Education Minister Dipu Moni has said she believes the new curriculum will make the trend of after-school private coaching a thing of the past.
“We aim to fully implement the new curriculum for primary and secondary students by 2025. Hopefully, after that, students will not be required to take private lessons after school hours,” she said while speaking to reporters after an impromptu visit to an HSC exam centre at Dhaka’s Begum Badrunnessa Government Girls' College in Dhaka on Sunday.
The government plans to launch the new curriculum for sixth and seventh graders as early as next year, for eighth and ninth graders by 2024 and 10th graders by 2025, reports bdnews24.com.
“We have prepared the new curriculum and lesson plans in a way that students won’t need private tutoring at all,” the minister said in reply to a question about why the government had failed to shut private coaching centres across the country during the exam period.
“We can’t stop something without offering an alternative. We will be able to eradicate the after-school private coaching practice with the implementation of new curriculum,” Dipu Moni said.
“The proprietors of the coaching centres have strong objections to shutting the doors for a month because it affects their revenue stream. Still, we are doing our best to take all the necessary action,” she said.
Dipu Moni also highlighted the necessity of after-school private tutoring in some “particular cases”.
“In some particular cases, private coaching is necessary for some struggling students. We have yet to take our education to a level where every student will get necessary support in the classroom.”
She also assured that the government departments responsible for setting up question papers and printing are on a high alert so that no question papers are leaked during the ongoing HSC examinations, which kicked off on Sunday.
“We are doing everything we can to stop question paper leaks and will take a hardline on leakers, if apprehended,” the minister said.