bdnews24.com :
Students in Bangladesh got automatically promoted to the next classes in 1971 when the country fought a bloody Liberation War against Pakistan. The government resorted to the automatic promotion option once again in outgoing 2020.
This time, nearly half a century after the independence, the entire world is fighting a common enemy so tiny that it cannot be seen with bare eyes. The virus, SARS-CoV-2, has upended all aspects of public life, including education.
Many of the educational institutions are holding online classes while the government is airing lessons on TV and radio, but educationists do not see anything to be satisfied with.
From now, they believe Bangladesh has to be ready to keep learning undisrupted during any disaster by reviewing the curriculum and making infrastructural changes.
Bangladesh shut down all educational institutions on Mar 17 after the government detected the first cases of Covid-19, the deadly respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. All the institutions, barring Qawmi madrasas, are to remain shut until Jan 16.
Vaccines for adults are expected to begin arriving in the country in months, if not weeks, but people related to the education sector believe the government will not be able to allow in-person classes or exams anytime before the end of winter, or the inoculation of a satisfactory portion of the population. No coronavirus vaccine has been trialled on children until now.
The public exams of classes V and VIII were cancelled in 2020 along with the annual exams of the primary and high schools as the number of cases of infection and fatalities continued to surge.
The Higher Secondary Certificate exams, too, were cancelled and students will be evaluated on the basis of their performances in the JSC and SSC exams while the sessions logjam menace looms over the universities.
Professor M Wahiduzzaman of Dhaka University’s Institute of Education and Research thinks that the government has failed to keep the education sector moving in the way it revived the economy.
“The philosophy here is human lives first, then education. Still, we have kept our educational activities rolling through the virtual system,” he said.
The country has made much progress in its ‘Digital Bangladesh’ initiative, but everyone should keep in mind that it started well behind the others in terms of technological infrastructure, he said, pointing out the limitations of online education in the country.
“Educational institutions, among other places, lack capable leadership. Has the Open University played any role during the pandemic? We’ve not been able to provide online education and degrees,” Prof Wahiduzzaman said.
Raising questions on how the educational institutions would survive, he said, “We’ve learnt during the Covid-19 outbreak that we lack the infrastructure to move any system forward. That’s what we’re working on.”
Authorities at Phulkundi Kindergarten School of Nabinagar Housing in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur are struggling to run the school amid the coronavirus epidemic.
“We have to set a target determining how we should proceed after the pandemic. The new curriculum has to include these things, it should be modernised and made smarter.”
“Technology must be utilised at all times, not just during the coronavirus crisis. This has to be included in the curriculum. Our education system has a lot of content. Covid-19 has given us the opportunity to cut it down. This huge flaw of the curriculum has to be fixed. We can reap benefits if we can fix these issues even if it is for coronavirus.”
Wahiduzzaman recommended incorporating the use of devices for remote learning in the curriculum.
Prof Wahiduzzaman leaned on the idea of opening up educational institutions in phases. He said that the opening could start with class X while the lessons for HSC candidates could be kicked off by resuming classes for 12th graders in college.
According to Wahiduzzaman, maintaining physical distancing rules while holding classes could be achieved by setting such a routine that will allow the classes to be held every other day.
Students in Bangladesh got automatically promoted to the next classes in 1971 when the country fought a bloody Liberation War against Pakistan. The government resorted to the automatic promotion option once again in outgoing 2020.
This time, nearly half a century after the independence, the entire world is fighting a common enemy so tiny that it cannot be seen with bare eyes. The virus, SARS-CoV-2, has upended all aspects of public life, including education.
Many of the educational institutions are holding online classes while the government is airing lessons on TV and radio, but educationists do not see anything to be satisfied with.
From now, they believe Bangladesh has to be ready to keep learning undisrupted during any disaster by reviewing the curriculum and making infrastructural changes.
Bangladesh shut down all educational institutions on Mar 17 after the government detected the first cases of Covid-19, the deadly respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. All the institutions, barring Qawmi madrasas, are to remain shut until Jan 16.
Vaccines for adults are expected to begin arriving in the country in months, if not weeks, but people related to the education sector believe the government will not be able to allow in-person classes or exams anytime before the end of winter, or the inoculation of a satisfactory portion of the population. No coronavirus vaccine has been trialled on children until now.
The public exams of classes V and VIII were cancelled in 2020 along with the annual exams of the primary and high schools as the number of cases of infection and fatalities continued to surge.
The Higher Secondary Certificate exams, too, were cancelled and students will be evaluated on the basis of their performances in the JSC and SSC exams while the sessions logjam menace looms over the universities.
Professor M Wahiduzzaman of Dhaka University’s Institute of Education and Research thinks that the government has failed to keep the education sector moving in the way it revived the economy.
“The philosophy here is human lives first, then education. Still, we have kept our educational activities rolling through the virtual system,” he said.
The country has made much progress in its ‘Digital Bangladesh’ initiative, but everyone should keep in mind that it started well behind the others in terms of technological infrastructure, he said, pointing out the limitations of online education in the country.
“Educational institutions, among other places, lack capable leadership. Has the Open University played any role during the pandemic? We’ve not been able to provide online education and degrees,” Prof Wahiduzzaman said.
Raising questions on how the educational institutions would survive, he said, “We’ve learnt during the Covid-19 outbreak that we lack the infrastructure to move any system forward. That’s what we’re working on.”
Authorities at Phulkundi Kindergarten School of Nabinagar Housing in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur are struggling to run the school amid the coronavirus epidemic.
“We have to set a target determining how we should proceed after the pandemic. The new curriculum has to include these things, it should be modernised and made smarter.”
“Technology must be utilised at all times, not just during the coronavirus crisis. This has to be included in the curriculum. Our education system has a lot of content. Covid-19 has given us the opportunity to cut it down. This huge flaw of the curriculum has to be fixed. We can reap benefits if we can fix these issues even if it is for coronavirus.”
Wahiduzzaman recommended incorporating the use of devices for remote learning in the curriculum.
Prof Wahiduzzaman leaned on the idea of opening up educational institutions in phases. He said that the opening could start with class X while the lessons for HSC candidates could be kicked off by resuming classes for 12th graders in college.
According to Wahiduzzaman, maintaining physical distancing rules while holding classes could be achieved by setting such a routine that will allow the classes to be held every other day.
