Dakhil-level students will sit 200-mark, rather than 100-mark, papers in SSC-equivalent Bangla and English examinations from 2012, as part of a range of changes to madrasa education to be introduced in the next academic year, the Madrasa Education Board chairman said on Saturday.

"The new format for English and Bangla exams will also be expanded to Alim exams (HSC equivalent) in phases," chairman Mohammad Yousuf told. Prof Yousuf said madrasa students will have to study additional grammar in the new English and Bengali courses. "The new courses will be introduced at class-nine from 2010, so the new Dakhil exams will be taken from 2012," he said. Yousuf said new course books for Dakhil-level students are being printed to reflect the changes to the madrasa curriculum.

"The Islamic History course for Dakhil students will be optional rather than compulsory, as is currently the case, with some parts of the course added to the Social Science curriculum," said Yousuf. The Social Science course will change its name to Islamic History and Social Science, he said. The changes to the curriculum have been undertaken under the SESDP (secondary education sector development project) of the secondary and higher education directorate.

Dakhil-level examinations were made equivalent to the Secondary School Certificate exams In 1985, and in 1987 the Alim-level was standardised with the HSC as part of a comprehensive reform of the entire education system. Currently, the English and Bengali courses for Dakhil diplomas set exams of just 100 marks each, compared to 200 marks each in SSC exams. The two sets of exams are not seen as truly equivalent by some educationists, and the 100-mark papers have given rise to problems for Dakhil qualified students wishing to pursue higher studies.

The exams barred some madrasa students last year from applying to seven Dhaka University departments that introduced new admissions criteria requiring 200-mark exams in the two subjects to be passed by all applicants. A dispute brewed, all the way to the High Court, since the seven DU departments introduced the new admissions criteria last year. The decision to introduce the new 200-mark exams for Dakhil students has been taken after dialogues with madrasa teachers and educationists, Yousuf told bdnews24.com.