MOST English-medium schools in the country are operating without permission while the registered ones have never taken approval for their managing committees or submitted annual audit reports to the government as per the rules. Only 118 such schools in Dhaka and two others in Chattogram have their registrations from the respective education boards. The government has no data on how many such schools are being operated in the country. The government must bring all the English medium schools under an umbrella law and protect students and guardians rights, ensure quality education and dispensing national culture and morals.
An estimated 500 English-medium schools are offering primary to A Level courses while about 4,000 kindergartens were offering courses up to Grade VIII. Most of these schools have no documents other than trade licences taken from the City Corporations as educational consultants but not as educational institutions. But the Registration of Private Schools Ordinance 1962 and the Private School Registration Rules 2017 oblige all schools, including the English-medium ones, to register with the authorities concerned. It is also mandatory for the schools to have government-approved governing bodies and also to submit annual audit reports to the boards for ensuring transparency of their operations, income and expenditures. The government has no control over these schools and has never taken any initiative either to this regard as children of influential people study at such schools.
Educationists said the government has rather created discrimination in the country’s education system after the independence allowing operation of such schools without regulations and not updating the mainstream education system in accordance with global needs. The society’s dominant sections having enough purchasing ability send their children to such schools hoping that they would help them obtain higher education abroad while children of the commoners struggle throughout the life for not getting quality education in the mainstream education system.
Our educational institutions generally do not bother to obey laws. There is nothing to be surprised when we do not have a government of law. The education ministry itself is disorganised.
