The Promises of Education Policy in Bangladesh to Reform Examination and Evaluation: Reality or Myth?

Bangladesh has made progress in net enrollment and gender equity in education sector. However, the national assessment results show that the learning achievement of the students is at stake, which is a concern. Ironically, the public examination results show much better picture of students� learning than the National Assessment. This difference in results questions the country�s examination and assessment system- can it really assess students� learning or it is assessing students� rote memorization In this situation, the promises of National Education Policy of Bangladesh 2010 to reform examination and evaluation of student assessment gives us hope for a new, modern, fair, and uniform assessment system which will replace the old rote memorization based system. Using the Critical discourse Analysis and Discursive Psychology, I tried to answer- how does the National Education Policy re-invent the meaning of examination and evaluation through the discourse, how does the policy as a text produce or reproduce the power relations of the society, and how do different actors of education create meanings from this policy document First, the exclusion of prominent theories and research on assessment and more focus on political manifesto makes the policy more political and educational. Second, the vague idea of creative question works as hegemony to replace the existing evaluation system focuses more on summative assessment than formative. The language, syntax, and use of words portrayed the evaluation and examination as a top down model of implementation rather than bottom-up or participatory, a management system where equality is seen as fair rather than equity, a set of activities where teachers and supervisors are given responsibilities with no real power to challenge the status quo, and ultimately a society that conforms the existing unequal and discriminatory power relations of the society rather than challenging it or changing it. Thus, the promises of education policy to reform the examination and evaluation create a myth, not a truth.