Alaul Alam :
It is no denial that the emergence of the Covid-19 has widened the inequalities between the rich and the poor. Similarly, such inequalities are exposed between the government and non-government teachers. In one side government and MPO teachers find no financial disruption even amid the uncertain closure of education. They are found not at all bothered whether education reopens or not.
It is usual from their side to take the position stating that reopening would be fatal for the students in this pandemic. In the other side, private school teachers are in favor of reopening education as the prolonged closure of education has affected them greatly. Not only that, this has affected their family and societal life tremendously. They are undergoing huge economic hardship. They are the silent sufferers in the time of pandemic.
According to BANBEIS, around 1 million private teachers are teaching at different level of education in the country. The report reveals that they constitute about 66% of the teaching force of the country. So, this number indicates that teachers in the private education sector are doing enormous responsibilities to build up the future of the nation. But how far we acknowledge their contribution has been a growing debate. They are ignored. Even though they are deprived of any government facilities, more often their source of livelihoods faces disruption in many ways.
It is obvious that the tuition fee from the students is the only source of their survival that has stooped as soon as the education faces uncertain closures due to pandemic. It is almost one and half a year since the teachers in the private education sector have been facing unprecedented sufferings.
It is true that people are involved in teaching with getting no ambitious life, rather they are motivated to serve the nation. But they deserve the basic privileges to lead their livelihoods. When we see that teachers undergo difficulties to meet their necessities in life, how can they be able to contribute to serving the nation?
Can we deny that education has no connection towards attaining prosperity for the nation? Certainly we cannot. Teaching community is the pillar of education. Education of a country sees its success when the pillars are strong enough to support education to a height. Teachers are the architect of building a nation.
Not only that, the success of a nation in most cases depends on how much the nation has achieved education and to lead the nation to the path of enlightening the responsibility of the teacher community is enormous . For this, many nations in the world place the teacher community on the highest status in the country. Certainly, the scenario may differ in some countries where teachers undergo many inequalities and struggle to lead their livelihoods.
However, in the country it is estimated that many kindergartens, private schools and colleges are on the verge of extinction due to facing financial collapse. Some schools and private colleges have already been sold out as they have failed to survive in these hard days. Again most of the institutions find no scopes to collect tuition fees from students amid the crisis as the pandemic has rendered thousands of parents into economic shocks.
Apart from survival challenges of a great number of teachers the worries in regard to reopening educational institutions are deepening and prolonged closures are getting the situation frustrated. Again, investment in private sector education has shrunk greatly in the time of pandemic. The investors hardly have any intention to enliven private education in the country.
In this prolonged closure of education, many teachers in the private schools have been compelled to change their noble profession as they are unable to maintain their families. Recently, my eyes have got stuck when I was watching a report on RTV that a teacher has become a vegetable seller. Think when a teacher has compelled to be a vegetable seller leaving his own passion and prestige. Obviously, a dire hardship has been compelled him to do so for the case of survival. But it is apparent that the nation hardly has any time to think of the sorry state of the vulnerable teaching staff. Even we are not bothered at all despite the architect of a nation is at stake.
But to endure the crisis they expect stimulus package from the government. To this end, to save the architect of the nation it is very imperative to address their ongoing problem with concerted efforts that will not only save teachers but also save the education, which is the prerequisite to ensure sustainable development for the country.
(Alaul Alam teaches at Prime University. He is also research scholar at the IBS. Email: [email protected])
