Experts have urged the government to promote and dedicate higher amounts as stipends under a new universal scholarship program after scrapping the current primary scholarship program which many say is discriminatory.
They said that on one hand the government wants to transform the country's education system and reduce mental pressure of the students and on the other the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has introduced a mandatory primary education policy which in turn will put a burden on students and push them into unfair competition.
In December last year, twenty-nine eminent citizens of the country demanded the withdrawal of the decision to take the preliminary scholarship examination slated for the end of the year.
In a joint statement on 19 December, they said that there is a risk of increasing discrimination through scholarship examinations.
If only 20% of the students are selected for the scholarship program, then there is a chance of further increasing the disparity between the privileged and disadvantaged students,the experts said.
Hours after the publication of the revised results of the Primary Scholarship Examinations 2022 on Tuesday night, the Directorate of Primary Education suspended the results citing "technical errors".
A notification signed by DPE Director General Shah Rezwan Hayat expressed regret for what was referred to as an unintentional mistake.
In this regard, educationist Rasheda K Chowdhury told Dhaka Tribune that going ahead with the procedure of the results will not cause any legal dispute but may create mental distress for the students.
She suggested that the government should promote the universal scholarship program instead and increase the stipend amount.
The stipend amount of the scholarship was Tk75 at pre-primary and Tk150 at primary level.
Rasheda K Choqdhury further said the amount was not adequate as 71% of the financial cost was carried by the guardians.
Therefore, the government should provide more allocation for the universal scholarship program once it scraps the existing system, she added.
Ministry forms probe committee
The Education Ministry has formed a three-member committee to probe the result postponement incident.
The ministry's joint secretary (administration) Nurjahan Khatun was made convener of the probe committee.
The committee has been asked to submit its report to the ministry within three working days.
Regarding the errors, ministry secretary Farid Ahmed said that action will be taken if anyone is found guilty in the matter.