Sagar Biswas :
The government has taken decision to hold Primary School Certificate [PSC] examination from next year on completion of Class VIII with a view to synchronizing education system and upgrading the primary level.
“From the year 2017, the PSC examination will be held after completion of Class VIII. There will be no more public examination after Class V. As per new education policy, the government has decided to upgrade the primary level up to Class VIII,” said Mostafizur Rahman, Minister for Primary and Mass Education on Tuesday.
The Minister said that the government had already initiated relevant works to implement the decision.
“The students will appear in Junior School Certificate [JSC] examination from Class VIII this year [2016] for the last time. In line with government’s new plan, the JSC would be treated as PSC from 2017,” he said.
But academicians and education-related persons expressed doubt about the success of the new plan, terming it ‘highly complicated and challenging’.
Question has also been raised whether it would be possible for the government to implement the decision
when country’s most of the schools have not adequate infrastructure to bear the brunt of new policy.
Especially, there is want of trained and well-educated teachers and the government has no visible initiative to appoint teachers in a quick process to tackle the situation.
Meanwhile, reading in Class VIII will be mandatory for each and every child, when primary education is compulsory according to government policy. To execute the plan, the government is preparing to amend the relevant law to make Class VIII as primary level.
Sources close to the ministry told The New Nation on Tuesday that the education system up to Class VIII would remain unchanged along with the same curriculum until next announcement.
That means, those of the junior high schools have infrastructure to carry studies from Class VI to Class VIII will continue as earlier. In that case, the Primary and Mass Education will look after the education-related affairs, including the examinations, only.
In 2009, the government introduced PSC examination for the first time in the country.
But criticize was sharp over the system from the very beginning. And a number of noted educationists of the country remained vocal against the examination system since its introduction.
