New chapters on history, technology, and contemporary political movements to be added to secondary textbooks

PNN News Desk, Dhaka

The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) has taken an initiative to include several new chapters and subjects in secondary-level textbooks starting from the upcoming academic year. Among them, special emphasis is being placed on history, political movements, information technology, and modern life skills.

According to NCTB sources, it has been decided to include various important events from Bangladesh’s political history in the new curriculum. These include the 7th November Soldiers–People’s Revolution, the 1990 anti-autocracy movement, the recent July mass uprising, and other political movements. At the same time, the role of Begum Khaleda Zia in the anti-autocracy movement and different political contexts of various periods will also be included in the syllabus.

As part of the proposed changes, discussions are also underway to include the contribution of martyr President Ziaur Rahman in the chapter titled “Our Eminent Leaders” in the ‘Bangladesh and Global Studies’ textbook for class five. In addition, initiatives are being taken to incorporate these political events into the secondary-level book ‘History of Bangladesh and World Civilization’.

In this regard, on Wednesday (May 20), a meeting was held between senior officials of the NCTB and the Secretary of the Secondary and Higher Education Division, Abdul Khaleque. He said that from the post-independence period to the present time, the country’s democratic movements and historical events will be properly reflected in textbooks. According to him, the NCTB is working to include contributions from different periods in an accurate manner.

The NCTB has also stated that as part of modernizing technology education, several new topics are being added to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) textbook. These include artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, cyberbullying, and media literacy.

As part of changes in the education system, plans have also been made to introduce new subjects such as “Sports and Culture” in class four and “Learning with Happiness” in class six.

NCTB sources said that the tender process for printing textbooks has already begun, and the goal is to complete the printing of all textbooks by December. At the same time, work on developing a new curriculum is also ongoing.