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The first thing that comes to mind is the tech-savvy nature of the New Generation, who love to have extra reliance on the internet. Hence, their source of knowledge tends to be multifaceted, ranging from printed books to digital content. Again, their indulgence in digital platforms makes them lift above conventionality. Resultantly, they view a curriculum as not a one-time prescription; instead, it revolves through time, as it needs to comply with the needs and demands of the persisting global features. They preserve more rights to raise their voice in favour of or against rules and policies. Hence, they can question the necessity of formatted structuralism of knowledge, deconstructing it to comply with global needs. One thing needs to be reminded that the aspiration of the New Generation is terrestrial and some chauvinistic in expression. It should not translate that they sacrifice national spirit at the gallows of the global perspective. Instead, in the broader aspect of adjustment in the educational curriculum, they experience globalism through nationality spectacles.
Hence, the national educational curriculum never puts national interest aside; instead, it builds skyscrapers on the basement of the national quest for identity and embraces the global web of influencing trends that comply with the nation's interest. With the advent of multipolar culturalism, against the backdrop of variegated traditionalism or viewing the imminence of an anti-conventionalist attitude in the New Generation, the aspiration of a sustaining educational curriculum beacons myriads of critical issues. Firstly, the question of compliance between ambition and capacity emerges. They know what the best practice is in the academic sectors across the globe. They hope to complete higher degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and secure their future in NASA, Google, and Amazon. Hence, they find clues of despair and distaste in a national curriculum's conventionality.
The curriculum, as perceived by the New Generation, should be adaptable to the evolving world, underpinning its transitoriness, convincing, elastic, and accommodating of contemporary innovation and advancement worldwide. It should prepare learners to be competitive and capable of participating in open-source knowledge, shaping them into future global citizens.
Again, the introduction of generative AI in the educational landscape has transformed the way of knowledge production and dissemination, submission of assignments for grading, and publication of articles or creative content. This innovation has brought about a dynamic evolution in the New Generation, who think of themselves as the height of achieving the dream that they were aspiring to. Generative AI is not an unheard conception to them, from the metropolitan to the remotest part of Bangladesh. Despite its probable benefits, Generative AI carries impending pitfalls that weaken the learner’s creative faculty. A new-age curriculum can never sideline the impact of Generative AI in the cognition of New Generation learners. Hence, the curriculum should propose guidelines for adopting Generative AI in the educational paradigm to keep the learners generationally vital and energised.
The second outstanding characteristic, next to tech-savvy, is that the New Generation hopes for a society beyond political injustice, administrative and judicial misappropriation, and religious bigotry. During the 36 days of student mass movement, they stood tall on the basement of inclusivity. The graffiti that the students painted across the country calls for harmonious co-existence of the Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and Buddhists of Bangladesh. Thus, they should offer a curriculum emphasising inclusivity embedded with love for the motherland.
The students, using our national flag as their sole garment and singing patriotic songs on the University campuses, widened our typical eyesight to believe in their worthiness as the true children of this motherland. A curriculum of this new emergency cannot hinder the New Generation from observing human rights, community beliefs, and cultural heritage, as the welfare state upholds the dignity of every individual to thrive and realise their full potential. Nevertheless, a curriculum transforms a mouthpiece of vested quarters, establishing the political ambition of petty politics. New Generation has nothing to do with politics; if it humiliates the ordinary citizen, they must raise their voice against partisan programs. The New Generation shows that an educational landscape should nourish merit, and they believe a country builds on meritocracy. Consequently, the curriculum should adopt a prescriptive formula for promoting the community without intimidation and interference through inclusion in the national curriculum so that all the communities can access their preferred community ideal alongside the general grounds of glocalized aspects of knowledge and skills.
However, a curriculum sets quantifiable objectives that lead to measuring the advancement of the learners. The immediate past revised curriculum congregates multitudes of criticism due to its assessment methodology. It says the assessment methodology fails to keep the learners on track concerning learning the contents; instead, it constructs a study of aversive attitudes among the learners. The primary concern is that the teachers find it difficult to measure whether the learners achieved the learning objectives. The global discourse is that education has become a lifelong learning cycle, and the world embraces outcome-based learning. The New Generation can expect that they can dignify their names in the world, and the curriculum must envision that cherished dream into reality. A learner of the 21st century is mandatorily a global citizen. They participate in international dialogues. Hence, the curriculum must embrace the urge of the youth by upholding the dignity of a 21st-century learner. In light of the new reality, a curriculum should act as a catalyst to bridge the gaps between these two paradigms—petty politics and global discourse.
As the experience translates, the New Generation may encounter challenges due to its extra reliance on digital information. Information, disinformation, and misinformation revolve together, leading to societal chaos. Hence, the curriculum should integrate research-based teaching and learning techniques. It will ensure an enlightened citizen who stands on authentic information based on scientific archeology of knowledge exploration.
The bottom line is that our New Generation is ambitious enough. They dream of rectifying all ills of the country and reducing all lousy practices, which are crippling the nation. They are like Phoenix; they burn down into the ashes and recreate out of the ashes.
The writer is a B.C.S. Cadre (General Education), Educational Researcher and Freelance Writer.
Messenger/Disha
