United News of Bangladesh

A faction of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s (BCL) Chittagong University unit on Monday enforced a blockade on the campus as they were ‘deprived of posts in the full committee of the unit’. A group of BCL leaders and activists started protest around 8 am and locked the main gate of the university, halting classes and exams of the university. Read: Protest rally at DU against BCL attack, BSF border killing Teachers’ buses could not leave the campus for Chattogram in the morning, university Assistant Proctor Shahidul Islam said. Besides, the shuttle train service also came to a halt, he added.

The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent and Higher Secondary Certificate and equivalent examinations for 2023 will be held as per the revised syllabi prepared by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB).The Bangladesh Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee issued a notification in this regard on Sunday.According to the notice, only the ICT exam at the SSC level will be of 50 marks and all other exams will be held out of (100) full marks. Each exam will be held for three hours.For HSC level, examinees will have to sit for three hours — for 100 marks — in all subjects, read the notice.

An invigilator of the SSC exams had to be withdrawn after he assaulted several students during an examination in Chandina upazila of Cumilla. The invigilator, Md Salauddin, was withdrawn from the exam centre on Saturday to allow a fair investigation into what actually led to his shocking behaviour, said Chandina Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Taposh Sheel. The incident took place  on Thursday, the first day of the Dakhil examinations, at the Chandina Al Amin Islamia Kamil Madrasa. Among eleven reported victims, eight are from the same madrasa as the exam centre, and three attend the Abedanoor Fazil Madrasa. Read: SSC examinee jumps off a building hours before exam On condition of anonymity, the victims said during the examination of the MCQ section of Quran Majeed subject, Salauddin beat them with a ruler "for failing to fill the set code circle in the Optical Mark Reader". Later, the victims submitted a written complaint to the secretary of their exam centre. When contacted, accused Salahuddin denied the allegation against him, saying he only "scolded them" for their mistake, and there was no physical beating involved. 

The Jashore Education Board has postponed the Bangla Paper II exam's MCQ component that was scheduled to be held Saturday, as the question paper got leaked due to the wrong question papers being sent to three centres during the Bangla I exam on Thursday. However, the written part of the Bangla second paper exam will be held as scheduled. A notice signed by Jashore Education Board Chairman Prof Dr Md Ahsan Habib was published on Friday afternoon in this regard, which says that the date of the MCQ exam will be fixed later. According to sources, the issue came to be noticed after exam officials distributed the question paper of Bangla second paper MCQ exam instead of Bangla first paper among 100 students at Narail’s Kalia Pari Shangkar Pilot Secondary Girls School center, and among 15 students at Baishona Kamshia Secondary School center on Thursday - the day of the paper I exam. Read: No chance of leaking question paper for SSC exam: Dipu Moni Exam officials have claimed that it wasn’t their mistake, rather it’s the officials of the BG Press in Dhaka who had committed the mistake by wrongly labeling the packages containing the questions. Ariful Islam, Narail’s Kalia Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO), confirmed the matter.

The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent exams kicked off to a smooth start in Bangladesh on Thursday. The exams began at 11am instead of 10am, considering the usual traffic jams in the peak morning hours. In Dhaka, several exam centres witnessed a large gathering of parents, triggering traffic chaos in the vicinity. Read: SSC exams this year will start from 11am, duration 2 hours: Dipu Moni This year, some 20,21,868 students have registered themselves to take the SSC and equivalent exams, 2,21,386 less than that of last year.

Plan International Bangladesh and Surovi have developed a new learning resource module as many students, especially students from low-income areas, are facing learning gaps following long-term school closures. This module will be used in Dhaka's 22 high schools under the "Child Bride to Bookworm" project. Bangla, English and math, have been included in this package. This resource pack aims to develop a resource pool by providing training to 257 teachers of the selected 22 secondary schools. Professor Nehal Ahmed, director general of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, launched the package in Dhaka Wednesday. "The government has been working to reduce the learning gap caused due to Covid. The Covid crisis has emerged as a unique challenge for us. Through online education, we have worked to mitigate the challenge to a great extent," he said. "But online classes are never an alternative to in-person classes. Students learn more effectively when they are present in the classroom and learn from the teachers directly. Long-term school closures created several challenges for us. The government has been working to reduce the learning gaps. And this flexible learning package can be an impactful initiative." Jolly Nur Haque, director (programme development and learning) at Plan International Bangladesh, said: "The learning package will help the teachers identify the learning gaps of the students from previous classes and teach them accordingly." Also read: Covid deaths lowest since pandemic began: WHO

The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent examinations, which were postponed due to flood, will begin across the country on Thursday (September 15, 2022). Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Traffic division has requested the examinees in Dhaka to leave homes early to reach the exam centers timely. It has been noticed that vehicles in many parts of Dhaka city are moving slowly due to incessant showers for the last few days, triggering traffic chaos, said a press release of DMP. Read:No chance of leaking question paper for SSC exam: Dipu Moni Besides, rainwater also filled the big potholes developed due to the ongoing construction works on roads. In such situation, the SSC examinees have been requested to start for their respective examination centers as early as possible to avoid traffic congestion, said the release. The SSC and its equivalent examinations under all education boards scheduled to begin on June 19 were postponed due to the flood situation in the country on June 17. Read: SSC exams this year will start from 11am, duration 2 hours: Dipu Moni Earlier,  it was deferred for about four months because of the coronavirus pandemic. Usually, the SSC exams take place in February. The examinations will begin at 11 am this year instead of 10 am considering the traffic jams. Coaching centres will remain closed across the country from September 12 to October 2. This year, the examinations will be held for two hours instead of three hours and the duration of the MCQ exam is 20 minutes while that of the written exam is 1 hour and 40 minutes. Read SSC, equivalent exams to begin on September 15: Dipu Moni According to the schedule, the SSC and its equivalent examinations will end on October 18. Some 20,21,868 students are expected to take the SSC and equivalent exams this year while last year this number was 22,43,254. The number of candidates has decreased by 2,21,386. About 15,99,711 candidates will sit for the SSC exam under nine general education boards, 2,68,495 for Dakhil exams under Madrasa Education Board and 1,53,662 for vocational exam under Bangladesh Technical Education Board this year, the minister said. Read SSC, HSC Certificate Information Change or Correction Process in Bangladesh Some 3,790 centers have been prepared for the SSC exams across the country.

Ahead of the United Nations Transforming Education Summit, UNICEF has warned that low levels of numeracy proficiency, particularly among girls, is undermining children’s ability to learn, develop and progress. Girls worldwide are lagging behind boys in mathematics, with sexism and gender stereotypes among the root causes, according to a new report published by UNICEF on Wednesday. Solving the equation: Helping girls and boys learn mathematics features new data analyses covering more than 100 countries and territories. The report finds that boys have up to 1.3 times the odds of obtaining mathematics skills than girls. Negative gender norms and stereotypes often held by teachers, parents, and peers regarding girls’ innate inability to understand mathematics are contributing to the disparity. This also undermines girls’ self-confidence, setting them up for failure, the report notes. Read: Step up efforts, invest in breastfeeding support policies, progs: UNICEF, WHO “Girls have an equal ability to learn mathematics as boys – what they lack is an equal opportunity to acquire these critical skills,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “We need to dispel the gender stereotypes and norms that hold girls back – and do more to help every child learn the foundational skills they need to succeed in school and in life.” Learning mathematics skills in turn strengthens memory, comprehension, and analysis, in turn improving children’s ability to create, the report notes. Ahead of next week’s United Nations Transforming Education Summit, UNICEF warns that children who do not master basic mathematics and other foundational learning may struggle to perform critical tasks such as problem solving and logical reasoning. An analysis of data from 34 low- and middle-income countries featured in the report shows that while girls lag behind boys, three-quarters of schoolchildren in grade 4 are not obtaining foundational numeracy skills. Data from 79 middle- and high-income countries show more than a third of 15-year-old schoolchildren have yet to achieve minimum proficiency in mathematics. Read:266,000 grave violations against children verified in conflict situations: UNICEF Household wealth is also a determining factor. The report notes that schoolchildren from the richest households have 1.8 times the odds of acquiring numeracy skills by the time they reach fourth grade than children from the poorest households. Children who attend early childhood education and care programmes have up to 2.8 times the odds of achieving minimum proficiency in mathematics by the age of 15 than those who do not. The report also notes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has likely further exacerbated children’s mathematics abilities. Moreover, these analyses focus on girls and boys who are currently in school. In countries where girls are more likely to be out of school than boys, the overall disparities in mathematics proficiency are most likely even wider. UNICEF has called on governments to commit to reaching all children with quality education and sought new effort and investment to re-enroll and retain all children in school, to increase access to remedial and catch up learning, to support teachers and give them the tools they need, and to make sure that schools provide a safe and supportive environment so all children are ready to learn. “With the learning of an entire generation of children at risk, this is not the time for empty promises. To transform education for every child, we need action and we need it now,” said Russell.

The US Embassy – through its EducationUSA platform, in partnership with EdPrograms – will host a ‘US University Fair’ at the Renaissance Dhaka Gulshan Hotel on September 23. Interested individuals can register by September 21, 2022:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GL5DTCB.      This fair is part of the Fall 2022 EdTour South Asia program, an initiative of EdPrograms that gives higher education institutions in United States a chance to meet prospective undergraduate and graduate students in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.  Read:Cheapest countries for Bangladeshi students for higher studies Officials from the following US universities will participate in the fair: DePaul University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Iowa State University, New York Institute of Technology, New York University Tandon School of Engineering, Pace University, Quinnipiac University, Savannah College of Art and Design, Siena College, Stony Brook University, George Washington University, University of Delaware, University of Houston-Victoria, University of Kansas, University of Northern Iowa, University of South Dakota, and Western Kentucky University. Students at the fair will have a unique opportunity to speak with US university admission officials face-to-face about admission requirements and scholarship opportunities. They will also receive tips on submitting a strong application. Additionally, the program will feature information sessions led by US Embassy officials and EducationUSA advisors about the F-1 student visa process and other topics related to the US higher education system. Read:EU delegation to run ‘Erasmus+ Roadshow’ in Dhaka, Rajshahi EducationUSA is the US Department of State’s network of over 425 international student advising centers in 178 countries. The network promotes US higher education to students around the world by offering accurate, comprehensive, and current information about opportunities to study at accredited institutions in the United States. EducationUSA also provides services to the US higher education community to help institutional leaders meet their recruitment and campus internationalization goals. In Bangladesh, EducationUSA advising services and reference materials are available across the country at the American Center at the US Embassy in Dhaka, the Edward M. Kennedy Center for Public Service and the Arts in Dhanmondi, and virtually in Chittagong.  EducationUSA reference libraries and remote advising services are also accessible in collaboration with the American Corners in Khulna, Sylhet, and Rajshahi.  All EducationUSA services are free of charge. Read Prof Nurul Alam made JU VC

Minister for Education Dr Dipu Moni on Tuesday said there is no chance of leaking the question papers for the upcoming SSC examinations as law enforcers are alert about the matter. Besides, measures will be taken if anybody tries to circulate misleading information including rumours about the leakage of question papers, she said. The minister said these while addressing as chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of a training programme of teachers in implementing ’National Education Curriculum Outline-2021’ at the International Mother Language Institute in the capital. She said the teachers are the main soldiers in implementing the new educational curriculum as some 4, 00,000 teachers have already taken training to make the curriculum successful. Read: SSC exams this year will start from 11am, duration 2 hours: Dipu Moni There is no alternative to training to make the teachers prepared to face the revolutionary change of the educational sector, the minister said. Dipu Moni further said measures have been taken to bring all teachers of the secondary-level across the country under training programme.