M M Jasim :
Academic activities of six government high schools in Pirojpur district are not running smoothly because a good number of teaching posts have long been vacant in these schools.
Sources said, the total teaching posts of these schools are 161. Of them, 67 posts are now vacant.
The scenario is reportedly the same in most of the other government high schools across the country, hampering the academic activities tremendously.
Some of the school teachers in rural areas told The New Nation that no teacher’s recruitment took place since 2012 to fill up the vacant posts in government schools.
At least 188 government schools in capital Dhaka and other district towns are facing varying levels of teacher’s shortage for years, they said.
They said the schools, particularly in the rural areas and the district towns, are affected most than those in the capital city as many of the teachers managed to get posted in the schools in Dhaka and the divisional cities.
Acting Head Mistress of Bhandoria Bandar Government Girls’ High School Shopna Roy said, “No teachers were recruited for accounting, English, physics, geography, Bangla and Social Science subjects.”
“Guest teachers are taking classes for those subjects. In return, we give them remuneration,” she said.
Acting Head Mistress of Pirojpur Government Girls’ High School Nazma Ara Khanom said, “We have not had a geography teacher for more than 12 years.”
She said, out of a total of 52, we have 30 teachers.
The number of students is 1,523.
“The posts of two clerks have remained vacant since two years. We have only one fourth-class employee among a total of five,” the acting head mistress added.
Meherpur Government Girls School is facing the shortage of 23 teachers, including four English teachers and five Bangla teachers, said headmaster Subash Chandra.
He said the school is running with 30 teachers while it should have 53. Many of the vacancies occurred five years back, he said.
Shortage of teacher forces the school authorities to often hold joint classes which obviously affect teaching quality, he said.
He said the performance of students appearing in three public examinations from his school deteriorated due to teachers’ shortage.
According to the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), vacancies have occurred in 1,750 teaching posts out of 10,006.
Bangladesh Government Secondary Teachers’ Association President Insan Ali told The New Nation that the government should immediately recruit new teachers to fill up the vacant posts in the government schools across the country.
He said that the students became the worst sufferers because of teachers’ shortage in so many schools.
Meanwhile, the Education Ministry officials said that it would not be possible to recruit new teachers for 328 government schools until the appointment rules are amended.
They said that the amendment of the recruitment rules became essential since the government upgraded the status of secondary school assistant teachers to class II in 2012.
Besides, they said, now only the Public Service Commission is authorized to recruit secondary school teachers.
Joint Secretary to the Education Ministry Ruhi Rahman, who looks after the secondary schools, said, the exercise to amend the recruitment rule is now at the final stage.
Director General of DSHE Professor SM Wahiduzzaman said, they have no hands to recruit any teachers in government high schools. They can just request the Bangladesh Public Service Commission, he said.
He also hoped that the problem would resolve if the government recruits teachers from Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS).
Academic activities of six government high schools in Pirojpur district are not running smoothly because a good number of teaching posts have long been vacant in these schools.
Sources said, the total teaching posts of these schools are 161. Of them, 67 posts are now vacant.
The scenario is reportedly the same in most of the other government high schools across the country, hampering the academic activities tremendously.
Some of the school teachers in rural areas told The New Nation that no teacher’s recruitment took place since 2012 to fill up the vacant posts in government schools.
At least 188 government schools in capital Dhaka and other district towns are facing varying levels of teacher’s shortage for years, they said.
They said the schools, particularly in the rural areas and the district towns, are affected most than those in the capital city as many of the teachers managed to get posted in the schools in Dhaka and the divisional cities.
Acting Head Mistress of Bhandoria Bandar Government Girls’ High School Shopna Roy said, “No teachers were recruited for accounting, English, physics, geography, Bangla and Social Science subjects.”
“Guest teachers are taking classes for those subjects. In return, we give them remuneration,” she said.
Acting Head Mistress of Pirojpur Government Girls’ High School Nazma Ara Khanom said, “We have not had a geography teacher for more than 12 years.”
She said, out of a total of 52, we have 30 teachers.
The number of students is 1,523.
“The posts of two clerks have remained vacant since two years. We have only one fourth-class employee among a total of five,” the acting head mistress added.
Meherpur Government Girls School is facing the shortage of 23 teachers, including four English teachers and five Bangla teachers, said headmaster Subash Chandra.
He said the school is running with 30 teachers while it should have 53. Many of the vacancies occurred five years back, he said.
Shortage of teacher forces the school authorities to often hold joint classes which obviously affect teaching quality, he said.
He said the performance of students appearing in three public examinations from his school deteriorated due to teachers’ shortage.
According to the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), vacancies have occurred in 1,750 teaching posts out of 10,006.
Bangladesh Government Secondary Teachers’ Association President Insan Ali told The New Nation that the government should immediately recruit new teachers to fill up the vacant posts in the government schools across the country.
He said that the students became the worst sufferers because of teachers’ shortage in so many schools.
Meanwhile, the Education Ministry officials said that it would not be possible to recruit new teachers for 328 government schools until the appointment rules are amended.
They said that the amendment of the recruitment rules became essential since the government upgraded the status of secondary school assistant teachers to class II in 2012.
Besides, they said, now only the Public Service Commission is authorized to recruit secondary school teachers.
Joint Secretary to the Education Ministry Ruhi Rahman, who looks after the secondary schools, said, the exercise to amend the recruitment rule is now at the final stage.
Director General of DSHE Professor SM Wahiduzzaman said, they have no hands to recruit any teachers in government high schools. They can just request the Bangladesh Public Service Commission, he said.
He also hoped that the problem would resolve if the government recruits teachers from Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS).
