Bangladeshlive - A Place Where Bangladesh Is Alive

In order to maintain a modern, scientific and effective education system, Bangladesh Government attaches highest priority to the improvement of education sector. With this objective, the Government of Bangladesh had establish several Education Commissions and Committees since the independence of the country.

Qudrat-e-Khuda Education Commission-1972
Mofiz Uddin Education Commission-1988
Shamsul Haque Education Committee- 1997
Dr. M.A. Bari Commission-2002
Mohammad Moniruzzaman Mia Commission-2003

Qudrat-e-Khuda Education Commission-1972

Qudrat-e-Khuda Education Commission was formed in 1972, headed by the leading educationist and scientist Dr. Qudrat-e-Khuda. The commission submitted its report to the Government in May 1974. The report was formulated and is based on the socio-economic and political state and cultural heritage of the country. The perspectives and this scenario of the education system of the contemporary world were also taken into consideration. In fact, Qudrat-e-Khuda Commission report reflected the fundamentals of the newly framed constitution of Bangladesh. The concerned authority examined the report carefully and the preparatory steps were taken to implement the report. But due to some unavoidable circumstances, the implementation of the recommendations of the report were delayed. In the light of the recommendations of this commission a committee for developing National Curricula & Syllabi was formed in 1976. The National Committee consisted of 47 eminent educationists of the country headed by Prof. Shamsul Hoque. The National committee developed a detailed procedure and mechanism for developing national curricula & syllabi. In order to achieve its target, this NCSC (National Curriculum Syllabus Committee) constituted 10 sub-committees and 27 subject committees . The NCSC submitted its report to the Government in 07 volumes in 1976, 1977 and 1978.

Qudrat-e-Khuda commission suggested some major changes in the Primary, Secondary and Higher Secondary stages of education. According to the Commission report primary education will be of 8 -years (Class 1 to Class VIII) and secondary education will be of 4-years duration (Class IX to Class XII). In the field of Higher education a combined degree course of four years and a one year Master's course will be offered in the Universities. Regarding curriculum, syllabus and textbooks, the commission suggested a uniform curriculum for primary level based on competence. The Commission gave special emphasis on improved assessment system and suggested letter grading in the assessment of student performnce in all stages of education.

Mofiz Uddin Education Commission-1988

After the publication of the Qudrat-e-Khuda Education commission report, some of the recommendations were implemented. In 1979 the Government felt the necessity of reviewing the report. Advisory Council for National Education styled Interim Education Policy Recommendations were published and the reports of the Mofiz uddin Commission were brought to light in February, 1988.

Shamsul Haque Education Committee- 1997

Qudrat-e-Khuda Education commission submitted their report in 1974, Due to some unavoidable circumstances the recommendations of the Committee were not implemented properly. It was felt that for meeting the national needs and for keeping pace with the unprecedented advancement in the field of knowledge in the contemporary world, original and qualitative change in our education system ware needed. With this end view, the Government of Bangladesh constituted a 56- member committee headed by Prof. Shamsul Haque. The committee has made all out efforts for developing an education policy in order to introduce a pragmatic education system suitable for the country. The report of this commission was placed in the cabinet and to review this report a cabinet committee was formed. The report of this committee was sent to National Assembly.

Dr. M.A. Bari Commission-2002

An Expert Committee headed by Dr. M.A. Bari was formed in 2002 to identify immediate implementable reforms of education sector. The Committee suggested several interventions in the sector which were considered later by the Education Commission 2003.

Mohammad Moniruzzaman Mia Commission-2003

In order to improve the quality of Education and initiate a set of reforms to develop the sector government undertook several actions of which the formation of Education Commission in January 2003 was one of the major initiatives. The Commission submitted its report to the Government in March 2004. The Commission Report consists of three parts and suggests 880 recommendations on all the education sub-sectors. The contents of the Commission Report is as follows:

Part I:	General Education
	Primary Education
	Secondary and Higher Secondary Education
	Higher Education
Part II:	Professional Education
	Agricultural Education
	Technological Education
	Medical Education
Part III:	Specialized Education
	Madrasah Education
	Education for Mainstreaming Women
	ICT Education
	Distance Education System
	Library and Information Science Education.

The basic principles on which the Commission’s report was prepared are as follows:

Principal Objective:

The main goal of education is to transform the whole population into human resources within the shortest possible time.

Access to Education:

the principle of equal access to education for all irrespective of religion, caste and creed, sex, economic status and geographical variation.

Quality of Education:

Measures for maintaining high quality at all levels of education.

School Enrolment Age:

The principle of enrolling the child at school just when his/her age completes five years.

Nationalization of Primary Schools:

The principle of nationalizing all the primary schools at the shortest possible time.

Teacher-Student Ratio:

The policy of narrowing down the number of students per teacher; 1:30 teacher-student ratio at primary schools, and 1:40 teacher-student ratio at secondary levels.

Goals and Objectives of Education:

The goals and objectives of education at all stages e.g., primary, secondary and higher education must be pre-determined.

Education Framework:

The principle of maintaining the existing education framework.

Coordination of the different streams of education:

The existing diversified streams in primary and secondary education in Bangladesh creates socio-economic and intellectual discrepancies, which is assumed to be detrimental to social justice and solidarity. Since it would not be wise to change the tradition over night, curriculum needs to be prepared in coordinating the different streams so that the major parts of the streams become consistent.

Unitrack Secondary Education:

Policy of introducing of a unitrack secondary education policy .

Wider Access to Education in the Rural Areas:

The policy of increasing access to education in the rural areas through establishment of new educational institutions with GOB financing in the underserved areas.

Model High School in Rural Areas:

The policy of establishing one model high school in each Upazila within the shortest possible time.

Selection of Teacher:

The Strategy of selecting teachers in non-government educational institutions, other then the universities, through an independent commission.

Quality of Education:

With a view to improving the quality of education, measures have been taken to train up the teachers, particularly the teachers of English. Mathematics & Sciences. To cover the broader area within the shortest possible time, the method of distance education would be applied in teachers training.

Usage of technology in Education:

The Education Commission recommends that there is no alternative to exploring the full utility of modern technology for quality improvement in primary and secondary education. In this regard a TV channel could be engaged for this purpose.

Education for Livelihood:

The policy of formulating secondary education in a manner that the dropout students also can manage some livelihood .

Education and Manpower:

A national policy for utilization of manpower needs to be formulated so that no educated unemployment is generated.

Distance Education:

It is recommended that distance education through TV could be introduced for pre-primary and continuous education.

Teacher's Dignity:

Teachers' pay scale, promotion criteria, and service conditions should be formulated in such a way that enhances teachers' dignity in the society.

Examination and Evaluation system :

The policy of introducing and implementing a uniform examination and evaluation system at all stages of education, except for the S.S.C. Examination. From primary to secondary level the examination and evaluation is not for failing students but for measuring their attainment whether the poor performing students are progressing to attain a certain level of competence.

Administrative Decentralization:

Dhaka administration particularly for secondary and college education should be decentralized in a manner that-- authority does not centralize to a single person; collision of power does not arise among different persons and agencies; problem is solved more quickly and at the local levels; school/college authority dose not need to come to the capital for all official matters and does not need to face humiliating situations.

Information Technology:

Appropriate measures should be taken for implementing the national policy on information technology at the earliest.

Establishment of New Universities:

Establishment of unitrack universities like agriculture, technology, medicine etc. with government fund should be discouraged because these are contradictory to the concept of university in one hand and expensive as well on the other hand .

Higher Education in Private Sector:

Since higher education is relatively expensive, higher education in private sector could be encouraged. But institutional mechanisms should be established to maintain the quality of private sector education.

Establishment of Impartial Administration in the Universities:

The policy of establishing impartial administration following the 1973 university autonomy act.

Incentives to Research:

It is recommended that for facilitating the public university research with international standard, Center of Excellence would be established in some areas of education; improvement of physical infrastructure also needs to be developed. For research in professional education (like agriculture, technology, medicine) proper measures should be undertaken.

Language Policy:

It is recommended that with certain objectives a national policy on language need to be formulated.

Science Policy:

It is recommended that with the light of the knowledge of modern science and technology, a national policy on science should be formulated and implemented at the earliest possible time.

Continuous Education:

The Commission recommends that through using technology (Radio, TV, Computer, Internet etc.) a continuous education system be introduced to educate and provide scientific thoughts to the whole nation.

Establishment of a Permanent Education Commission:

The Education Commission-2003 recommended for the establishment of a permanent education commission in the country. Following would be the functions of the permanent Education Commission: Initiatives for implementation of the recommendations of the Education Commission; Identification of the problems in education sector and recommendation for solutions through continuous research; and Exploration of new thoughts in education and implementation of the same.