English medium education system in Bangladesh
Published on Monday, October 30, 2023

Bangladesh is a developing country having an advancement of our education system. Since its independence, Bangladesh had to bring integrated changes in its system, curriculum as well as its teaching and learning pattern. As per Education Policy-2010 the ministry of Education emphasizes on ensuring a quality education in educational system of the country and accordingly many changes have been introduced in our education system.
English medium education has a great influence over our entire education in Bangladesh. Middle Class family to higher class family are more enthusiastic to teach their children in English medium. Because they think that English medium education can ensure a quality status for their children in future. Besides, the British rule is still very influential and noteworthy in the Indian subcontinent. English is used as the second official language of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Bhutan, Nepal, etc after the own respective mother tongue independently. Students in Bangladesh also have the right to attend the schools following, English medium curriculum where courses are all taught in English using English textbooks of foreign writers as per educational system of UK and USA commonly with the deviation of the Bengali courses and the Religious course which are offered in Bengali and Arabic for primary knowledge for the students in the primary as well as in the secondary giving importance and priority for civil development of a country-citizen. However, English medium schools are in fact privately owned and thus reserved for the wealthy class or the upper middle class families.  It may be questioned that why the students mostly prefer their study in English medium, it's because english is the most powerful language among others in the world, it is only medium of communication internationally,  language of computer is English, The language of court and judiciaries in all international fields is English, ranks and positions of defense forces in home and abroad are in English, ways and means of transactions in international trades and industries are in English, names of all devices and tools are in English in the field of Information and communication technologies, most of the countries in the world use English officially as their 2nd language and so on.
Therefore, since English is the only language of international communication, people of our country who possess financial capacity, teach their children in English medium and give priority and importance to English medium curriculum.
English Medium International Curriculum which follows the books published by mostly foreign authors. My topic article is aimed at writing basically on English Medium International Curriculum, which is totally managed and controlled by different examination boards monitored by UK and USA, that locally governed by British Council Bangladesh.

There are four curriculums in English Medium education system as Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE), Pearson Edexcel, Oxford International AQA and International Baccalaureate (IB). Among these four, the first two are more famous and recognized in Bangladesh. We will discuss these two important education systems in a nutshell here.

Cambridge Assessment International Examination (CAIE) is a sister company to OCR, which offers GCSEs and A-levels.
The University of Cambridge formed the 'Local Examinations Syndicate', now known as Cambridge Assessment, over 150 years ago. Its aim was to raise standards in education by administering exams for people who were not members of the University and inspecting schools.
For the first time in 1858, 370 school candidates in 7 English cities sat exams set by the University of Cambridge. Today this has risen to more than 8 million candidates a year in 160 countries. The Syndicate began examining internationally in 1864, and this aspect of its work grew quickly.

In 1998 the Syndicate created a new structure, leading to the establishment of three exam boards: Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE), Cambridge Assessment English, and OCR.
 The Syndicate adopted the brand name 'Cambridge Assessment' in 2005. Cambridge Assessment operates the University's three exam boards and carries out leading-edge and operational research in assessment in education. It is a not-for-profit organization.
There are five basic elements in CAIE curriculum as; International Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, Assessment, International Recognition and Global Community.
Pearson Edexcel: Pearson Edexcel is also a world renowned examination board which is established later than CAIE. Pearson Edexcel, the only privately owned examination board in UK, and part of Pearsonplc, is a portmanteau term combining the words Education &Excellence (Ed+Excel= Edexcel). It regulates school examinations under the British Curriculum and offers qualifications for schools on the international and regional scale. It is the UK's largest awarding organization offering academic and vocational qualifications in schools, colleges and work places in the UK and abroad.
On the above, we can assert that there's no basic difference between these two education systems, students may show their interest in either of the systems. Both Cambridge and Edexcel are the best awarding bodies for different qualifications directed by locally British Council Bangladesh, which is monitored and governed by the UK based two large authorities of CAIE and Pearson Edexcel. The people who possess affluence feel interested to put their children in English medium for ensuring world standard education and try to achieve world ranged qualifications under British Council Bangladesh which is governed directly by the UK.
Principal, Daffodil