A government consultation committee has recommended limiting public examinations to five core subjects and ensuring universal secondary education up to Class 12, as part of sweeping reforms aimed at reducing academic pressure and addressing persistent learning deficits.
In its draft report, obtained by The Daily Star, the consultation committee for Improvement of Secondary Education proposed that centralised public examinations should cover only Bangla, English, mathematics, science and social science.
The 10-member panel, formed in October last year, and led by Emeritus Professor Manzoor Ahmed, said public examinations should assess core competencies rather than test every subject taught in schools.
Under the proposal, subjects such as digital technology, religion, physical education and the arts would be excluded from central written examinations and instead assessed internally through continuous evaluation.
The report said this would ease “unnecessary academic pressure” on adolescents who currently sit examinations in numerous subjects, leaving limited scope to strengthen foundational skills in language and mathematics.
The committee also argued that shortening the public examination schedule would reduce prolonged school closures, preserving teaching time that is currently lost during weeks-long exam periods. It added that subjects such as information and communication technology (ICT) should be assessed through practical, hands-on evaluation rather than written tests.
No public exams at Classes 5 and 8
The committee recommended that public examinations at Classes 5 and 8 remain permanently abolished. It described the reintroduction of the Junior Scholarship Examination last year as “unnecessary” and proposed scrapping it.
According to the report, such examinations disrupt regular classroom teaching, as teachers concentrate on a small group of selected candidates while the majority of students receive less attention.
The panel also recommended maintaining a unified curriculum up to Class 10, opposing the current practice of dividing students into science, humanities and business studies streams from Class 9. It termed the existing stream division “not well considered” and suggested that specialisation should begin only at Class 11.
It further described the administrative separation at Class 10 as a “barrier” to achieving educational objectives. To ensure continuity, the committee proposed bringing the entire school system, from pre-primary to Class 12, under a single ministry or authority.
As part of a broader structural reform, the report proposed guaranteeing universal education up to Class 12 and formally defining Classes 6 to 12 as the secondary level.
The recommendations follow a field assessment that revealed significant learning gaps. The committee assessed 437 students from 10 schools, including institutions in char, haor and coastal areas.
In mathematics, 77.13 percent of Class 8 students and 65.42 percent of Class 9 students scored below 33 percent. Overall, 71.4 percent failed to achieve the pass mark in mathematics. Performance in English was also weak, with 55.4 percent failing to reach the passing grade.
Academic calendar and class duration
The committee criticised the existing January–December academic calendar as a “colonial legacy” misaligned with the country’s climate. It proposed shifting the academic year to September–June.
The report recommended scheduling the long vacation during July and August, when peak monsoon conditions often disrupt schooling. It argued that beginning the academic year in September would allow schools to make full use of the winter months for uninterrupted teaching instead of examinations.
The committee also questioned the fixed 45-minute class period, describing it as a “mechanical routine” that prevents a complete learning cycle. It noted that time lost during teacher transitions reduces effective instructional time.
To address this, the panel proposed calculating total weekly instructional hours per subject rather than adhering to rigid daily time limits.
This approach, it said, would allow schools to schedule longer, uninterrupted sessions, particularly for mathematics and science, to support deeper and more practical learning.
