After a 16-year gap, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has decided to reintroduce the primary scholarship examination. The exam was discontinued in 2009 with the introduction of the Primary Education Completion (PEC) exam. If everything goes according to plan, the scholarship exams will be held before the upcoming national election. As per the announcement, the exams are scheduled to take place between 21 and 24 December this year.
Previously, in 2022, a decision had been taken to bring back the scholarship exams, but it ultimately did not materialise. At the time, 29 eminent citizens called for the decision to be withdrawn, arguing that reinstating the old system of scholarship exams would put students under mental stress and increase the disparity between privileged and underprivileged students.
There is considerable debate between educationists and traditionalist parents over whether it's right to trap students in an endless cycle of exams, turning them into mere examinees and fodder for coaching centres. Many parents believe that without pressure, children lose focus. Some feel that in the absence of major exams for so long, children had begun to lose the habit of sitting down to study, and that this move will correct that. That debate is one for another day.
Like Kusum from Hajiganj, Sagor, a student from Salonga Bazar in Sirajganj, is also disheartened. They cannot understand why they are not being allowed to sit for the scholarship examination. If there were no exam at all, that would be one thing, but if there is, then why this discrimination?
On 17 July 2025, a notice issued by the Directorate of Primary Education stated that only government primary schools, PTI-affiliated experimental schools, registered non-government primary schools and primary sections attached to government secondary schools would be eligible to participate in the upcoming scholarship exam. Participation has been made mandatory for students of government primary schools and PTI-affiliated experimental schools.
So much bloodshed, so many sacrifices were made to tear down the wall of discrimination, why rebuild its foundations now? Why use this as a tactic to land the interim government in yet another dilemma?
Alongside the primary scholarship exam, a policy-level decision has also been made to introduce a scholarship examination for students of Class Eight.
We know that 97 per cent of secondary educational institutions in the country are privately run. If a wall is erected between government and non-government institutions, the government will have to content itself with just the 3 per cent of students who attend public schools. What kind of scholarship exam would that be? By excluding students of schools run through private initiatives, kindergartens and madrasas, from the upcoming primary scholarship examination, the authorities in charge of primary education are effectively giving institutional form to discrimination. Who will explain this to whom?
What logic can possibly justify excluding from the scholarship exam those students who attend institutions approved by the state, who follow the government curriculum, and who receive free textbooks?
So much bloodshed, so many sacrifices were made to tear down the wall of discrimination, why rebuild its foundations now? Why use this as a tactic to land the interim government in yet another dilemma? Is this really the right time for all this?
The criteria to selecting student for the scholarship exam reek with discrimination. Not all Class Five students of government schools will be allowed to take the exam. Only 40 per cent of a school's Class Five students can be nominated for the scholarship exam.
In other words, if a school has 100 students, a maximum of 40 can sit for the exam. If it has 50, only 20 may sit. The selection must be made based on merit, determined by performance in the first term exam. Only those selected students can be registered to take the scholarship exam.
According to the new rules, student selection must be carried out and the information submitted to the Directorate of Primary Education using a prescribed format. Any deviation from the rules could result in action against class teachers and head teachers. Rather than using the first term exam as the benchmark, a separate selection test could have been arranged. This year, in many schools, the first term ended before all textbooks were delivered.
The directorate claims that through the 2025 primary scholarship examination, a transparent and well-defined system is being established for assessing and evaluating students’ merit. Is this the system they speak of?
Private educational institutions across upazilas and districts are now organising themselves. Although their protests have so far remained limited to human chains, press releases and press conferences, their voices are gradually getting louder. On 23 July, at a press conference at the National Press Club, the Bangladesh Kindergarten Unity Council stated that more than 50,000 kindergartens across the country would not tolerate this discrimination. Private institutions have been playing a leading role in expanding primary education.
Under these circumstances, the decision to hold the scholarship exam solely for students of government primary schools excluding such a large section of students is entirely unjustifiable.
This country has no shortage of irresponsible individuals who would not hesitate to drag fourth and fifth graders into a movement, putting them on the streets to demand their right to sit for the exam. Therefore, in the interest of both protecting children and ensuring fairness, a resolution must be found. It is simply not right to deprive those institutions that are operating with state approval, following the official curriculum and teaching with government-printed textbooks. Allowing all selected students to sit for the scholarship exam would reduce inequality.
*Gawher Nayeem Wara is a writer and researcher