In a sweeping change to the education system, the education ministry has officially approved the new curriculum for primary and secondary education, which included no exams till the third grade and a two-day weekend. 

The approval came after a meeting of the National Curriculum Coordination Committee (NCCC) of the education ministry and the primary and mass education ministry at the International Mother Language Institute on Monday. 

The Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Division MA Khayer confirmed the matter in a media statement. 

Under the new curriculum there will be no exams till the third grade and fourth and fifth graders will have to study eight books. 

The Junior School Certificate (JSC), Primary Education Completion (PEC) and equivalent exams have been scrapped and students will be evaluated based on their class assessments. 

For sixth grade onwards, students will have to study 10 subjects and the SSC examinations will be held on the syllabus of the 10th grade. 

The 11th graders will be able to choose one of the three streams--- science, humanities and business studies. 

Two separate public exams will be held for 11th grade and 12th grade, and the scorers will be added to assign the HSC results. 

The new curriculum will come into effect for the first, second and sixth graders on 2023. Third, fourth and ninth graders will come under the new curriculum from 2024, fifth and 10th graders from 2025 and 11th and 12th graders from 2026.