Bangladeshi students from preschool to high school are divided into Bangla Medium and English Medium. While most people understand what the English Medium equivalent of SSC and HSC are by now, being O levels and A levels, the three English Medium curriculums followed in Bangladesh may still seem a little foreign.
English Medium Schools in Bangladesh, as already mentioned, follow three different curriculums: Cambridge International Education or CIE, Pearson Edexcel, and International Baccalaureate or IB.
So, what’s the difference between these curriculums?
Cambridge, Edexcel, and IB are all international educational boards. The CIE board is run by a non-profit department under the University of Cambridge, while Edexcel is under the Pearson company. Both CIE and Edexcel are UK-based. IB, on the other hand, was founded in Geneva, Switzerland.
How are CIE and Edexcel different?
Both CIE and Edexcel offer IGCSE and A-level courses for students from grades 6 to 12. The integral difference between these two curricula is that while Edexcel provides a more modular approach, letting students select individual subjects based on their own interests, Cambridge offers a more standardised curriculum with predetermined subject varieties.
How IB differs from CIE and Edexcel
However, The IB Diploma programme is completely different from the UK programmes. While Edexcel and CIE both follow a specific curriculum, the IB curriculum equips only a framework.
The IB programmes are founded by international instructors certified by the IB Board. IB programmes do not follow any rigid pattern of textbooks and are student-centric, allowing students to develop proficiency in particular subject areas and making them a more skill-based curriculum than content-based. Allowing teachers the flexibility to personalise content based on their classroom’s requirements allows them to encourage creativity and imaginative skills to maximise educational outcomes.
There is a rising number of English Medium schools in Bangladesh, primarily in Dhaka. While most schools opt for Cambridge and Pearson Edexcel curricula, there is a growing interest in the IB curriculum. That being said, while English Medium schools cater to a privileged social audience, it must be noted that these international schools have been the proprietors of some outstanding and successful individuals in the past and present times.