Competency based primary science education in Bangladesh

In today's world, science and technology are progressing very quickly. Formal education at all stages of the education system plays an important role in scientific and technological development. While developed countries are making significant progress in science education, some developing countries like Bangladesh are struggling to succeed because of deficiencies such as poor teacher training and inadequate resources. The gap could be minimized through proper planning and its implementation in science education. Science should get due emphasis in the school curriculum to enable all students to attain ‘scientific literacy’, irrespective of whether they enter science-related careers or not, and to ensure better individual development and economic growth. Despite limitations of resources, Bangladesh has achieved remarkable progress in terms of enrolment and gender equity at primary level. However, the quality of education at this level remains a challenge. In order to improve the quality of primary education, systemic reforms have been made since 1992, with the introduction of competency-based education. In 2002, a revised primary curriculum was implemented and new instructional materials were introduced. In the present study, fifth graders’ science knowledge was assessed from two perspectives – local (NCTB curriculum (The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) is responsible for developing curricula and publishing textbooks from primary to pre-university level in Bangladesh.)) and international (TIMSS 2003 curriculum (The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) was introduced by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) to measure trends in students' mathematics and science achievement. TIMSS provides the participating countries with an opportunity to measure students' progress in mathematics and science achievement on a regular 4-year cycle. TIMSS studies were conducted in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007.)) – in order to identify NCTB competency achievement status and students’ performance with reference to international standards. Data on influential key factors related to student achievement, such as curriculum, home-school links, teachers and their preparation, classroom activities and characteristics, and students characteristics, were gathered with a view to recommending policy actions for improving the quality of primary science education. In the main survey of this study, data were collected from head teachers, science teachers, and 1018 students of 30 sample schools in six divisional districts of Bangladesh. Moreover, data were also gathered from curriculum experts and teacher trainers. Statistical analysis was done to find differences in student achievement by gender, school location and school category. As a part of the analyses, some indices based on responses were calculated for focused interpretation of data. Findings show significant differences in student achievement in the strata gender, school location and school category.