The government has launched work on more than 420 educational games for primary school students, aiming to make lessons in subjects including Bengali, mathematics and science easier and more engaging, State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj said on Wednesday.
The games are being developed in line with the curriculum for Classes I to V. The government is also working to integrate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education into the primary curriculum.
Bobby Hajjaj announced the initiatives at a discussion titled “STEM Education at the Primary Level: Prospects, Challenges and Future Directions” at the Bangladesh Tourism Corporation Building in Agargaon, Dhaka.
Campaign for Popular Education and NETZ Bangladesh jointly organised the event.
“Primary education cannot remain confined to textbooks and examinations alone,” Bobby Hajjaj said. “An environment must be created to support the development of children’s natural curiosity, creativity, inquisitiveness and analytical thinking.”
“The education system has a major responsibility to ensure children’s critical thinking and intellectual development at a time when artificial intelligence, social media and digital devices are having an increasing influence,” he said.
Bobby Hajjaj said many children were spending their leisure and creative time on digital devices, while advances in artificial intelligence would significantly change future employment and skill requirements.
“Many conventional types of work will change, and the need for some jobs will decline,” he said. “To prepare the next generation, children must develop the ability from the primary level to analyse information, make decisions, solve problems and learn new things.”
“Education should aim not only to ensure that students know information, but that they understand it and can make correct decisions,” he added.
Addressing an earlier statement about teachers’ salaries, Bobby Hajjaj said it was incorrect to suggest that he had described teachers’ pay as adequate while comparing salaries of government and private primary school teachers.
“The main point of my statement was that teaching is a highly dignified and important profession,” he said. “To attract the most talented and qualified people to this profession to build the next generation, teachers must be ensured appropriate respect, dignity and financial benefits.”
“A farmer preserves the best seeds for the next season; similarly, the most talented people must be brought into the teaching profession to build the next generation,” he added.
Bobby Hajjaj said the government was working to ensure children came to school not merely to maintain attendance, but with interest and enjoyment in learning new things.
“Work has begun to develop more than 420 educational games in line with the curriculum for Classes I to V,” he said. “There are also plans to use educational toys and materials aligned with different chapters of textbooks.”
Educational toys and learning materials could be used to teach addition and subtraction in Class I and concepts of perimeter and area in Class III, he said.
The National Curriculum and Textbook Board has started work to determine which materials would help children learn more easily in specific chapters of each class, Bobby Hajjaj said. Discussions will also be held with domestic manufacturers to produce quality, curriculum-appropriate educational materials locally.
Md Ataul Gani Osmani, chief consultant of Skill Inspire, presented a keynote paper titled “Findings of the Survey on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education at the Primary Level.”
Rasheda K. Chowdhury, executive director of Campaign for Popular Education, chaired the meeting. Special guests included Shahina Ferdousi, director general of the Directorate of Primary Education; Farid Ahmed, director general of the National Academy for Primary Education; Professor Md Nurunnabi Alam, member and senior specialist of the Primary Curriculum Division of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board; and Shahidul Islam, country director of NETZ Bangladesh.
Tapan Kumar Das, deputy director of Campaign for Popular Education, delivered the opening remarks.