Secondary education in almost all countries has at least two subsystems -- the general and the technical/vocational. Many Muslim nations have also a religious education subsystem -- Madrasa.

There are about 49 countries in Asia. I studied 23 of them thoroughly during the last three years. Now we may have a look into the prevailing trend of secondary education systems in those countries to help develop a better system in Bangladesh.

Duration
The general education subsystem is the most important and overwhelmingly the largest in the secondary education. The duration of this stage varies from 4 to 8 years (depending on the length of primary education) in different countries. The most prevailing system is of 6-year duration and is mostly divided into two stages-the lower secondary (3-4 years) and the higher secondary (2-3 years).

Of the 49 states in Asia, 23 have the lower secondary education for three years (usually grades 7-9). Over 20 of those countries have the higher secondary of three years (mostly grades 10-12) duration. The secondary level education is subdivided into three in a few countries.

So Bangladesh can logically follow the Asian trend of secondary education consisting of two sub-stages -- lower (7-9) and higher (10-12) . The lower secondary education up to grade 9 should be declared basic (and if possible compulsory) as in many countries of Asia. The very first year of the high school (class 7 instead of the present 6) can be kept outside the public examination that may be based on the studies at grade 8 and 9. A Lower Secondary Certificate (LSC) can be awarded to the students successfully completing the 9-year basic education. This certificate can be treated as equivalent to the present SSC.

Apparently the LSC holders are lower in status than the SSC holders. But it may be mentioned here that at present a substantial portion of the course in grades 6-10 are repeated. So apart from the group-based study, the proposed course up to grade 9 would contain everything of the present course up to grade 10. The actual improvement of secondary education would be effected in the higher secondary sub-stage having enough time for group-based in-depth studies to prepare well for higher education.

Streaming system
The lower secondary curriculum is unified in most countries having a few elective or optional subjects. But in the higher secondary stage the curriculum has some compulsory or 'core' subjects and some groups or clusters of subjects. The second provision divides the students literally or in spirit into some groups like humanities, science, commerce, industrial arts, Islamic education etc.

A unified secondary curriculum is prevalent only in 6 countries (out of 23). These are the Philippines, China, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Turkey.

Bangladesh can follow the Asian prevailing trend rather than the few stated above. The lower secondary should be unified having some 'core subjects' applicable also to the Madrasas and Vocational schools (Vocational education can start from grade 7 as in China).

The higher secondary should be diversified having some choice of group subjects other than the compulsory 'core' subjects and that should be uniform through the subsystems. The last education commission (headed by Prof. Maniruzzman Mia) report supports this 'core and optional' subject system. The loose subject choice system is practiced in most developed and developing countries including neighbouring India and Singapore.

The English medium schools of Bangladesh mainly follow the British curriculum.

Subjects studied in different countries
The number of subjects studied at the secondary level varies from 8 to 15 in different countries. The 8-subject curriculum is prevalent in the Philippines, Singapore and Sri Lanka while a 12-subject course is compulsory in a few countries including China, Korea, Taiwan and Turkey. Most subject-burdened curriculum in the secondary stage is found in Israel where 15 subjects are studied! Malaysian students read a 12-paper course in the upper secondary (grades 10-11). The pre-university (Form-6) curriculum in Malaysia has provision for having a very sound base for higher education. Each of the four elective (group) subjects (e.g., Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics) has three papers. The three compulsory subjects (Bahasa Melayu, English and General Knowledge) have two papers each. So total number of papers reaches 17-18!

Religious/moral education is studied in most of the countries and in over half of the states, religious education (Islamic studies in Muslim countries, Bible in Israel, Buddhism in Sri Lanka etc.) is compulsory.

Computer Education or ICT (Information and Communication Technology) or Business Education is nowhere compulsory. However, these subjects are studied as elective ones in the secondary grades in many countries including India.

Bangladesh can follow the present subject pattern with some minor changes. The 'core course' in the lower secondary can contain a new subject on 'Ethics and Law' having the gist of major religions, some basic laws (including those in land matters) and human rights. The other prevalent subjects may be Bangla, English, Mathematics, Natural Science and Social Science. The proposed new subject 'ethics and law' may replace the traditional religion that so far failed to enhance our moral values.

There may be provision for 2-3 elective subjects from a list containing religion, agriculture, home economics, computer science, business studies, higher science, higher social science, higher math etc. Madrasa and technical education subsystems can have their own electives.

The core subjects in the higher secondary can be Bangla, English and an advanced Ethics and Human Rights, each having two papers. Number of elective subjects from a long list may be three, each having three papers (as in Malaysian Form-6). Thus the number of papers studied during the 3-year higher secondary would be 15 instead of the present 10/12 for two years. The one time examination of 15 papers after long three years may be problematic. Yearly semester system can solve this problem of 'memorising' so many subjects. Developing and setting higher level (application, analysis, synthesis etc.) questions in place of asking for producing mere knowledge may also solve the brain-jam (due to memorization) problem.

A note on the postponed Unified Curriculum
The 7-year secondary education in Pakistan was had three sub-stages -- lower (grades 6-8), middle (9-10) and higher (11-12). The lower secondary and the secondary (9-10) were unified up to 1960. The secondary education would then complete in having the Matriculation Certificate. The last matriculation examination was held in 1962. The secondary (9-10) course was made diversified (having some groups like humanities, science, commerce etc.) in 1961 and the new type of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Examination was held first in 1963. The higher secondary was always diversified.

Education system in the independent Bangladesh began in 1972 based on the Pakistani system. The primary and secondary curriculum went through major revisions at least thrice in Bangladesh. The first revision of the curriculum was done in 1977 by a very large national curriculum committee chaired by Prof. Zillur Rahman Siddiqui. Implementation of that revised curriculum was rather delayed and unification of only the general secondary stage was effected in January 1983. But the unification was dropped in July and the diversified system was reintroduced having two clear streams -- Social Science and Science. Under the same curriculum, books underwent major changes in 1985 and in 1987.

The second revision of the curriculum was made in 1995. This curriculum has provisions for three streams -- Humanities, Science and Business Studies (new name of Commerce). But these streams are not clear as was during the previous 23 years (1972-1995). Science students of the secondary grades (9-10) are required to study a Social Science course compulsorily and those of humanities and business studies are required to complete a General Science course. This curriculum was implemented from January 1996.

The last revision of the primary curriculum was made during 2002-2004. Such a revision was due on the lower secondary, secondary and higher secondary in a serial order. But the Secondary Education Sector Improvement Project (SESIP) revised only the 9-10 curriculum in 2005.

All the above components would work positively for improvement of secondary education. But implementation of all the good programmes mentioned above has been stalled for a year (another year may be added since the CG would not decide on such a matter) just because the 45-year old diversified curriculum was unwisely made unified disregarding the views of the stakeholders including the students, teachers, guardians and education administrators (consulted during the evaluation of the existing curriculum in 2002).

Now it is time to decide first on the streaming system in the secondary sub-stage. Then the new curriculum should be revised making it worthy to be implemented. The system proposed above may be analyzed and debated by all concerned so that we can have a better system during the next nation-wide revision of the full curriculum from primary to higher.

Abdus Sattar Molla is Specialist, MDU, NCTB, Dhaka.