(From previous issue) :
Professor Siddiqur Rahman from Education and Research Institute of Dhaka University, who is also associated with the National Textbook and Education Board, told First News, “The general standard of textbooks has improved in recent times. They now come in colours. We are also working on the printing errors and other mistakes.”
He added, “But we must also focus on giving our children a proper education. Just being able to sign one’s name does not make one literate as is widely thought in the country. The standard of education is so poor in primary schools that many who are promoted to secondary schools do not even know basic things like the name of the National Poet or the significance of our Independence Day.”
Underpaid Teachers
According to the government gazette, the basic pay of a primary school teacher is 4,700 taka before receiving training and 4,900 after training, the principal’s salary being 5,200 taka. Other than that, housing allowance makes 60 per cent of the basic, medical allowance is 700 taka, conveyance allowance is 150 taka and tiffin allowance is another 150 taka. There is little scope for growth in career as there are no posts other than principals and assistant teachers in tnese schools.
Atiqur Rahman (pseudonym), who has been teaching for the last 18 years and is now the principal of a government primary school in the capital, informed First News, “My monthly income including all benefits is 18,000 taka. After paying house rent of 12,000 taka, there is little left. Both my sons are attending universities. At the end of each month I need to borrow money to fill the gap between income and expenditure.”
Rahman further said, “It becomes even more difficult when any additional expenditure is incurred on account of receiving medical treatment or entertaining guests. If this is the situation with a principal then you can imagine what it must be like for an assistant teacher. They have no choice but to resort to private coaching or some other part-time job to make ends meet.”
He then explained, “This has its own negative impact on the classroom. Although I do not support the culture of private coaching in principle, I also empathise with the teachers who do it under duress.”
It is alleged that teachers are mostly tired and stressed out as a result of which they are usually very irritable and sometimes doze off during classes. However, rural primary school teachers are said to be in a slightly advantageous position, as most do not have to spend money on house rent.
There are wide-scale and numerous allegations against rural and urban primary school teachers. Common allegations include, lack of punctuality, irregular attendance, lack of preparation before classes, favouring students who go to them for private coaching, verbal and physical abuse of students, etc. Female teachers often leave early on the grounds of household obligations.
Teaching outdone by Additional Responsibilities
In addition to teaching, a government primary school teacher is burdened with many other responsibilities, the extent of which is sometimes so much that the responsibility of teaching gets less priority and time. Such duties include census, child survey, elections, preparation of voter identification list, latrine survey, distribution of biscuits, and attending official programmes at district and upazilla levels, among others. Their job also requires extensive traveling when they perform the role of examiners. Various committees are also formed for the day-to-day management of primary schools, such as management committees, guardian’ committees, school welfare committees, etc, which keep many teachers busy with various resolutions and activities that often interfere with their primary role as teachers.
Politics and Primary Education
“Due to hartals and blockades, the three major exams in the schools got disrupted. Children had to study doubly hard due to the rescheduling of the exams” said mother of Faria Rahman, a third-grade student of Sher-e-Bangla High School. “Besides”, she added, “the schools remain officially open during political blockades when we have to live in fear of sending our kids to school.”
A government primary school has 75-gazetted holidays in a year. Schools often need to be unofficially closed due to various programmes such as, vaccination, visits by local Parliament Members, social or cultural programmes, sports events, election booths, etc.
Due to such interruptions, many of the schools fail to complete the syllabus during an academic year.
Needless to mention, a change in government is followed by a change in school management committees and guardian committees. These recruitments are carried out unofficially by UP chairmen, upazilla chairmen, local MPs and other politically powerful people. As a result schools often fall in the hands of incompetent management committees leading to irregularities and indiscipline.
With reference to political influence, a district education officer, on request of anonymity, told First News, “We are totally helpless when it comes to political pressure. It is not possible to keep the school free from political influence. It would have been best if politicians kept schools out of their political race.”
Allegations regarding irregularities in teacher recruitment are rampant at all levels. Anwar Hossain (pseudonym), an assistant teacher at a government primary school in Gazipur, informed, “I had to pay 100,000 taka in cash as a bribe to get recruited although I qualified in the written examination. Recruitment is marred by bribes, political manipulation and nepotism. As a result, the overall standard of teaching suffers as many incompetent candidates get recruited over competent ones.” Another district education officer said, “I shall not deny the fact that recruitment does take place on the basis of political influence and special requests. However, the candidate has to qualify in the written examination first.”
School Meal Program
Babul Kumar Shaha, project director of school feeding program, said that government funding covers 42 and World Food Program (WFP) 30 upazillas across the country that benefits a total of 2.7 million students at various government, registered non-government and community primary schools, NGO-run schools and a few madrasahs, which get 75g of biscuits per day. WFP and the government of Bangladesh in 2010 jointly undertook the program. It is believed that the program has succeeded in attracting students in many downtrodden districts.
Abu Mohammad Saleh, principal of Kankonipara government primary school in Rangpur, commented, “The program has significantly impacted the daily attendance of students most of whom come from very impoverished backgrounds who cannot afford a mid-day snack.”
However, the students have more to say. Shahnaz Akhtar, a sixth-grade student of Nandail Chandipasha Model School in Rangpur, said, “We are being given the same biscuit for the last few years. It does not taste that good either but we still have it, as we get very hungry by the time it is served. I wish they gave us something else to eat.”
Asked if anyone ever fell sick after eating the biscuits, she replied in the negative. WFP has the mid-day meal program in schools of 60 countries including India and Sri Lanka where it is believed that a total of 20 million children are benefited.
In developed countries like USA, UK, Sweden, Japan and France, mid-day free meals are provided in schools at government and private initiatives. In Japan, about 99 per cent of primary schools and 82 per cent of high schools provide free lunch to students.
Encroachment of School Land
According to sources, about 15 schools in the capital city have lost their land to land grabbers. Local influentials have constructed commercial and residential buildings on school compounds. Not much has been achieved from the legal battles against them. Khodabaksh Government Primary School in Captain Bazar has shut down due to encroachments. Shahin Government Primary School adjacent to Mohammadpur Town Hall in the capital has already lost 31 per cent of its land to encroachment. A massive garbage depot stands right in front of the school gate making it difficult for students to concentrate on studies because of the bad smell. Smoke from cooking within the doue compound is also another nuisance. Laundry is hung on a clothesline inside the school compound. Established in 1968, a certain part of the school is occupied by stranded Pakistanis.
Nazirabad Primary School, established in 1941 in the capital has also lost about 10 per cent of its compound to encroachers. It is alleged that almost every week some social program like weddings or cultural shows are held on the school premises with cooking in large vessels. School authorities alleged that their complaints have been consistently falling on deaf ears.
Motijheel Government Primary School established in 1996, built on its own land has been declared a highrisk building. Classes are, therefore, being held in Post and Telegraph Government Primary School as a temporary arrangement.
Kamrangir Char Government
Primary School, Wari M A Alim Primary School, Gendaria Mohila Samity Government Primary School, F K M Government Primary School, Suritola Primary Schoool, Haji Yusuf Ali Government Primary School are among others in the capital, which have lost part of their compounds to land grabbers.
These are but some of the examples from Dhaka City, there are many instances of how schools have either been closed after losing their land or have been squeezed in size after encroachers took illegal possession of land. An investigation will reveal how a large number of primary schools in the country are under threat from influential quarters and might lose their land in the near future.
Increasing Dropouts
As a signatory to the United Nations Child Rights Convention, Bangladesh is obligated to ensure education as the fundamental right of each and every child. While it can be claimed that Bangladesh has come a long way in improving the enrolment rate in primary schools in the last two decades, there is still a growing number of children who are dropping out of school every year. There are also some areas and communities where children do not even have access to a school. Facilities for handicapped children also need a great deal of upgrading. Roughly about 99 per cent of the children in Bangladesh enroll in primary schools but it is estimated that about 40 per cent drop out before completing primary education. Despite government and private initiatives the dropout rate remains high to this day.
According to Bangladesh Primary Education Annual Sector
Performance Report 2012, around 2.6 million children aged between 6 and 10 are not going to school at present. The good news is that of a diminishing dropout trend with 50.5 per cent in 2006 and 2007, 49.3 per cent in 2008, 45.1 per cent in 2009 and 39.8 per cent in 2010. A survey carried out by Education Watch in 2008 showed that about 50 per cent of the kids drop out of school before they complete the fifth grade. Of these, boys constitute 51.7 per cent while 48.3 per cent are girls. The survey also revealed that the dropout rate is 52.4 per cent in rural areas while in cities it is 30.4 per cent. The dropout rates are significantly higher in less developed regions such as the hill tracts, haors and islands.
Shaymol Kanti Ghosh, director general of the Primary Education Department, informed First News, “We have taken a lot of initiatives to reduce the primary school dropout rate. We are currently providing school meals to primary school students in 96 upazillas.
There will be 1500 new schools in total in areas where there were no primary schools before. We will also take the necessary measures to make learning more enjoyable in primary schools to control dropouts. Under a program called Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROSC) in 48 upazillas we arrange lessons in separate schools for children who dropped out. Very soon the program will be extended to 100 more areas.”
The Informal Education Program by the government in collaboration with UNICEF and CIDA has reached out to 66,000 children aged between 10 and 13, who were working in urban areas during 2004-12. The program is also providing vocational training to children over 14 years of age.
Samir Ranjan Das, Chief of Research Evaluation department of BRAC, informed that the organization’s education program covers 22,000 schools. In addition to BRAC, a significant number of NGOs are working along with the government to reduce the dropout rate. Among these, PLAN Bangladesh, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Save the Children, Jagoroni Chakra, and Aparajeo Bangladesh are amongst those worth mentioning.
“Commendable steps have been taken for the development of primary education.”
-Afsarul Amin , Primary and Mass Education Minister
This government has taken several steps for the development of primary education and it is for this reason that the primary school dropout rate has been reduced significantly in recent years.
About 7.8 million children across the country have been incorporated in scholarship programmes, which is 45 per cent of the total number of primary school students. The school-feeding programme is there in 96 upazillas. ROSC program is also an effective education program targeting children who had previously droppd out of school. We are also trying to improve logistical and structural facilities in schools to retain students. Steps are also being taken to improve lessons to make them more recreational for children. Many more villages which did not have primary schools before are going to have one primary school each and more children will be able to attend schools as 1500 new schools are being built in those villages. Of them, 800 have been established already. We hope the dropout rate will further reduce in the coming years because of the focused measures that have been taken recently.
“The primary education sector needs more investment.”
Rasheda K Chowdhury, former Adviser to Caretaker Government and Executive Director of Gonoshakkhorota Obhijan
Primary education sector is one of the few areas where Bangladesh has made some commendable advancement since its Independence. A large number of children have been brought under the sector. But the saddest part is that most of these children fail to continue with their education. In order to retain children in schools, the government also needs the cooperation of non-government organisations.
The issue of education must be extended to the district level instead of keeping it in the hands of the concerned ministry. Local governments must be empowered in this regard. More effective supervision mechanisms must be created to monitor certain issues such as how schools are being run at local levels, the performance of teachers, why children are not coming to school, etc. The most important is to increase the national budget for primary education. There are many pitfalls in our education systems, which need to be addressed. And for that, more investment is required before anything else.
(Concluded)
Courtesy: First News
Professor Siddiqur Rahman from Education and Research Institute of Dhaka University, who is also associated with the National Textbook and Education Board, told First News, “The general standard of textbooks has improved in recent times. They now come in colours. We are also working on the printing errors and other mistakes.”
He added, “But we must also focus on giving our children a proper education. Just being able to sign one’s name does not make one literate as is widely thought in the country. The standard of education is so poor in primary schools that many who are promoted to secondary schools do not even know basic things like the name of the National Poet or the significance of our Independence Day.”
Underpaid Teachers
According to the government gazette, the basic pay of a primary school teacher is 4,700 taka before receiving training and 4,900 after training, the principal’s salary being 5,200 taka. Other than that, housing allowance makes 60 per cent of the basic, medical allowance is 700 taka, conveyance allowance is 150 taka and tiffin allowance is another 150 taka. There is little scope for growth in career as there are no posts other than principals and assistant teachers in tnese schools.
Atiqur Rahman (pseudonym), who has been teaching for the last 18 years and is now the principal of a government primary school in the capital, informed First News, “My monthly income including all benefits is 18,000 taka. After paying house rent of 12,000 taka, there is little left. Both my sons are attending universities. At the end of each month I need to borrow money to fill the gap between income and expenditure.”
Rahman further said, “It becomes even more difficult when any additional expenditure is incurred on account of receiving medical treatment or entertaining guests. If this is the situation with a principal then you can imagine what it must be like for an assistant teacher. They have no choice but to resort to private coaching or some other part-time job to make ends meet.”
He then explained, “This has its own negative impact on the classroom. Although I do not support the culture of private coaching in principle, I also empathise with the teachers who do it under duress.”
It is alleged that teachers are mostly tired and stressed out as a result of which they are usually very irritable and sometimes doze off during classes. However, rural primary school teachers are said to be in a slightly advantageous position, as most do not have to spend money on house rent.
There are wide-scale and numerous allegations against rural and urban primary school teachers. Common allegations include, lack of punctuality, irregular attendance, lack of preparation before classes, favouring students who go to them for private coaching, verbal and physical abuse of students, etc. Female teachers often leave early on the grounds of household obligations.
Teaching outdone by Additional Responsibilities
In addition to teaching, a government primary school teacher is burdened with many other responsibilities, the extent of which is sometimes so much that the responsibility of teaching gets less priority and time. Such duties include census, child survey, elections, preparation of voter identification list, latrine survey, distribution of biscuits, and attending official programmes at district and upazilla levels, among others. Their job also requires extensive traveling when they perform the role of examiners. Various committees are also formed for the day-to-day management of primary schools, such as management committees, guardian’ committees, school welfare committees, etc, which keep many teachers busy with various resolutions and activities that often interfere with their primary role as teachers.
Politics and Primary Education
“Due to hartals and blockades, the three major exams in the schools got disrupted. Children had to study doubly hard due to the rescheduling of the exams” said mother of Faria Rahman, a third-grade student of Sher-e-Bangla High School. “Besides”, she added, “the schools remain officially open during political blockades when we have to live in fear of sending our kids to school.”
A government primary school has 75-gazetted holidays in a year. Schools often need to be unofficially closed due to various programmes such as, vaccination, visits by local Parliament Members, social or cultural programmes, sports events, election booths, etc.
Due to such interruptions, many of the schools fail to complete the syllabus during an academic year.
Needless to mention, a change in government is followed by a change in school management committees and guardian committees. These recruitments are carried out unofficially by UP chairmen, upazilla chairmen, local MPs and other politically powerful people. As a result schools often fall in the hands of incompetent management committees leading to irregularities and indiscipline.
With reference to political influence, a district education officer, on request of anonymity, told First News, “We are totally helpless when it comes to political pressure. It is not possible to keep the school free from political influence. It would have been best if politicians kept schools out of their political race.”
Allegations regarding irregularities in teacher recruitment are rampant at all levels. Anwar Hossain (pseudonym), an assistant teacher at a government primary school in Gazipur, informed, “I had to pay 100,000 taka in cash as a bribe to get recruited although I qualified in the written examination. Recruitment is marred by bribes, political manipulation and nepotism. As a result, the overall standard of teaching suffers as many incompetent candidates get recruited over competent ones.” Another district education officer said, “I shall not deny the fact that recruitment does take place on the basis of political influence and special requests. However, the candidate has to qualify in the written examination first.”
School Meal Program
Babul Kumar Shaha, project director of school feeding program, said that government funding covers 42 and World Food Program (WFP) 30 upazillas across the country that benefits a total of 2.7 million students at various government, registered non-government and community primary schools, NGO-run schools and a few madrasahs, which get 75g of biscuits per day. WFP and the government of Bangladesh in 2010 jointly undertook the program. It is believed that the program has succeeded in attracting students in many downtrodden districts.
Abu Mohammad Saleh, principal of Kankonipara government primary school in Rangpur, commented, “The program has significantly impacted the daily attendance of students most of whom come from very impoverished backgrounds who cannot afford a mid-day snack.”
However, the students have more to say. Shahnaz Akhtar, a sixth-grade student of Nandail Chandipasha Model School in Rangpur, said, “We are being given the same biscuit for the last few years. It does not taste that good either but we still have it, as we get very hungry by the time it is served. I wish they gave us something else to eat.”
Asked if anyone ever fell sick after eating the biscuits, she replied in the negative. WFP has the mid-day meal program in schools of 60 countries including India and Sri Lanka where it is believed that a total of 20 million children are benefited.
In developed countries like USA, UK, Sweden, Japan and France, mid-day free meals are provided in schools at government and private initiatives. In Japan, about 99 per cent of primary schools and 82 per cent of high schools provide free lunch to students.
Encroachment of School Land
According to sources, about 15 schools in the capital city have lost their land to land grabbers. Local influentials have constructed commercial and residential buildings on school compounds. Not much has been achieved from the legal battles against them. Khodabaksh Government Primary School in Captain Bazar has shut down due to encroachments. Shahin Government Primary School adjacent to Mohammadpur Town Hall in the capital has already lost 31 per cent of its land to encroachment. A massive garbage depot stands right in front of the school gate making it difficult for students to concentrate on studies because of the bad smell. Smoke from cooking within the doue compound is also another nuisance. Laundry is hung on a clothesline inside the school compound. Established in 1968, a certain part of the school is occupied by stranded Pakistanis.
Nazirabad Primary School, established in 1941 in the capital has also lost about 10 per cent of its compound to encroachers. It is alleged that almost every week some social program like weddings or cultural shows are held on the school premises with cooking in large vessels. School authorities alleged that their complaints have been consistently falling on deaf ears.
Motijheel Government Primary School established in 1996, built on its own land has been declared a highrisk building. Classes are, therefore, being held in Post and Telegraph Government Primary School as a temporary arrangement.
Kamrangir Char Government
Primary School, Wari M A Alim Primary School, Gendaria Mohila Samity Government Primary School, F K M Government Primary School, Suritola Primary Schoool, Haji Yusuf Ali Government Primary School are among others in the capital, which have lost part of their compounds to land grabbers.
These are but some of the examples from Dhaka City, there are many instances of how schools have either been closed after losing their land or have been squeezed in size after encroachers took illegal possession of land. An investigation will reveal how a large number of primary schools in the country are under threat from influential quarters and might lose their land in the near future.
Increasing Dropouts
As a signatory to the United Nations Child Rights Convention, Bangladesh is obligated to ensure education as the fundamental right of each and every child. While it can be claimed that Bangladesh has come a long way in improving the enrolment rate in primary schools in the last two decades, there is still a growing number of children who are dropping out of school every year. There are also some areas and communities where children do not even have access to a school. Facilities for handicapped children also need a great deal of upgrading. Roughly about 99 per cent of the children in Bangladesh enroll in primary schools but it is estimated that about 40 per cent drop out before completing primary education. Despite government and private initiatives the dropout rate remains high to this day.
According to Bangladesh Primary Education Annual Sector
Performance Report 2012, around 2.6 million children aged between 6 and 10 are not going to school at present. The good news is that of a diminishing dropout trend with 50.5 per cent in 2006 and 2007, 49.3 per cent in 2008, 45.1 per cent in 2009 and 39.8 per cent in 2010. A survey carried out by Education Watch in 2008 showed that about 50 per cent of the kids drop out of school before they complete the fifth grade. Of these, boys constitute 51.7 per cent while 48.3 per cent are girls. The survey also revealed that the dropout rate is 52.4 per cent in rural areas while in cities it is 30.4 per cent. The dropout rates are significantly higher in less developed regions such as the hill tracts, haors and islands.
Shaymol Kanti Ghosh, director general of the Primary Education Department, informed First News, “We have taken a lot of initiatives to reduce the primary school dropout rate. We are currently providing school meals to primary school students in 96 upazillas.
There will be 1500 new schools in total in areas where there were no primary schools before. We will also take the necessary measures to make learning more enjoyable in primary schools to control dropouts. Under a program called Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROSC) in 48 upazillas we arrange lessons in separate schools for children who dropped out. Very soon the program will be extended to 100 more areas.”
The Informal Education Program by the government in collaboration with UNICEF and CIDA has reached out to 66,000 children aged between 10 and 13, who were working in urban areas during 2004-12. The program is also providing vocational training to children over 14 years of age.
Samir Ranjan Das, Chief of Research Evaluation department of BRAC, informed that the organization’s education program covers 22,000 schools. In addition to BRAC, a significant number of NGOs are working along with the government to reduce the dropout rate. Among these, PLAN Bangladesh, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Save the Children, Jagoroni Chakra, and Aparajeo Bangladesh are amongst those worth mentioning.
“Commendable steps have been taken for the development of primary education.”
-Afsarul Amin , Primary and Mass Education Minister
This government has taken several steps for the development of primary education and it is for this reason that the primary school dropout rate has been reduced significantly in recent years.
About 7.8 million children across the country have been incorporated in scholarship programmes, which is 45 per cent of the total number of primary school students. The school-feeding programme is there in 96 upazillas. ROSC program is also an effective education program targeting children who had previously droppd out of school. We are also trying to improve logistical and structural facilities in schools to retain students. Steps are also being taken to improve lessons to make them more recreational for children. Many more villages which did not have primary schools before are going to have one primary school each and more children will be able to attend schools as 1500 new schools are being built in those villages. Of them, 800 have been established already. We hope the dropout rate will further reduce in the coming years because of the focused measures that have been taken recently.
“The primary education sector needs more investment.”
Rasheda K Chowdhury, former Adviser to Caretaker Government and Executive Director of Gonoshakkhorota Obhijan
Primary education sector is one of the few areas where Bangladesh has made some commendable advancement since its Independence. A large number of children have been brought under the sector. But the saddest part is that most of these children fail to continue with their education. In order to retain children in schools, the government also needs the cooperation of non-government organisations.
The issue of education must be extended to the district level instead of keeping it in the hands of the concerned ministry. Local governments must be empowered in this regard. More effective supervision mechanisms must be created to monitor certain issues such as how schools are being run at local levels, the performance of teachers, why children are not coming to school, etc. The most important is to increase the national budget for primary education. There are many pitfalls in our education systems, which need to be addressed. And for that, more investment is required before anything else.
(Concluded)
Courtesy: First News
