The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) has drafted a framework to assess skills, competencies, and reduce student stress at the secondary level under the new curriculum.
The draft recommends implementing a similar evaluation method in internal examinations across various classes.
Officials of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) said that since only after 2025 a batch of the new curriculum will be promoted to the upper secondary level, a framework has been created with a focus on how to evaluate them in public exams.
The evaluation method is designed in such a way that students do not perceive their learning as burdensome, emphasizing creativity over memorization and reducing mental pressure, the officials said.
According to the draft evaluation method, at the end of the tenth grade, assessment will be completed through project-based work, assignments, as well as written examinations.
However, the format of the written examination will feature creative questions based on students' previous experiences, steering away from conventional memorization methods.
The academic status of students currently in the ninth grade will be assessed through this system in the public examination in 2026, according to the draft.
Furthermore, department divisions in grade 9 will be phased out, with all students studying 10 designated subjects, and optional subjects will be introduced in grades 11 and 12.
There will be two annual summative evaluations in different classes, the first after 6 months of the academic year and the other in the last month of the same academic year, according to the evaluation method.
The draft mentioned that one subject will be assessed per day, within the school time (five hours).
When asked why evaluation was limited to five hours a day, Professor M. Tarique Ahsan, a member of the National Curriculum Committee, explained: "Initially, a decision was made to reduce stress on students by limiting evaluation to 5 hours. However, collective evaluation has already been conducted for six hours in the sixth and seventh grades."
At the end of the 10th-grade internal test, the public exam will be evaluated through 10 subjects at the educational institution concerned, while the other part will be evaluated centrally under Boards management.
In line with conventional centre management, the assessment of learning time and public examination will be equally evaluated.
According to the draft, the test or assessment method conducted centrally will assess each subject for a maximum of five hours daily, with breaks on each working day.
One part of the assessment will be practical, including research, exhibitions, project planning, group discussions, presentations, and tests.
In the other part, the examination will be conducted through written answer sheets, with the exact duration yet to be determined.
Meanwhile, scrutiny is underway regarding the name of the public examination, as Prof Md Farhadul Islam, chairman of the NCTB, told Dhaka Tribune last week.
The draft will be finalized soon, he added.
The transition to the new curriculum began in 2023 for grades 1, 6, and 7. Grades 2, 3, 8, and 9 are progressively aligning with the new curriculum this year, with assessment methods based entirely on learning time.
Looking ahead, grades 4, 5, and 10 are scheduled to adopt the new curriculum in 2025.
From that point onward, 60% of the assessment in Bengali, English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Science for grades 4 and 5 will occur during learning sessions, with the remaining 40% evaluated collectively.
Grades 6 and 8 will undergo similar evaluation, with 100% of learning time assessed in designated subjects.
Method of question paper making and marking
The evaluation committee has revamped the conventional marking system and introduced a new one.
However, there will be alternative evaluation options available or flexible options for students based on their abilities and other criteria so that no one is left out of the evaluation.
The NCTB chairman told Dhaka Tribune: "A resource pool will be formed in advance to conduct the evaluation process of the public examination.
However, it will be finalized through a workshop next May.
Under this plan, subject-based question papers will be prepared based on students' abilities and the exam time frame.
The question paper makers and moderators will fill out an observation chart in two parts: one through practical tests based on students' abilities and the other through written tests.
An examiner will input the Proficiency Index (PI) following the student observation chart and written evaluation chart. The entire system will be generated through an app. The current education board will be responsible for the exam centre. However, students will not be able to participate in the exam at their respective institutions.
According to the evaluation test policy, at the beginning of each test, the teacher in charge will clearly inform the students of the skills they will be assessed on.
The examination centre will have subject-based materials, including paper, test materials, models, designs, graphs, etc.
Report cards will be introduced as certificates
Under the new curriculum, a candidate will be eligible to register for the public examination only if they have performed well in the ninth-grade internal examination and will be able to continue their academic life in tenth grade.
Similarly, if a student does not perform well in more than three proficiency subjects, he/she will not be able to proceed to the next class and will be considered disqualified.
From the beginning of the academic year of tenth grade, subject teachers will input the students' performance indicators (PI) into the app and maintain the records.
Later, the Board of Education will send subjective evaluators who would be recognized as external to the educational institution and verify the record of learning assessment based on random sampling.
According to the draft evaluation framework, transcripts and report cards will be generated within the specified time frame after completion of the assessment and examination.
The transcript will contain data on how a student has achieved proficiency in each subject.
Under the report card, the results will be published in seven scales (seven charts) separately for learning assessment and public examination assessment.
These charts will be filled according to the performance of the students under prescribed indicators. Some may be all, medium, or less.
As an example, if a student achieves six competencies according to the prescribed indicators, then six charts would be filled, and the remaining one will be empty.
The NCTB chairman said this report card will be introduced as a certificate.
Recently, Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel affirmed a readiness to adapt the curriculum as needed, with the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) asserting the absence of loopholes in the evaluation method based on piloting programs conducted at 300 selective schools in 2022.
However, despite assurances from the NCTB, concerns persist among teachers, students, guardians, and other stakeholders.
The absence of interim tests in the new curriculum raises questions, prompting discussions about potential modifications to the evaluation process.
Later, the Ministry of Education formed a committee to formulate an effective evaluation method.