Primary assessment system retained, changes put on hold

The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has rejected a proposal to change the assessment and grading system for primary school students. The “Assessment Committee on Approval of New Primary-Level Assessment Guidelines 2026” decided to cancel the proposal on Tuesday (January 13).

The decision was confirmed after discussions with officials from the Ministry, the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE), and the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) who attended the meeting.

Officials said the new assessment system had been proposed mainly due to the special interest of the Ministry’s Primary and Mass Education Adviser, Professor Dr Bidhan Ranjan Roy Poddar, who sought its approval. However, committee members opposed its implementation, citing the upcoming national elections and the start of the academic year, which they said made preparation impossible. As a result, the proposal has been put on hold.

After the meeting, DPE Director General Abu Nur Md. Shamsuzzaman told Jago News that the NCTB’s proposal had not been approved. Introducing a new system at this time could provoke negative reactions among teachers and students, potentially causing instability, committee members noted. Moreover, a new government could introduce a new curriculum after the elections. Therefore, the existing system will remain in place for now.

However, Professor Dr Md Iqbal Haider, a member of NCTB’s Primary Curriculum Wing, clarified that the proposal was not entirely rejected. “The current system will continue, but some changes in grading may be made. Another meeting may be held on this issue,” he said.

Currently, students in grades one and two do not take any written exams (summative assessment). For grades three to five, there is a 50-mark continuous assessment and a 50-mark summative (written) assessment.

NCTB had proposed changes to this system. The proposal included reintroducing written exams for grades one and two, with marks divided equally between continuous assessment and summative assessment. For grades three to five, it proposed allocating 70 percent of marks from summative (written) exams and 30 percent from continuous assessment, including practical and oral tests within the summative assessment.

The committee, however, rejected these changes. Sources say that under the current interim government, the likelihood of implementing the new system is very low.