Four New Textbooks Arrive in the 2027 School Year: Sports, Culture and Hands-On Technical Learning Reshape the Curriculum

To move students away from rote memorisation and an exam-centred mindset and make learning more joyful, life-oriented and skills-based, four new textbooks will join two classes of primary and secondary education in the 2027 school year. Prepared by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), the books aim to support students' physical and mental development, ethics, creative thinking and practical work skills.

The four books are 'Kheladhula' (Sports) and 'Bangladesher Sangskriti' (Culture of Bangladesh) for Class Four, and 'Learning with Happiness' and 'Amar Karigori Shikkha' (My Technical Education) for Class Six. Related sources said the NCTB took the initiative under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's 15-year vision, wide-ranging research and guidance to make education joyful, practical and rich in moral values.

Mahdi Amin, the Prime Minister's adviser on education and primary and mass education, told the state news agency BSS that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has taken multifaceted plans, drawing on his long political experience, to repair the state structure, and has also focused on necessary reforms in education. He worked for years to make education joyful, practical and value-based, the adviser said, and the new books are an expression of that thinking, experience and research.

Mahdi Amin added that from working with the Prime Minister on this for 15 years, he understood the Prime Minister wants education to build human values, social courtesy, family culture and the qualities of good citizenship among students — and also to create employment. After the election victory, the NCTB was engaged on the Prime Minister's instruction; it formed a team including those who had assisted him in policymaking, and eminent educationists are working through continuous consultations and meetings to implement the vision.

NCTB officials said the textbooks were prepared under the government's election manifesto, combining joy, sports and culture with hands-on technical skills, and would change how the new generation learns. The books will receive final approval at the National Curriculum Coordination Committee (NCCC) meeting tomorrow, October 25. About 15 million copies of the four books will be printed, the NCTB said.

NCTB Chairman Professor Mohammad Fakhrul Mawla told BSS that the manuscripts of the four new textbooks have already been prepared and validated successfully; after approval at the October 25 NCCC meeting, the contents will be sent to press. The outlines were presented at a high-level workshop of four ministries at the International Mother Language Institute on July 12, after which experts and educationists prepared the final manuscripts.

Professor Mohammad Abu Naser Tuku, NCTB member for textbooks, told BSS that all printing processes for the four books are at the final stage, and printing of about 15 million copies is expected to be completed by December 15 after the NCCC's final approval.

The Class Four 'Kheladhula' book is arranged in 14 chapters, considering students' age and mental development, with the main aim of encouraging healthy lifestyles and sports from childhood. It presents the basic rules of football, cricket, kabaddi, badminton, swimming, athletics and chess in simple language, and includes self-defence techniques such as karate, judo and taekwondo to build physical ability and self-protection skills.

Beyond the rules, the book uses realistic pictures to show what to do in situations such as cuts, sprains, nosebleeds or heat stroke on the field or while running. Students will learn hands-on how to use first-aid supplies and prevent injuries, and importance has also been given to nutrition, social skills and patriotism. Its first chapter, 'Swapno Jokhon Akash Chhoya' (When Dreams Touch the Sky), tells an inspirational story of a remote village primary school teacher, Ayman Sir, and his colleague Sadia Apa, who form a girls' football team with Mehjabin and other students, overcome social barriers, and win at the national level.

The NCTB chairman said the 'Kheladhula' book was prepared for the first time with special attention to ensuring students' studies do not become one-dimensional and exhausting.

The 'Bangladesher Sangskriti' book, prepared in 11 chapters, closely introduces students to the country's rich history, heritage and folk culture. It depicts language, clothing, art, food culture, social customs and the traditional lifestyles of small ethnic communities in colourful illustrations. Alongside Bangla alphabet practice, school festivals, hoisting the national flag and pitha-puli traditions, it shows the modern form of parents' joint decision-making and mutual cooperation in household work. A special chapter includes the history of the popular children's talent show 'Notun Kuri', the 1976 initiative of martyred President Ziaur Rahman, and photographs of its winners.

The Class Six 'Learning with Happiness', prepared in six chapters, is built on a philosophy of fear-free, joyful learning — a new concept for Bangladesh's education system. Instead of the conventional exam system, it shows how knowledge can be gained through joyful experience, interaction and co-curricular activities, and it will lighten students' study load considerably. NCTB officials said the book will help students understand that learning is not only memorising or preparing for exams; it can also happen through one's own life, health, environment, safety, creativity, relationships and everyday experience.

'Amar Karigori Shikkha' for Class Six, prepared in eight chapters, aims to build hands-on learning habits and a problem-solving mindset for the challenges of the 21st century. Its core philosophy is to make students self-reliant in 'what I can do', rather than confining them to the theory of 'what I know'. Chapters on technical education, surrounding technology and the new world, small initiatives with big potential, builders who change the world, and green technology and sustainable living will lay a foundation for identifying real-life technical problems and finding solutions with technology. All four new books also include a special glossary chapter.

Adviser Mahdi Amin said the sports and culture subjects beginning in Class Four will later be expanded from Class One to Class Five, while 'Learning with Happiness' and technical education will be added to all classes from Class Six to Class Ten. Professor Dr A K M Shawkat Ali Khan, NCTB member for curriculum, told BSS the four new textbooks will let students step beyond bookish knowledge and gain practical, skills-based learning in a joyful environment.

All eyes are now on tomorrow's NCCC meeting. If approved, printing will finish by December 15 and about 15 million copies will reach Class Four and Class Six students at the start of the 2027 school year — formally opening a new chapter of joyful, skills-based learning in the country's curriculum.