Staff Correspondent

Amid confusion surrounding the assessment of students in the new curriculum, the government has announced changes to the evaluation system, addressing demands from students and guardians.

The midterm and final exams of different classes will be held for five hours. They will continue from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm with a break of one hour, and will have six sessions. Besides, practical tests in the new system will be held for four hours, said sources.

Public exams like SSC and HSC will also be conducted in this manner. The public examination will be held at centres other than the students’ own school, said sources.

The government formed a coordination committee at the beginning of March this year to finalise the system of new curriculum implementation and evaluation. Later, the committee prepared a draft of the assessment procedure, which was discussed in a meeting of representatives of education boards on 24 March.

There has been confusion regarding the assessment of students in the new curriculum since it was introduced, and guardians have been demanding to bring back traditional exams in the new system. In view of their demands, the government is finally going to bring changes in the evaluation system, but it will not be similar to the exams that were held at schools earlier, said relevant sources.

As per the draft of the evaluation system, tests will be held in classes twice a year. Examination shall be referred to herein as “assessment”. There will be no marking rules in the new assessment system. The results will be divided into three categories: “Good Report”, “On Track” and “Preliminary Stage”. There will be midterm and final exams for students of grades four to nine.

The draft also says that there will be summative evaluation in midterm and annual exams.

National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) Chairman Professor Md Farhadul Islam said that a meeting was held on the evaluation process on Sunday. In that meeting, it was decided to bring back the examinations. However, another meeting will be held to finalise the matter.

NCTB Member (Curriculum) Professor Md Moshiuzzaman said that the evaluation process will start from June this year. Everything will be final before that. The draft was prepared by experienced academics. Ministry officials will finalise the matter.

According to the new curriculum, 10 general subjects have to be studied from the sixth to tenth grades. SSC exam will be based on the syllabus of the tenth grade. There will be one public examination each in the eleventh and twelfth grades.

Last year, the new curriculum was started in the sixth and seventh classes. This rule will be introduced in the second, third, eighth and ninth grades this year and in the fourth, fifth and tenth grades next year. The SSC exam will be held in the new system in 2026.