Senior educationists, experts and researchers on Wednesday urged the interim government to establish an inclusive and continuous education framework for eradicating existing discrimination in the sector.
At a policy brief, they also urged the government to clear all ambiguity in its recent decisions about the sector including returning to the previous curriculum, cancelling of public examinations and a recent committee to review textbooks.
They also recommended formation of an education commission and no group-wise division from Class IX.聽
Under the banner of non-government education family, Campaign for Popular Education and associate organisations held the policy brief at CIRDAP auditorium followed by a press briefing.
CAMPE executive director and Education Watch member secretary Rasheda K Choudhury presented the brief titled 鈥楥ontinuous transformation in education to remove discrimination: perspective of Bangladesh鈥� along with some recommendations.聽
鈥榃e are not seeing any discussion on the discrimination in the education sector,鈥� she said, adding, 鈥榃e are being forced to say that education is not getting priority,鈥�
For this and to start discussion on the discrimination in the sector, the brief had been made, she added.
鈥極ur education has become the main weapon for creating discrimination,鈥� said BRAC University professor emeritus Manzoor Ahmed.
He said that the main objective of all stakeholders in this sector should be how education system could eradicate discrimination in the society.
About some recent interim government decisions, Rasheda K Choudhury said that over four crore students, the guardians and the education sector stakeholders were in confusion about some recent government decisions.
鈥楩or the protest of 200 to 300 so-called students Higher Secondary Certificate examinations were cancelled without thinking about the future of 14 lakh students,鈥� she said, adding, 鈥榃e are still in a haze as to who did this and the issue has not been cleared by the policymakers.鈥櫬�
She said that suddenly a decision was made for returning to the 2012 national curriculum and the matter was not clear why this decision had been taken.
After that, a committee was formed to review the textbooks and then it was cancelled suddenly, Rasheda also said.
While presenting the brief, she said that a continuous and integrated learning framework from pre-primary level to tertiary level, in consistent with all phases of education, is very important. As per the primary and mass education ministry鈥檚 National Student Assessment 2022 report about 55 per cent students completed the primary level without achieving qualifications related to foundational and mathematical literacy.
The primary education is reeling with discrimination based on memorisation based learning and huge expenditure while another big area of discrimination is science education.
According to the 2022 report of the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics, about 30 per cent students of Class IX enrolled in science group and out of them only 15 per cent were female students.
Most of the unemployed people with university certificates were from humanities disciplines, a 2024 research of National University showed.
The brief also recommend reforms of the University Grants Commission and improvement of the quality of teachers.
Rasheda added that the brief would be sent to the ministries of education and primary and mass education and the coordinators of the Students Against Discrimination Movement.聽
Education Watch convener Ahmed Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury said that reforms in education sector should be based on evidence.
BRAC Institute of Educational Development executive director Erum Mariam, Notre Dame University Bangladesh鈥檚 adviser Jyoti F Gomes, Lalmatia School and College principle Akmal Hossain and Bangladesh Primary Teachers鈥� Association president Shahinur Al Amin were also present at the event as discussants.
