M M Jasim :
Kindergarten (KG) business in the name of ‘better education’ has been continuing rampantly in the country as the government has apparently failed to bring the kindergartens under its control.
The kindergartens do not follow the rules and regulations of the Primary and Masss Education Ministry and even they pay no heed to the directives of the ministry issued in 2011.
The government’s failure to enforce the new registration rules and lax monitoring paved the way for kindergartens to mushroom growth.
About one lakh kindergartens are functioning without adequate classroom facilities depriving students of proper education.
Besides, the kindergartens are recruiting incompetent teachers and fixing tuition, admission and readmission fees at will and raise the amount every year.
Russell Mahmud, guardian of a kindergarten student at Mirpur said the students have to pay a large amount of money for readmission every year, and as other fees. ‘Some schools unnecessarily suggest a number of books without considering the age of children,’ he said.
When asked why did he opt for kindergarten? He said, guardians have doubt about the quality of education at government primary schools. Besides it is nearer to his dwelling place.
The 2011 rules stated that kindergartens would first be given a provisional registration and then a permanent registration after the government monitored their performance, with the registration having been renewed once in every five years.
According to the rule, every school must have a managing committee, including guardians’ and teachers’ representatives, with the headmaster as its member secretary. The headmaster of the nearest government primary school should also be a committee member.
It also said, such an institute must have 0.08 acre of land, six classrooms and will have a library.
The managing committees are given responsibility for the recruitment of teachers, fixing of tuition fees and other activities. The schools are required under the new rules to publish advertisements in a national daily for all teaching jobs.
Schools cannot charge extra fees to students for readmission or for the purchase of any modern technology and equipment for the school. Schools also cannot treat those books, not approved by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, as sources of education, and that for every 30 students, there should be one teacher.
Director General of Directoreat of Primary Education (DPE) Md Alamgir said, the kindergartens must follow the rules of the ministry. No kindergarten will be allowed to run their activities without registration.
“We have formed taskforce at municipliy, district and upazila level to bring them under the rule of the ministry. The taskforce has already started their activites and will take initiative as per the law,” the director general said.
Meanwhile, the DPE and the ministry have no exact statistics of how many kindergartens are running in the country though Bangladesh Kindergarten Okiya Parished (BKOP) put the number at around one lakh.
BKOP President Iskandar Ali Hawlader said the number had reached at least 1,00,000 by now as the schools had spread to union
Kindergarten (KG) business in the name of ‘better education’ has been continuing rampantly in the country as the government has apparently failed to bring the kindergartens under its control.
The kindergartens do not follow the rules and regulations of the Primary and Masss Education Ministry and even they pay no heed to the directives of the ministry issued in 2011.
The government’s failure to enforce the new registration rules and lax monitoring paved the way for kindergartens to mushroom growth.
About one lakh kindergartens are functioning without adequate classroom facilities depriving students of proper education.
Besides, the kindergartens are recruiting incompetent teachers and fixing tuition, admission and readmission fees at will and raise the amount every year.
Russell Mahmud, guardian of a kindergarten student at Mirpur said the students have to pay a large amount of money for readmission every year, and as other fees. ‘Some schools unnecessarily suggest a number of books without considering the age of children,’ he said.
When asked why did he opt for kindergarten? He said, guardians have doubt about the quality of education at government primary schools. Besides it is nearer to his dwelling place.
The 2011 rules stated that kindergartens would first be given a provisional registration and then a permanent registration after the government monitored their performance, with the registration having been renewed once in every five years.
According to the rule, every school must have a managing committee, including guardians’ and teachers’ representatives, with the headmaster as its member secretary. The headmaster of the nearest government primary school should also be a committee member.
It also said, such an institute must have 0.08 acre of land, six classrooms and will have a library.
The managing committees are given responsibility for the recruitment of teachers, fixing of tuition fees and other activities. The schools are required under the new rules to publish advertisements in a national daily for all teaching jobs.
Schools cannot charge extra fees to students for readmission or for the purchase of any modern technology and equipment for the school. Schools also cannot treat those books, not approved by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, as sources of education, and that for every 30 students, there should be one teacher.
Director General of Directoreat of Primary Education (DPE) Md Alamgir said, the kindergartens must follow the rules of the ministry. No kindergarten will be allowed to run their activities without registration.
“We have formed taskforce at municipliy, district and upazila level to bring them under the rule of the ministry. The taskforce has already started their activites and will take initiative as per the law,” the director general said.
Meanwhile, the DPE and the ministry have no exact statistics of how many kindergartens are running in the country though Bangladesh Kindergarten Okiya Parished (BKOP) put the number at around one lakh.
BKOP President Iskandar Ali Hawlader said the number had reached at least 1,00,000 by now as the schools had spread to union
