Comparison between the Mathematics Syllabuses of 1975 and 1995 in Bangladesh <Research Notes>

Education plays a vital role for sustainable economic development in Bangladesh. Primary education lays the foundation for it. Development of primary education poses a daunting challenge because of inaccessibility and resource constraint. Despite such challenges Bangladesh has achieved remarkable progress in Primary Education. Bangladesh runs one of the biggest primary education administrations in the world. Acknowledging primary education as a national responsibility of the Government and recognizing the fundamental rights of the people to education ushered a new era in Bangladesh. In 1972, the Kudrat-e-Khuda Education Commission was formed to recommend objectives, strategies and action plans to create a modern educational system. The characteristics of 1975 and 1995 syllabus are consisted of: i) presenting mathematics as a co-related and complete subject, ii) subjecting and meeting the social demands, iii) preparing for higher studies, iv) recognizing progressiveness of mathematics curriculum and v) new techniques in teaching mathematics. In 1975, the modem idea of number set, binary numbers, statistics and geometry were introduced. In syllabus of 1995 the idea was expanded and improved including learning outcome. Both theoretical and practical ideas have been combined side by side. The aim of formulating an appropriate syllabus was not only to include the up-to-date and modern concepts in modern and contemporary mathematics, but also for the reflection of national and international values and implementation of those. Considering the above facts and in order to bring our mathematics teaching to the level of international standard, the syllabus for class IX and class X, class XI and class XII were chosen as the objective and selection of subject matters. The educational value of mathematics is known to all not only because of meeting the demand of day to day professional life or to excel in different branches of science but also to develop the human qualities. The irrefutable logic, the firm expressions, the ingenuity of problem solving are some of the characteristics of mathematics help a learner to aspire for these qualities and ultimately helps learner to achieve these qualities.