Annual exams for class VI to IX: Students lay siege to Ctg education board for shortening syllabus

High school students today laid siege to Chattogram Education Board demanding to shorten the syllabus of annual exams for classes six to nine by half and take the exams in 50 marks and others.
Over 50 students of classes six to nine from different schools in the port city demonstrated in front of the education board near Sholoshahar area for five hours till 4:00pm, reports our Chattogram staff correspondent.
Students from different schools, including Ispahani Public School, Soraipara City Corporation High School, CDA Public School and College, Nasirabad Government Boys’ High School and others, joined the protest.
The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) on September 11 issued a guideline stating that this year’s annual exams for classes six to nine will be conducted under a shortened syllabus through evaluation of year-long learning assessment accounting for 30 percent marks and annual exam accounting for 70 percent marks.
The protesting students demanded to take the annual exams in 50 marks and shorten the syllabus by half accordingly.
On anonymity, a class VIII student of CDA Public School and College said the guideline had no clear explanation for shortening the syllabus.
Since there were no exams in the new curriculum of 2022, the students had no practice of memorising for long, he said.
As there are only two months left for the annual exams, they will not be able to complete the whole syllabus in such a short period, he added.
Contacted, Examination Controller of the Board AMM Mujibur Rahman said they convinced the protesting students that the board does not have the authority to formulate a syllabus rather it is responsible for holding the SSC and HSC exams.
He said they should submit their written demands to the office of the Department of Secondary and Higher Education.