At the threshold of their educational journey, a child should ideally be met with an environment that nurtures cognitive curiosity and emotional security. In a healthy society, the transition into formal schooling is celebrated as a milestone of growth. However, in the contemporary Bangladeshi context, this transition has mutated into a traumatic rite of passage colloquially—and aptly—termed the “Admission War.”
Recent policy deliberations suggesting a retreat from the lottery-based system toward competitive entrance examinations for primary and secondary schools represent a regressive step. This potential policy shift necessitates a critical inquiry into the socio-psychological toll on our children, the exacerbation of socioeconomic disparities, and the systemic failure to provide equitable educational standards across the nation.
The Constitutional Mandate vs. Institutional Stratification
Education is a fundamental human right, not a competitive privilege to be won in a high-stakes lottery or a grueling exam. Article 17 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh mandates a uniform, mass-oriented, and compulsory system of education for all children. From a policy perspective, the state’s primary obligation is the “horizontal” improvement of educational standards. This means ensuring that a school in a rural upazila or a suburban ward offers the same quality of instruction as a premier institution in Dhanmondi or Banani.
However, our current reality reflects a sharp “vertical” stratification. By institutionalizing an entrance exam for a handful of “elite” schools, the state inadvertently validates the notion that only a few institutions are worthy of trust. This creates an artificial scarcity of quality, transforming a constitutional right into a commodity. When we force six-year-olds into a “war” for seats, we are essentially admitting that the state has failed to provide a standard education for the majority.
Global Pedagogical Paradigms: Learning from the Best
While we deliberate on how to filter our children through exams, high-performing educational jurisdictions like Finland and Japan have moved in the opposite direction. In Finland, the “Neighbourhood Schooling” model is a structural mandate. There are no private rankings, and there is no “best” school; the best school is the one closest to the child’s home. This ensures that pedagogical quality remains uniform, eliminating parental anxiety and the social cost of commuting across cities for a “better” education.
Similarly, the Japanese model defers rigorous academic testing until the age of ten. The first three years of schooling focus on Kokoro—the development of heart, character, and social ethics. They believe that teaching a child how to cooperate is far more important than teaching them how to outrank their peers. In contrast, the Bangladeshi insistence on early meritocratic filtering is a pedagogical anomaly that prioritizes “seat allocation” over holistic human development.
Psychological Trauma: The Cost of Early Failure
The “Admission War” operates as a mechanism of institutionalized psychological duress. Professor Kamrul Hassan Mamun of Dhaka University has poignantly noted that labeling children as “failures” through early entrance exams imposes a significant “tag” that can haunt them for life. At an age where a child’s ego is still forming, the message that they are “not good enough” for a certain school is a devastating blow to their self-esteem.
In his seminal work Childhood and Society (1950), developmental psychologist Erik Erikson argues that children aged 5 to 12 are in the stage of “Industry vs. Inferiority.” If they are encouraged and commended, they develop a sense of competence. However, if they are subjected to repeated failure or compared unfavorably to others—as is the case in competitive admissions—they develop a profound sense of inferiority.
Furthermore, research published in the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Monitor on Psychology (2011) indicates that high-stakes testing in early childhood induces chronic “test anxiety.” This anxiety does not just lower grades; it restricts the neural pathways associated with creativity and divergent thinking. We are effectively raising a generation of “exam-takers” rather than “problem-solvers.”
The Political Economy of ‘Shadow Education’
The reintroduction of admission tests is music to the ears of the “Shadow Education” sector—the unregulated coaching centers and private tutoring syndicates. The transition to a lottery system was a strategic intervention intended to dismantle these commercial syndicates and democratize access for children from marginalized backgrounds.
As Rasheda K. Choudhury, former advisor to the Primary and Mass Education Ministry, has emphasized, such policy shifts require extensive empirical research. Reverting to exams without fixing the quality gap between schools will only benefit the affluent. Wealthy parents can afford the “academic scaffolding” provided by elite coaching centers, while the children of the poor—no matter how naturally gifted—are left behind. This creates a cycle of poverty and exclusion that begins at the age of six.
A Roadmap for Systemic Reform
Instead of looking for a “quick fix” through exams, the government must adopt a long-term, strategic roadmap to overhaul the educational infrastructure:
* Infrastructural Equilibrium: The state must initiate a “Pilot School” project to standardize facilities across all administrative wards. The goal should be “Quality at the Doorstep.” When every local school has a science lab, a library, and trained teachers, the “Admission War” will end naturally.
Professionalization of Educators: Following the Japanese model, the status of primary teachers must be elevated. To attract the best minds to the classroom, we must offer competitive salaries and high social standing.
Digital Resource Democratization: We must leverage ICT to bridge the urban-rural divide. High-quality lectures from premier institutions should be accessible to every rural classroom via digital platforms, ensuring that “quality” is no longer a geographical privilege.
Uniform Curricular Standards: We must harmonize the disparate streams—English Medium, Madrasah, and General—into a unified, creative curriculum. Assessment should be continuous and formative, focusing on what a child can do rather than what they can memorize.
Refined Lottery System: Rather than abandoning the lottery, we should enhance its transparency using modern technology to eliminate any possibility of nepotism or corruption.
Conclusion: The Ethics of Stewardship
The discourse regarding the reintroduction of admission tests is a test of our national character. Are we a society that views children as assets to be nurtured, or as competitors to be filtered? While the lottery system is not perfect, it serves as a critical equalizer in a deeply stratified society.
An “Admission War” does not just select a few “winners”; it rejects thousands of “losers” before they have even learned to dream. We owe it to the next generation to protect the sanctity of their childhood. The state’s focus must remain on elevating all schools to a standard of excellence, ensuring that education remains a journey of empowerment, not a battle of exclusion. Let our children carry schoolbags filled with books, not the heavy burden of our systemic failures.
The Author: Professor Dr Md. Abu Bakar Siddique widely known as Dr Dipu Siddiqui is a senior academic, researcher, and journalist. He currently serves as a Professor and Dean at the Royal University of Dhaka .