C T Online Desk: Three months of the year have gone by since the new curriculums were launched for the first to third graders and the sixth to ninth graders, teachers in most schools have yet to give input on the “Noipunno” assessment app to prepare a score sheet for their students.
Under the new curriculums, students will be evaluated through various activity-based learning and cumulative assessments instead of the age-old method of written tests.
The app is currently suspended, leaving teachers troubled and the guardians of the students frustrated.
Attesting to the issue, National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) member Md Moshiuzzaman said: “The app has been out of operation since January 22. But it will be fixed during the Eid vacation.”
Asked how it would be possible to give the input of three months in the app, he said: “I did not block anybody. Anyone can enter the assessment inputs into the app.
“But in the future, when everything gets normal, we’ll ensure accountability in the case of failing to give the inputs on time.”
Udayan Uchcha Madhyamik Bidyalaya Principal Jahura Begum said: “We’re failing to work using the app now.
“A notification on the app reads, ‘All kinds of activities at Noipunno are temporarily suspended. So, we’re preparing the assessments manually. Due to the app issue, we’re not even being able to sit with guardians.”
She added: “If we convene a meeting, the guardians will question the evaluation process,” she said, adding that they had no information as to when the app would be fixed.
This has been commonplace in schools across Dhaka city, with an even worse situation prevailing outside the capital.
Md Moklesur Rahman, headmaster of Uttar Meramotpur High School in Rajshahi’s Charghat Upazila, said that since the inauguration of the app, they could not register the school and its students.
The teacher said that he had called the offices concerned in Dhaka and Rajshahi on the phone several times, but in vain. “Had the app been functional, we could prepare the evaluation during the ongoing vacation,” he lamented.
The situation in schools in remote areas is even more frustrating.
Several teachers, requesting anonymity, said the app is unusable as it hardly accepts input. So, they are keeping manual records of the students’ evaluations.
Many guardians fear that if the NCTB mandated the app-based assessment, many teachers would give input whimsically. And, if so, this will be like cheating students, the teachers said, pointing at the criticisms by a section of guardians against the new curriculums.
Preferring anonymity, a guardian said: “Three months of the year have gone by. But we’re frustrated that classes and evaluations of our children have not been done properly.
“We’re not even clear about how the new assessment method works. We’re also confused as to whether the teachers are assessing correctly.”
Several teachers, guardians, and experts demanded the restoration of written tests to ward off the prevailing situation.
Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury said in February that the evaluation system would be simplified so that parents could understand it easily. He added that experts were working to help parents understand their children’s strengths through the new assessment method.
On March 4, the Education Ministry formed a coordination committee for the evaluation system and new curriculums.
However, guardians and teachers are concerned about the slow progress of the committee, as it has yet to make it clear how the written tests will be held.
Even the NCTB, too, has not given any clear instructions in this regard.
The schools will reopen after the Ramadan vacation on April 21. Teachers and guardians fear that the assessment method issue will not be addressed by then. They think the NCTB will be blamed if the problem still continues.
