Govt mulls shorter HSC test schedule, fewer subjects
Education Minister Dipu Moni yesterday said the federal government was considering to cut brief the examination days and amount of subjects of Higher Secondary Certificate and its own equivalent exams which were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking for a webinar, the minister said they were also thinking of shortening some vacations of the others of 2020 and 2021 academic calendar years in order that students usually do not miss lessons.
"You don't have to lessen the syllabus because of this year's HSC exams as the students have previously completed it," Dipu Moni said.
Education Reporters Association of Bangladesh organised the webinar titled "Challenges found in education from novel coronavirus and what should be done."
The minister said HSC exams would commence 15 days after return of normalcy from the coronavirus situation. Since it is a general public exam, it may put lakhs of people, including students, guardians, and members of police agencies, at wellness risk.
"So we are considering to cut short test days and subjects of the HSC exams," she said.
The HSC and its equivalent exams were scheduled to being on April 1. Multiple million students are anticipated to take the exams at over 9,000 educational institutions in the united states.
Dipu Moni said they could expand the academic calendar for the secondary students to February subsequent year to create up for academic losses due to the school closure.
Other alternatives like reducing the institution syllabus and shortening holidays were as well under consideration, she said.
"We can not take classes for more than 140 to 142 days within an academic year as there are several vacations and programmes. Hence we are considering cutting the holiday season for all of those other tenure of the 2020 academic year and 2021 academic year," she added.
Emeritus Professor Manzoor Ahmed of Brac University proposed cancelling the principal Education Completion Examinations (PECE) and equivalent exams after class-V and Junior College Certificate (JSC) and equivalent exams after class-VIII for in least the existing academic year.
Rasheda K Choudhury, executive director of Campaign for Popular Education, demanded the federal government cancel its decision of raising supplementary duty on cellular phone services in order that students can avail online education without having any extra financial burden on them.
Dipu Moni said she believes that the government would reduce the supplementary duty on cellular phone services.
Secondary and ADVANCED SCHOOLING Secretary Mahbub Hossain and leaders of Education Reporters Association of Bangladesh, Mostak Ahmed and Sabbir Newaj, likewise spoke at the programme.
Source: www.thedailystar.net
