We commend the government decision to finally reopen schools on September 12, after a long closure of a year and a half. The proposal for a unified school curriculum and learning assessment reforms, approved in principle by the prime minister, is also praiseworthy.

As schools have resumed after a loss of almost two academic years, the imperatives now—in addition to ensuring the safety and well-being of students and teachers—are to help children recover the learning loss they have suffered, and to put them on track for successful future learning. To this end, four urgent steps are necessary. At the same time, consideration should be given to essential long-term measures.

As a learning recovery and accelerated learning agenda, the following four steps are of utmost importance.

Rapid assessment of students' grade-level preparedness

A student who was in Class 1 in March 2020, by virtue of "auto-pass," would be in Class 2 now and in Class 3 next January, without acquiring essential literacy and numeracy skills. This is unfair both to the student and the teacher, and is likely to cause the student permanent harm as a learner. Simple tools for rapid assessment of core grade-level competencies in Bangla and maths at the primary level and Bangla, English, maths and science at the secondary level should be designed and applied in order to determine the students' grade-level readiness. The result can be used to place students at an appropriate recovery phase—including accelerated learning activities on core skills—to bring them up to their grade-level readiness.

Prolonging current school year and introducing September-June school calendar

Prolonging the current school year to June 2022 would provide more time for the students and the school system to adapt to the new situation, assess student preparedness, and avoid rushing to public and annual exams by December. There are also ample climate-related reasons to permanently shift to a September-June school calendar, with a predictable and long summer vacation in July-August and classes held during Ramadan with modified hours. 

Forgoing PECE, JSC and equivalent exams

In the spirit of the proposed curriculum and learning assessment reform, the PECE, JSC, and equivalent examinations should be scrapped starting from this year. The energy and efforts of students and teachers should be devoted to recovering from learning loss, rather than preparing for exams. The next SSC examination should be held early next year in an abridged form. With the extension of the school year to next June, consideration can be given to hold it on the core subjects of Bangla, English, maths, science and social studies, instead of on subjects for the different streams. Competency in the core subjects has better predictive value for students' educational performance later. The HSC examination should also be held in an appropriately designed abridged form.

Supporting teachers to implement learning recovery

Guidelines and orientation should be provided to schools and teachers regarding the implementation of learning recovery plan, especially on: a) use of rapid assessment of grade-level student preparedness; b) pedagogic approaches for assisting students using results of the competency assessment; c) instructional planning to focus on core competencies aiming to help students become self-reliant learners; and d) socio-emotional support to students and communicating with both students and parents. Online platforms should be used extensively for the guidance and orientation of teachers, as well as to complement classroom teaching for the students.

While the proposed urgent steps are taken, consideration should also be given to some essential longer-term reforms stated below:

First: Creating conditions for unified education up to the secondary level. Implementation of the curriculum reform measures will require schools, teachers and parents to be prepared for the change, and everyone has to be ready to play their role. Schools have to be supported with effective planning and resources for this purpose.

Second: Need for new thinking about teachers/education workforce. No system of education can be better without the betterment of its teachers. While the training and orientation of teachers as it exists now is necessary (and some more have been proposed above), new ways must be explored to attract and retain talented and well-motivated young people in the profession of education. Experiences of better performing systems provide useful lessons. A longer-term plan has to be designed, backed by high-level commitment to see it through.

Third: Education governance and decentralisation. Better performing educational systems are characterised by a high degree of authority and responsibility vested upon the local school districts and individual institutions. We need to consider how to move in this direction as we aspire to become a middle-income country and eventually a developed nation. The National Education Policy, 2010 remains largely unimplemented even after a decade since its adoption. The policy itself recommended a permanent statutory education commission to guide and oversee education reform efforts. Setting up such a body should be given serious consideration.

We, the co-authors of this piece, propose to offer further suggestions on long-term reforms for public discourse and policy-level decisions.

The suggestions here are offered in synopsis to attract the attention of policymakers and concerned citizens. We hope that this will generate a useful discussion and lead to action. Bold thinking and unconventional actions are needed in these exceptional times.

The following contributed to preparing this article: Manzoor Ahmed (professor emeritus, Brac University), Syed Manzoorul Islam (former professor of English, Dhaka University), Zafar Iqbal (former professor of computer science, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology), Rasheda K Chowdhury (executive director, CAMPE), Abdullah Abu Sayeed (founder chair, Bishwo Shahitto Kendro), Mohammad Kaykobad (distinguished professor, Brac University), Siddiqur Rahman (former director, Institute of Education and Research, Dhaka University), Sultan Hafeez Rahman (chair of advisory board, Volunteers Association for Bangladesh), Jasimuz Zaman (former country director, Volunteers Association for Bangladesh), and Munir Hasan (head of Prothom Alo Youth Programme). Questions and comments are welcome at: zamanjasimuz@gmail.com