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Scholarship exam will act as a financial incentive
The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education believes that the ‘Government Primary School Scholarship Exam’ will act as a financial incentive to ensure the continuity of education for children from low-income families.
Scholarship exam will act as a financial incentive
The ministry said this in a statement on Saturday. The ministry made this statement in the context of the statement made at the press conference organized by the ‘Bangladesh Kindergarten Oikya Parishad’ regarding the scholarship exam. Some other education-related people have objected to this initiative. According to them, this exam, organized with a fixed number of students, actually creates discrimination among children and is also against the development of children. It also has the potential to create a division between the talented and the untalented.
The Primary Education Department has decided to conduct the primary scholarship exam again from this year. However, according to Manjur Ahmed, Emeritus Professor of BRAC University, who heads the advisory committee formed by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education to improve the quality of primary and non-formal education, conducting this exam will do more harm than good. According to him, there is no reasonable reason to conduct this exam; Rather, effective initiatives should be taken to improve equity and quality in primary education as a whole.
Some others related to education have objected to this initiative. According to them, this test organized with a fixed number of students actually creates discrimination among children and is also against the development of children. It also has the potential to create a division between talented and untalented.
Meanwhile, the kindergarten entrepreneurs are demanding that kindergarten students also be given the opportunity to participate in this test.
In such a situation, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has explained its position in a statement. The statement said that various programs are being implemented in government primary schools to improve the quality of education. One of these is the ‘Government Primary School Scholarship Test’ for fifth-grade students only. Educational surveys show that most of the students in government primary schools in the country are from low-income families. On the other hand, most of the kindergarten students are from relatively well-off families. The scholarship test will act as a financial incentive to ensure the continuity of education of children from these low-income families.
The statement further said that the kindergartens have started the ‘Kindergarten Association Scholarship Test’ for kindergarten students from second to fifth grade under their own management. Students studying in government primary schools cannot take part in that test. Therefore, the parents of these students have raised a demand to start the scholarship test. The ministry says that according to the country’s constitution and the Compulsory Primary Education Act, the government is obliged to ensure free primary education for all children eligible to attend primary schools in the country. In this case, there is no ‘public-private partnership’ policy in effect. Those who send their children to private institutions do so voluntarily. Considering these, the allegation that the ‘Government Primary School Scholarship Test’ is discriminatory is not correct. Because, government primary schools are open to all children eligible to attend school.
It is to be noted that before 2009, the scholarship test was conducted separately. Selected students of the fifth grade got the opportunity to take part in this test. But aside from that, in 2009, the Primary Education Completion (PEC) examination was started for fifth-grade students under the Department of Primary Education. All students could participate in the competition for scholarships in this.
Educational surveys show that most of the students in government primary schools in the country are from low-income families. On the other hand, most of the kindergarten students are from relatively well-off families. The scholarship examination will act as a financial incentive to ensure the continuity of education for children from these low-income families.
Although there was widespread criticism of the PEC examination. Because, a kind of unhealthy competition started in the name of this examination. The trend of coaching-private has increased greatly. Not only that, there were cases of question paper leaks in this examination for children as well. Although, considering the Corona situation and the outline of the new curriculum, the PEC examination was no longer held.
But in 2022, at the very end of the year, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education suddenly decided to conduct the Primary Scholarship Examination. Even then, experts demanded a change in that decision. But there was a huge misunderstanding regarding the results of that scholarship exam.
Amidst discussions and criticism, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education decided to conduct the scholarship exam in 2023 as well. However, in the end, it was not done. Now, the Primary Education Department has decided to conduct the scholarship exam again.
