School Exam Marks: 65pc for written part, 35pc for practical

The National Curriculum Coordination Committee (NCCC) finalised the evaluation process in summative assessment under the new curriculum at a meeting yesterday.

Summative assessments are used to evaluate a student's learning, skill acquisition, and academic achievement at the conclusion of an academic year.

Sixty-five percent of the evaluation will now be based on the written part and 35 percent on practical activities.

The NCCC, a high-level committee responsible for the curriculum's final approval, made the decision at the meeting with officials from the secondary, madrasa, and technical education boards. Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury was in the chair.

Confirming the development, Prof Md Moshiuzzaman, acting chairman of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), said, "The evaluation method has been finalised with some minor changes to our initial proposals."

PHASE-WISE IMPLEMENTATION

The phase-wise implementation of the new curriculum started on January 1, 2023. Currently, it is followed in classes one, two, three, six, seven, eight, and nine. It will be adopted in classes four, five, and 10 in January 2025.

As per the new curriculum, students of pre-primary to grade three will not be assessed through exams. For higher classes, there will be exams along with continuous assessment.

DRAFTING AND APPROVAL

The NCTB drafted the assessment method in February. However, there were controversies and protests from guardians and teachers regarding written exams.

Following this, the education ministry formed a coordination committee for the evaluation system and curriculum.

The NCTB draft was further revised based on this committee's suggestions. The final draft was subsequently sent to the ministry for approval following the NCCC meeting, according to the NCTB.

KEY DECISIONS IN FINAL DRAFT

In National Curriculum Framework-2021, the NCTB outlined two broad forms of learning assessment: formative (continuous classroom-based assessment) and summative (at the end of an academic year).

Following a major change in the summative assessment, students will now have to sit for five-hour-long tests for each subject: four hours for "practical" activity and one for "theoretical" written test. There will be an interval in between.

According to the new assessment method, 65 percent will be on written tests while 35 on practical activity.

Meanwhile, SSC exams, which take place at the end of the 10th grade, will be conducted by the existing education boards at different exam centres, but the evaluation process will be under the new curriculum, according to the NTCB.

When publishing the report card of SSC, there will no longer use a GPA system. Instead, there will be seven scales to describe the level of competency, with "initial" at the bottom and "unique" at the top.

ADVANCEMENT FROM SSC TO HSC

From now on, SSC students will be allowed to advance to the HSC level even if they fail up to two subjects.

They will, however, receive a mark sheet showing their scores and will need to retake and pass the failed subjects in subsequent examinations to obtain full marks.

TECHNICAL, MADRASA EXAMS

On the other hand, public examinations in some specialised subjects under the Technical and Madrasa education boards will continue to use the old method for next few years, as decided in the NCCC meeting.

Prof Md Mamun Ul Haque, acting chairman of the Technical Education Board, said class nine students under this board will continue to take public exams in four specialised subjects using the old creative method due to the delay in making new textbooks for those subjects.

For the same reason, the Madrasa education board will be do the same.