Church officials and educators have cautiously welcomed sweeping proposed changes to the Bangladesh education system.

A cabinet committee has approved Ministry of Education draft changes which will soon be presented to parliament.

“The new policy emphasizes ‘Education for All’ (EFA), meaning the number of school drop-outs will drop,” Father Camillus Rema, secretary of the diocesan education commission of northeastern Mymensingh diocese, told ucanews.com.

However, the changes may also have a “negative impact,” Father Rema said after a seminar on the new policy organized by the Bangladesh Catholic Education Board (BCEB) last week.

“The proposed policy recommends registration for all schools which is a lengthy process. Unregistered schools will be unable to avail themselves of government benefits for teachers and students,” he warned.

The new policy proposes morality and ethics classes for all students who will also study the different religions.

In another major change, secondary education will be extended to from the 10th to 12th grade. However, the new policy preserves the right of indigenous children to study in their mother tongues up to the second grade.

Jyoti F. Gomes, assistant secretary of the BCEB and director of Caritas Education Program, said  workshops will be conducted across the country to prepare for the new system.

Other Catholic teachers flagged concerns with some proposed changes.

Father Joseph Noren Baidya, headmaster of St. Louis High School in Khulna diocese, southern Bangladesh, welcomed the inclusion of vocational training in the primary education system but warned against government interference in other areas.

“We may not be able to choose and appoint the teachers we feel are best,” he warned.

Nishikanta Jambil, an indigenous Garo Catholic and headmaster of St. Frederick High School in Mymensingh diocese said that the idea of secular education needs to be clarified before it receives the green light.

The Catholic Church in Bangladesh operates 287 schools and colleges out of a total of 84,000 government and private primary schools and 18,500 government and private secondary schools.

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