The academic year 2023 has introduced us a new skillbased curriculum for primary, secondary and higher secondary level. This brave movement by our honorable prime minister is a significant step which will prepare our students for the challenges of the 21st century. “Implementation of the new educational curriculum is a must to cope with the challenging world and lead Bangladesh towards becoming a developed country”, said our education minister Dr. Dipu Moni while inaugurating training programme for headteachers and school teachers across the country. New curriculum framework NFC 2021 is a competency based curriculum, experiential and collaborative learning, and an exam free assessment system. Experiential and collaborative learning were two new concepts introduced in the teaching learning process. “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I may learn,” stated Benjamin Franklin. The initial experience of new curriculum has left many students, parents and teachers confused and apprehensive. Everyone is thinking about- whether the new curriculum is a new opportunity of improvement in teaching and learning or is this will be a failed reform?
Mainly the aim of the curriculum is to produce ‘Smart citizen’ for ‘Smart Bangladesh’. Now the question arises that why we need this new system of learning and assessment. Well, there are so many reasons. First of all, this new curriculum contains different syllabus, learning content and new process of assessment. It will improve the learners’ ability of critical thinking, creativity and problem solving skill. It is intended to evaluate student’s learning in terms of completing certain competencies. Generally, a competency is obtained by acquiring new knowledge, skill and attitude. The core competencies that learners are expected to acquire through the competency based curriculum from primary to grade 12 are: 1. express opinions and respect other’s opinions 2. take decisions from own critical thinking 3.contribute to national and global welfare 4.maintain safe and acceptable personal, familial and social relation 5.solve problem 6. Be creative etc. The education system of Bangladesh was heavily books oriented and strong exam marks. As a result, even after completing graduation an individual may not have necessary skills for getting a good job or earning money. It was mostly teacher centered with memorizing guidebooks and relying on private tutors/coaching centers. Often, unscrupulous teachers used to blur out question paper before exam. These hassles are going to be removed by our new curriculum. The ambitious aim is to equip the new generation with relevant skills and competencies. The new curriculum also includes vocational and technical education which will prepare students for local, national and international job markets. Moreover, the new curriculum emphasizes the importance of local culture and history. A section on climate change has also been included to create awareness about environmental issues and sustainable development . The new curriculum is designed in a way that is expected to help students develop analytical skills. This curriculum has activity related to their lesson both in classroom and outside the classroom. It includes many projects and group assignments which encourage collaboration and teamwork.in addition, it provides learning experiences in a more interactive and engaging manner to enable students to learn with joy. The assesment process of new curriculum reduced emphasis on examinations with the majority of the evaluation based on continuous assessment. It is an evaluation method that focuses on the collecting of continuous learning data on learner’s performance. It considers what students are learning and how they perform as well as improve on a daily basis.
As an English educator Its essential to depict here in brief that how new curriculum will bring a massive change in learning this language and related culture. If I talk about our country about 90 percent of the university graduates are unable to speak in English though they study this language compulsorily for 12 years that is 1 to 12. Because the former system emphasized mostly on reading and writing skills. Later, speaking and listening activities were included in the syllabus but they were hardly used in maximum of the educational institution. Graduates remain unable to speak English by following correct grammar and pronunciation as well as understand the words from the native English speakers. It’s just because of our earlier syllabus and assessment process. Students had to memorize different writing items like paragraph, essay, letters, stories etc. and write the same in their exam paper. There remained no chance of being creative. They also had to do the task of multiple choose question, fill in the gaps, writing answers for the questions given by following a passage. All these activities are related with reading and writing skills. If we look at our new curriculum there are task of talking about their likings and disliking, role playing, discussion, games with vocabs, different pair and group work, poem recitation, making sentences of different structure, writing themes, sharing opinions etc. which will improve their four skills. By doing activities a learner will be capable of removing their fear of using a foreign language like English. Pair work and team work will inspire them for a collaborative task and strengthen their self-confidence. With the new curriculum language class is not boring or fearful anymore. Literature has been elaborately brought and related with many enjoyable activities along with role playing.
Overall, the new curriculum in Bangladesh is an ambitious attempt to the education system and provide more relevant and practical education to students. Our new curriculum has the glimpse of the curriculum of educationally developed countries like Finland, South Korea, Australia, Japan, Germany and Norway. We can hope that our education system will achieve a number of positive developments needed for a developed country with skilled workforce.
Writer: Assistant Teacher(English), Protyashi Rustom Ali High School, Chandpur
ARS
