is no education law, it is not possible to implement many things in the education policy.
Rasheda K Chowdhury, executive director of the mass literacy campaign, urged not to cover the budget of other ministries with the budget of education. The former caretaker government adviser said the budget should be allocated with special emphasis on education. Education must be more important in the budget.
BRAC’s Emeritus Professor Manzoor Ahmed said that educational institutions in Bangladesh were closed for the longest time due to the Corona epidemic. Students have risen to the upper class without studying for two years. There is a risk of loss of a generation. There is not enough talk to compensate for the loss. This is the big problem.
CPD Research Fellow Muntasir Kamal presented the keynote address at the seminar. He said an initiative could be considered for the learning deficit in the Corona situation. When such programs are taken up along with the annual development program, there should be an initiative to fill the learning gap. The loss of education due to Corona will be given utmost importance in the next two-three financial years.
Muntasir Kamal said that from 2011 to 2020, the rate of absenteeism at secondary level was reduced. But in 2021, it looks upwards. This is a direct effect of Corona.
A few teachers, students and parents from different parts of the country raised their issues during the program. He demanded to take initiative to solve these problems. Their demands included handing over stipends to students on a monthly basis, increasing the amount of money, and providing adequate toilets in schools, especially in remote areas.
Also speaking on the occasion were MP Arma Dutt, veteran teacher leader Kazi Faruk Ahmed, CPD Executive Director Fahmida Khatun, Acting British High Commissioner Javed Patel, European Union Bangladesh First Secretary Hans Lambreak, UNICEF Representative Vira Mendonka and Mass Enlightenment Campaign.
