Assessment in the new curriculum: 65 percent will be written, 35 percent activity-based

 

According to the new curriculum, the weightage of the written part of the summative assessment of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination is going to be 65 percent. And the weightage of activity-based part will be 35 percent. A preliminary decision has been made to increase the weightage of the written part by making some changes from the recommendations made by the committee regarding evaluation recently.

 

In a meeting held under the chairmanship of Education Minister Mahibul Hasan Chowdhury at the Secretariat on Monday, a preliminary decision was taken. Officials of the Ministry, Dhaka Education Board, National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) were present in the meeting.

Recently, the final recommendation made by the committee formed by the Ministry of Education to coordinate the activities of implementing the new curriculum and finalizing the evaluation method, asked to give 50 percent weightage to the practical i.e. hands-on evaluation and 50 percent weightage to the written part. Activities mean doing assignments, presenting, researching, demonstrating, solving problems, making plans, etc. Simply put, manual labor.

 

Prothom Alo spoke to two responsible persons present in today's meeting. One of them, on condition of anonymity, said that in the meeting it was initially decided that according to the new curriculum, the weightage of the written part of the public examination i.e. SSC examination will be 65 percent and the weightage of the activity-based part will be 35 percent. Based on the first year experience, the weightage of the activity-based part will be increased step by step. The question papers of the written part will be in accordance with the content of the program ie the questions will be in keeping with the relationship between the two parts.

 

It was decided in the meeting, now if the NCTB completes the expeditious ancillary process, it will be taken up in the pre-scheduled National Curriculum Coordination Committee (NCCC) meeting for final approval.

 

It is known that according to the recommendation of the said committee, the time for written and activity-based evaluation has been kept as five hours. According to the new curriculum, the public examination that will be held at the end of class 10, is being named Secondary School Certificate (SSC) as it is now. This exam will be under the education boards.

 

A high-level official of NCTB told Prothom Alo today that there was a discussion about increasing the weightage of the written part to 65 percent. But the decision is not final. The decision will be finalized after a little review.

The new curriculum started in the country last year. Currently, students in primary grades I to III and VI to IX are studying the new curriculum. In 2027, the new curriculum will be introduced in class 12.

For some time now, there has been a discussion about how the evaluation of the public examination will be according to the new curriculum. In today's meeting, it was discussed to make the collective or annual assessment of class IX on the pattern of public examination. However, the assessment of other categories will continue as before.

The people concerned say that the assessment should be finalized soon. Because, currently those who are studying in class 9, they will give the SSC exam for the first time according to the new curriculum. In Class IX, their study period lasts for five months. But how their SSC exam evaluation will be done is not finalized yet. However, according to the new curriculum, the SSC exam will be based on the textbook of class 10.

Source: Prothom Alo