(D)EVOLVING TEXTBOOKS?

A curriculum is not a product, but rather a process. It has to be modified to fit the pace and demand of time. New ideas, inventions, and discoveries, among others, need to be incorporated for the betterment of students. The curriculum change in 2012 was necessary, as it had not been updated since 1996 (secondary) and 2002 (primary).
The National Education Policy, which came into effect in 2010, kick-started the initiative. The new policy put emphasis on information and communications technology (ICT), climate change and disaster management, and fostering creativity instead of rote learning.
The new books, based on the new curriculum, were developed and introduced in 2013.

“I think change is necessary but the change that happened was not. Some of our teachers are very disheartened about it. I feel that the books have insufficient data, so we always end up reading the old ones for information,” said Tamjid Mitul, a class 11 student of Notre Dame College.
Another student, Adnan Osman, who studies at SOS Hermann Gmeiner College, said, “I have trouble with the new books too. They reduced a lot of stuff, so the book is a 'condensed' version of the older ones.”
When asked if he also has to read the older versions of the textbooks, he said, “Yes. I have to. During Assessment Tests we need to write elaborately on certain matters -- things which have been omitted from the new books.”
He also opined that new subjects like ICT were getting to be quite difficult for them.
Farhadul Islam, a Senior Specialist (Curriculum) of the NCTB, disagreed with that remark. “We have done surveys on this issue. Students have found ICT a lot easier than, say, English. They say they are having problems with English, mainly. This is because the approach to teaching English has changed. For example, our teachers in language classes are supposed to not 'lecture' but involve students in language-learning activities. Also we do not say 'barber' any more, but rather, 'hairdresser.'”
M.S. Hoque, one of the writers of the English textbook, seems to hold the view on the approach. He said, “While we have changed content significantly, our focus is a bit more on the change in approach. We wanted more participatory, activity-based textbooks.”

But do schools make sure that the students go through the activities printed in the books?
Farhadul Islam said, “We went to numerous schools to check up on that. All the teachers say they go through them. But when we ask students, we get various answers.”
Hoque shared his dilemma: “The activities we provide must be followed. Otherwise the curriculum change would be futile.”
Our education system is constantly being taken advantage of by the coaching centre system. With the new curriculum, hopefully students will finally be able to do without coaching centres.

“We are positive that this new curriculum will stop students from flocking to coaching centres,” said the senior specialist at NCTB.
But students disagree. “There is calculus now in our Math 1st Paper textbooks; a new subject matter like 'chromatography' has been included in our chemistry books, which our teachers have trouble explaining. I doubt that students will be able to clearly understand these new things at schools where laboratory equipment is scarce,” said Al Habdan, a student of St. Joseph Higher Secondary School.
“I agree with him,” said Zahirul, a teacher of mathematics. “I support the inclusion of calculus because students need them later in higher studies and it has a correlation with trigonometry, but the fact remains that without proper apparatus some of the science topics will be a tad hard to explain. Also, math is supposed to be incorporated into the creative method. I am completely against that.”

On another note, those who study the English versions have to wait for their textbooks to be translated and printed, which takes a while. So they have to read the Bangla versions in the meantime.
It isn't as if the old books were perfect. They were not. There were numerous inconsistencies in them.
Books generally need to be updated every five years or so, therefore this was badly needed. The writers could have been given more time, however.

“We only had about six months to a year to write, in other countries like Sri Lanka, for example, textbook writers get three-four years,” said one textbook writer.
It is true that people are usually sceptic of change but we should see it as a part of progress. However, because the assessment procedure has not been changed enough, no matter how much change we make to “approach” and new content, students will end up studying the old way, which is rote-memorising. Let's hope that this wash-back effect of our assessment system will stop.
Hopefully, the complications students face with the new curriculum will be sorted out and that they will be able to gain an adequate and satisfactory education through it.

MODELS: SHAHEER & NAZIFA

PHOTO: DARSHAN CHAKMA