Term Paper on: Student’s perspective of ICT education in
schools and colleges
Course: Communication and Information Technology
Course: MCJ3629
Submitted to:
Maliha Tabassum
Lecturer,
Department of Mass Communication and Journalism,
Bangladesh University of Professionals.
Submitted from: Team Guns N Roses
Raiyan Rafid (18431049)
Sadia Anjum Shejuti (18431055)
Zamiul Ahsan (18431031)
Abid Raihan (17421017)
Letter of Transmittal:
Date: 18th October, 2020
To,
Maliha Tabassum
Lecturer,
Department of Mass Communication and Journalism,
Bangladesh University of Professionals.
Subject: Submission of term paper for completion of course.
Ma’am,
We would like to inform you that we have completed the term paper of the course
on the topic “Student’s perspective of ICT education in schools and colleges”. We
used questionnaires to collect data from school and college students of Bangladesh
who are studying under NCTB. This data was collected from both inside and
outside of Dhaka. Within the time limit and our knowledge which we gained from
the course, we paid sincere efforts on this term paper. But there may be some
mistakes and errors due to various limitations. Therefore, we beg your kindness in
advance. In writing this case, we have followed your instructions to prepare this
term paper to present our view and understanding in the easiest way. However, we
will be glad to clarify any discrepancy that may arise.
You are requested to accept this term paper and oblige us thereby.
Thank you,
On behalf of team “Guns N Roses”,
Raiyan Rafid
Roll Number: 18431049
Abstract:
All schools and colleges in Bangladesh cannot provide the same quality of
education when it comes to practical oriented subject like “ICT” where you need
computer labs, trained teachers and updated books. Authority of schools and
colleges may say their level of the quality of education is best or up to the mark.
But reality can only be discovered if we see the student’s perspective of ICT
education of Bangladesh national curriculum syllabus.
For this reason we have chosen the topic “Student’s perspective of ICT education
in schools and colleges” as our tem paper topic.
School and colleges under the syllabus of National Curriculum Text board
included the subject ICT back 2013. In Bangladesh, we all know Secondary school
examination and Higher secondary examination is a very crucial part of the
education life of a student. They face a lot of pressures from the major subjects of
their faculties; wither it is science, commerce or arts. But again having knowledge
on ICT field is very important in this generation of technology as Bangladesh is
focusing on digitalization.
The implementation of this step of NCTB may create an extra pressure on the
students but this subject taking the students near technology in same way, as
everything has a good and a bad side. But for learning ICT both schools and
colleges should have proper facilities like computer lab, trained teacher for ICT
department etc. It is quite usual that all the schools and colleges of Bangladesh
won’t provide equal facilities in these cases. So naturally students with less facility
will lack behind.
These problems can be identified if we gather data from student’s perspective of
ICT from different school and colleges. For this reason we have chosen the topic
“Student's perspective of ICT in schools and colleges” as our term paper topic of
this course.
Introduction:
A student in Bangladesh who is studying under NCTB always takes board exams
as one of the vital points of their lives. Exams like SSC and HSC plays a major
role in their higher education. And in this journey they have to study a lot to build
up their basic and get prepared for admission test and further education.
In this challenging time an extra can become an extra burden for everyone. Since
we have GPA system, a subject can pull down your entire GPA. So he/she also has
to take extra pressure for another subject. But again if a student lacks in knowledge
of ICT and modern technology, he/she will have to suffer in future as everything is
becoming technology based.
Students are facing multiple problems for this subject which is not coming up in
front of everyone. Their perspectives are remaining within the four walls of the
classroom.
Everything has a good and a bad side. But to know the actual condition of the
subject we have to reach the students of different colleges. Like the subject was
included, in the same way proper labs facilities and trained teachers are equally
important to get an effective result.
The entrance of ICT in the national curriculum syllabus of Bangladesh has crossed
seven years till now including schools and colleges. But the education quality of
this subject haven’t reached to a level like Physics, Higher Math, Chemistry,
Accounting, Finance and other major courses. In fact many schools and colleges
doesn’t even have computer lab and the classes are taken are being taken by a
teacher of completely different background. And if the institution doesn’t give
proper importance to a subject like this, we cannot expect students to give equal
effort to gain knowledge like other subjects. So the motive of digitalization,
gaining knowledge in technology is not being achieved rather the subject is turning
out to be a pressure for students as there are other major subjects.
There are many good schools and colleges which take ICT very seriously. There
are proper lab facilities, the classes are done sincerely, and practical stuffs are done
properly. But the majority school and colleges of rural places are lacking behind.
Neither are they learning about technology, rather they are facing extra pressure of
a new subject.
Knowledge of technology is very important for the future generation. This subject
has very good impact on students as many are getting introduced to technology.
Using mail, internet and phone for different purpose life is very normal is this age.
There are many students in our country who still doesn’t know about these stuffs,
forget about using it. So, ICT is helping the unprivileged students to get closer to
technology. So we can say, along with the major courses ICT is playing a very
important role as we need future citizens and generation to stay closer to
technology.
But there are topics like HTML, Web designing, Programming(C++, Java, etc) in
the ICT syllabus. If you don’t labs and proper trained teachers of this background,
this subject becomes useless. These topics are very complex for many students. If a
student’s doesn’t have lab facility and proper guide, he/she has no other option but
to memorize the topics which is worthless.
Body:
Background:
Back in 2011, NCTB and government took decision to introduce a compulsory 50mark subject ICT (information and communication technology) for the students of
class 6 from the next academic session. Later the ICT subject was gradually
included in the seventh and eighth grades from 2013 to enlighten the students
about computer and information technology. By 2013, the subject was included in
both of the syllabus of Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary
Certificate.
(Source: The Daily Star: https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-209394 )
Back in that time, students, institutes had to face many problems for this sudden
decision of NCTB. The shortage of qualified and trained teachers was not the only
problem that the IT education sector currently was suffering from. There were even
problems in text books and the exercises. Some 20 exercise books used for ICT
practical tests signed by teachers were collected from various renowned
government and private colleges. Even though they were approved by the teachers
there were many mistakes in those materials. In some cases, the correct computer
programs were disapproved by the teachers. This shows how miserable the
condition was. The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) had formed
a panel with seven college teachers among whom six didn’t study ICT in graduate
or postgraduate. This panel was responsible to evaluate the ICT books authored by
experts on CSE or related subjects.
(Source: ProthomAlo, Link: https://en.prothomalo.com/opinion/ICT-educationWhen-will-there-be-qualified)
So we can see from the past that in the primary stage the sudden initiative of
adding ICT as subject in the NCTB curriculum was a complete failure.
Problems:
Though along with time students, teachers, educational institutes got used to the
flow, but still there are many lacking. As ICT is a practical oriented subject and
there are practical topics like programming and coding, so the quality of book and
its exercise, proper lab facilities are very important. Otherwise studying ICT is
useless and will turn out into a memorizing oriented subject. And this knowledge
cannot be applied in practical life; neither will it help in digitalization.
Many private schools and colleges have good lab facilities and qualified teachers.
But government schools and colleges are still behind. They don’t have proper lab
facilities. And teachers from general line are teaching these subjects. So ICT is not
given proper importance the way it should be given. Topics like HTML, Coding
etc cannot be properly taught if the teacher doesn’t have ICT based training and
knowledge. Thus the amplification of this subject is worthless.
Again if schools and colleges don’t have lab and proper facilities it will not be
possible for every student to learn the practical stuffs because none of the students
will be guided for practical stuffs, neither do everyone have PC in their home. So
the subject becomes a memorizing based subject.
Again English version students have many complain regarding ICT books
(Mahbubur Rahman’s Book) that there are many mistakes in translation and
information. Even number of excersises is less in English version book of ICT.
After so many years still now there are mistakes in the exercises of both English
version and Bengali version books and the examples and topics of these books are
still backdated according to the generation of modern technology.
Steps taken to address the problem:
As we are four members we will collect data from students of schools and colleges
of our own area which will cover up both Dhaka and outside Dhaka. We decided to
collect data from 100 students of different school and college of Bangladesh.
Abid Rayhan and Sadia Anjum Shejuti collected data from school and colleges of
Dhaka. On the other hand Raiyan Rafid collected data from Sylhet. And finally
Zamiul Ahsan covered Rajshahi. Each of us collected data from 25 students,
which in total is 100.
This is how we covered both inside and outside Dhaka.
We formed questionnaires regarding the topic and gathered them in a Google form
to collect the data from students. Then we distributed the links to different students
of our own area. This is how we collected data.
Questionnaires:
1. Is the subject “ICT” properly taught in your school and college?
a.No b.Not good enough c.Good d.Very good.
2. Are you satisfied with the teaching quality of “ICT” of your campus?
a.Not at all b.Not enough c.Satisfied d.Very much satisfied.
3. Is the subject “ICT” taken seriously the way other subjects are taken in your
secondary or higher secondary?
a.Not at all b.Not enough c.serious d.Very serious
4. Are the practical stuffs of ICT taught properly in your campus?
a.No b.Not sufficient c.Yes d.More than enough.
5. Are the practical stuffs of ICT practiced often in your campus lab?
a.No b.Sometimes c.Often d.A lot
6. How much facility do you get from your computer lab in school or college if
you have one?
a.Not at all b.Not enough c.Sufficient d.More than enough
7. Are there sufficient Computers in the computer lab of your school or
college?
a.None b.Not enough c.Enough d.More than enough
8. Has this subject become a memorizing based course for the student of your
campus?
a.Not at all b.For few students c.For many of the students d.Almost all
students
9. Do you think the way you learned from the subject ICT in your institution
will benefit you in future?
a.Not at all b.A littile bit c.Benificial d.Very beneficial
10. Does your institution take evaluation of the classes and the teachers of ICT
department?
a.Not at all b.Rarely c.Often d.A lot
11. Do your batch mates go for tuition classes for ICT due to the lacking of
class?
a.None b.Few c.A lot d.Goes for personal lacking
12. Would you like to choose ICT for higher education at university level?
a.Yes b.No c.May be
Results:
From the pie chart we can see the data of the first question. Out of 100 students,
42% voted that the way ICT is taught in their institution is not good enough and
this is the majority case. Where else the lowest amount of vote went for “Very
good” and only 9% said that the way they are taught is very good. Again 32% said
it is good which a good sign in this case.
Again we can see a huge number of votes went for the negative side. As majority,
34% students are not satisfied at all with the teaching quality of ICT in their
campus. And 29% is less satisfied. So, we can say, the majority of the students are
not satisfied with the teaching quality. And the worst part is only 4% students are
very satisfied even when 52% of the students are from Dhaka.
So, from the above condition we can say the teaching quality hasn’t reached up to
the mark.
From this voting we see 45% of the students are saying that ICT is not taken
seriously, which is almost the half number of voters. So we can understand the
overall condition of the subject. 32% said that they were serious. And then comes
who voted that ICT is not at all taken seriously like other subjects, which is 16%.
Lastly, only 7% goes for “Very serious”.
So, from the pie chart we can understand that ICT is not getting equal importance
like other subjects.
We can see another horrible condition in the pie chart of the 4th question. 22%
doesn’t even do practical stuffs, which shows the level of condition. Taking
majority, 42% goes for “not sufficient”. Undoubtedly it proves that when it comes
about practical exercise, ICT education Bangladesh is way behind. 34% votes that
what they were taught was sufficient.
It’s a good sign that only 8% doesn’t have lab, but it should be 0% for the
betterment of everyone. Majority voted that sometimes the practical stuffs are
practiced which is 72%. On the other hand only 16% voted that often they practice
the practical stuffs.
Another massive fall can be seen in this pie chart. 68% students didn’t get
sufficient facilities. On the other hand 23% students got sufficient facility.
This is an example of band condition of the labs in school and college. 57% of the
students said there are not sufficient computers in the labs. So we can understand
there are lot lacking in their learning as more than half of the voters are saying the
number of computers are not enough for everyone. On the other hand 34% said
there are enough computers and only 3% said there is more than sufficient number
of computers.
So we can see computer labs of most of institution don’t have sufficient number of
labs.
Even though ICT is a practical oriented subject, but only 13% were confident that
their mates are not memorizing this subject for getting grades.
33% said many students are memorizing and 32% said few students. But this is a
disappointing percentage when we have to see that 22% students are saying most
of the students are dependent in memorizing the subject,
So we can say, ICT has turned out to be a memorizing based course.
It is a very bad sign that 25%, that is one fourth of the students believe that the way
ICT is taught, it won’t benefit them in future. 41% said that it is little bit beneficial.
On the other hand 27% voted that it is beneficial and 7% voted that it is very
beneficial.
Course and its class evaluation are very important if institutions want to ensure the
quality of education. Like Parent’s meeting, evaluation should be also taken of the
faculties and their class by the school authority.
But we can see from the pie chart that 26% of the students are saying that
evaluation is not even done in their institutions. Another bad sign is that in 36%
percents cases rarely the evaluation is done. On the other 33% students said that
often evaluation is done and only 5% students goes for “a lot”.
So from the above discussion of the pie chart of question number 10 we can say
institution should take steps for course classes and faculty of ICT department for
insuring quality education.
This pie chart has both positive and negative side.
The positive part is that students are going for extra tuition classes shows a sign
that they are serious about this subject; now this can be either for learning or
grades.
But negative part is institutions are not able to teach the exercises properly in class
and students are being more dependent on tuition classes, which is a bad side. 35%
voted for “a lot” and 25% voted for “few” which shows huge number of students
are going for tuition classes, which is indeed not a good sign. And if we think
about the major courses like Chemistry, Physics, Math, Accounting always have
extra burden for tuition classes, so a student won’t even have time for his own
study if keeps on running from one tuition class to another.
So institutions should focus on this thing those students learning enough in their
classes so that they don’t need extra classes except for those who are weak.
Now this pie chart shows a very good sign from the students!
34% is interested to study ICT in university level which is a very good number and
39% said may be. And the lowest goes for “No” which is 27%.
So we can see majority students are showing interest in the ICT sector and want to
study in university level which is a good sign.
Proposed solution:
1. First each of the education board present in Bangladesh should be instructed
to check the condition schools and colleges by education officer of those
areas. Through this those institutions can be indentifies which doesn’t have
proper lab facilities and trained teacher.
2. Secondly, strict action should be taken for those schools and colleges which
don’t have labs, and labs should be established in all the schools and
colleges.
3. New additions of books should be published every year with updated
information and more emphasis should be given on correct information.
4. And finally, every year ICT training course should be taken for teachers of
that particular area for workshop of a week. This will improve the quality of
teaching.
Recommendations:
1. Steps should be taken for every institution to have at least one ICT expert
for the ICT department of each school and college.
2. The culture of course evaluation and teacher evaluation should be
established in each and every school and college to indentify the problems.
3. ICT based quiz competition and Programming competition should be
held in schools and college which will make the students get more interested
in this field.
4. The labs should have sufficient number of computers and at least with a
good specification where all the students can perform their practical stuffs.
Conclusion:
The decision of adding ICT was a drastic change in the syllabus of NCTB. ICT is
very important for future generation as most of our works are getting technology
based. So having knowledge in technology is as important as other major courses.
But it is a responsibility of the educational institutions for maintaining the quality
of the education. Otherwise there will be no outcome. For doing stuffs like
Programming, HTML, Web designing PC is mandatory. Even faculties of different
background cannot teach these topics, as these exercises are not memorizing based
stuffs. So, there is no utilization of including this subject.
And the books should be more updated along with time because ICT is such a
subject that keeps on upgrading. And to stay with the flow of technology, new
edition of the books should be published regularly.
As then journey of this subject is not long, it’s a responsibility of the institution to
take reviews from students and teacher evaluation, as most of the teachers teaching
ICT are not from this background.
If the institution, students and the teachers take this subject seriously and give
importance to it the way they give other subjects, only then everyone can get
maximum outcome from this subject.
Reference Link:
https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-209394
https://en.prothomalo.com/opinion/ICT-education-When-will-there-be-qualified