State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj has said student learning outcomes should be the primary benchmark for measuring the success of reforms and development initiatives in primary education.
He made the remarks while addressing a dialogue titled “Citizen platform dialogue: How far has the government progressed? A focus on primary education,” organised by the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh, at Lakeshore Hotel in Gulshan, Dhaka, on Saturday.
Bobby Hajjaj said success in primary education should not be measured solely by project implementation or infrastructure development. Instead, the focus should be on how much students are learning in classrooms and whether reforms are improving learning outcomes.
Referring to the Primary Education Development Program (PEDP), he said significant development had taken place in infrastructure, technology and administrative capacity over the years. However, the overall system now needs to be restructured with greater emphasis on student learning outcomes.
“Constructing buildings is one task, while ensuring a student’s education and learning is another. The two cannot be conflated,” he said, stressing that learning outcomes must remain the core objective of primary education.
The state minister said long-term reforms in teacher management were also under way, alongside efforts to address teacher shortages. The government is working to bring teacher recruitment, career progression, evaluation, training and professional development under an integrated framework.
He said the government was also reviewing primary school schedules, the implementation of the single-shift system and measures to ensure adequate classroom learning time.
Initiatives have also been taken to involve child psychologists and early childhood education experts more effectively in curriculum development, he said.
Bobby Hajjaj said all primary-level educational institutions in the country, including public and private schools, would gradually be brought under an effective monitoring system.
He said the state has a responsibility to ensure the quality of education at all primary-level institutions, including Bangla-medium and English-medium schools, kindergartens and other institutions.
The dialogue was chaired by Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
Representatives from civil society and various public and private institutions also participated in the discussion.