Media to face curb on publishing textbook topics

The media will not be allowed to publish or broadcast any topics of textbooks and suggestions relating to questions without government approval.

The government has finalised the draft of a new education law, making its permission mandatory for establishing any private educational institutions, such as kindergartens and madrasas.

Currently, thousands of kindergartens and madrasas are being run in the country without approval from the government.

On Tuesday, the education ministry finally approved the draft of the much-awaited Education Law 2020 with Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni in the chair.

An education ministry official, asking not to be named, told The Business Standard that the ministry would now receive suggestions from anyone to enrich the draft before sending it to the cabinet for its approval.

The draft law is expected to facilitate the implementation of the National Education Policy 2010.

Just one year after the policy was passed, an education ministry committee drafted the law, and placed it before the cabinet in 2016.

But the ministry failed to have the draft law passed in the cabinet as it generated huge criticism for allowing coaching centres and private tuition. Later, the draft law was revised but had been out of the purview of discussion till 2019.

Education Minister Dipu Moni, after assuming office, took initiatives to finalise the draft education law. It is now going to be placed in a cabinet meeting, and soon.

Shyamol Pal, vice-president of Bangladesh Pushtak Prokashok Bikreta Samity, told TBS that the samity welcomed the government's decision to ban note and guide books.

"This is positive that the government has realised the differences between note-guide and supportive books," he said.

"Actually, supportive books are a must for students as not all of them can follow lectures in schools in the same way. They need supportive books at home for study."

According to the draft law, printing and selling of note and guide books are prohibited. But supportive books, which will supplement textbooks, can be printed and sold with the permission of the government.

A violation of the rule will be punishable with a three-year imprisonment or monetary fine of Tk5 lakh or both, reads the draft law.

Action will be taken against teachers, head teachers and managing committees if they force or encourage students to buy note and guide books.

Teachers can administer or teach in coaching centres but it will be a punishable offence if they coach students of their own institutions.

They are also not allowed to teach students for money through online platforms or by using electronic devices.

However, they may tutor weaker students before or after class hours following the prior permission of guardians and as per relevant provisions under the law.

If any coaching centre violates any of these provisions of the law, its trade licence will be revoked immediately.

The draft law rules out any scope of charging extra fees as it requires educational institutions to submit their fee structures to the ministry.

The ministry will decide fees given the overall state of the institutions. It could also take stern action if any institution charges extra fees from students.

The ministry will decide the fees for those institutions too that follow foreign curricula.

The education ministry has continuously been receiving complaints about schools charging extra tuition fees, which sometimes go beyond the guardians' capacity to pay.

Mahmudul Hasan Sohag, joint convener of the Association of Shadow Education Bangladesh, said, "We welcome the draft law as it has given permission to operate coaching centres.

"We basically run coaching centres with the support of freelancers. Some teachers are also involved with us. But we will now take no teachers if their students are in my coaching centre," he added.

Coaching or shadow education was available across the world and had even gained popularity in developed countries, he pointed out.

Professor Dr Siddiqur Rahman, former director of the Institute of Education and Research at Dhaka University, told TBS that there was a lack of quality teachers from primary to secondary level education in the country.

Therefore, the government should concentrate on preparing teachers. Otherwise, no policy on banning note-guide books and coaching centres would be implemented, he cautioned.