How govt primary schools become 'schools of the poor'

Infograph: TBS

The government primary schools in the country have become the 'schools of the poor' due to a lack of quality education.

This is how Gaibandha's teacher Ranjit Sarkar has revealed the sad reality in a recent dialogue in the Northern district.

"The financially capable parents now prefer to enrol their children in Kindergartens for better education instead of government primary schools," he said, adding, "Even, the government primary teachers often choose not to enrol their children in these institutions."

Not only in Gaibandha, the sector stakeholders observe that the government primary schools across the country are suffering from poor infrastructure like congested classrooms, shortage of efficient teachers, and lack of libraries, playgrounds, access to co-curricular activities and less funding which they called barriers to quality education.

How those institutions are suffering from teacher shortage has been also revealed from the government data as primary and mass education still has 44,790 job vacancies, the second highest among the public service-oriented ministries.

The grim picture of overall primary-level education has also been reflected in a research of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) that was conducted on the Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha from April to May this year.

The result of the study was unveiled at the dialogue titled "The State of Primary School Education: What We Can Do" organised by the CPD in the SKS Inn in Randhakrishnapur, Gaibandha recently.

Stakeholders including teachers, parents, government representatives, and education experts participated in the event.

The CPD study finds that insufficient government funding has hindered schools from hiring adequate staff, acquiring necessary teaching materials, improving infrastructure and management practices, recruiting additional extracurricular teachers/instructors, and enhancing security and cleanliness measures.

The study gathered information from a total of 136 respondents, including teachers, students, parents, managing committee members, education-related public and private institutions, and civil society.

Among the respondents, 39% expressed complete satisfaction with the number of classrooms in primary schools, while 28% expressed dissatisfaction.

Approximately 62% of the schools surveyed do not have a library, whereas government norms recommend that every school should have a library with at least 500 books. Furthermore, even in schools with libraries, only 22% of students use the library regularly.

Each government primary school receives an annual allocation of approximately Tk60,000 from the government.

However, around 38% of the respondents expressed their opinion that this amount is insufficient for the proper management of education.

"We all agree on the importance of education to develop human resources. But education does not only mean achieving top grades. Many students who get a golden A-plus struggle to pass the Dhaka University admission test. So, the issue of quality education is very crucial for us," said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of the CPD, at the event held on 10 June.

"To ensure the quality of education, it is essential to prioritise primary education. Around 25% to 30% of the overall education budget should be allocated specifically to primary education," he added.

According to Bangladesh education statistics 2021, the primary education system in the country is serving over 2 crore students. This education system is facilitated by 25 different types of providers.

Out of the total number of students, approximately 67.09% are enrolled in 65,566 government primary schools, as per the statistics.

State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Md Zakir Hossen recently said that the total number of primary school teachers in the country is more than 427,000. The number of teachers currently employed is around 390,000.

As a share of the total budget allocation, the allocation of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education decreased from 6.51% in 2016-17 FY to 4.56% in 2023-24 FY.

The budget of the ministry as a share of GDP shows a declining trend between 2016-17 FY (0.95%) and 2023-24 FY (0.69%).

Teacher shortage with poor accountability

In the Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha, there are a total of 259 government primary schools. For the study conducted in April-May of this year, a selection was made to include 10 schools.

On average, each classroom accommodates 64 students. The study reveals that the number of students in each classroom exceeds the optimal limit for proper seating arrangements and effective class management by a class teacher.

The schools have an average of six teachers, resulting in a teacher-student ratio of 1:50.

A significant majority of the teachers in these institutions, averaging five out of six, have received training in learning activities and learning skills.

Despite the challenges, 81% of the students find the teachers' teaching to be effective, while approximately 11% of the students do not perceive the teachers' teaching as effective.

Asaduzzaman Himu, president of a school management committee in Sundarganj, said, "The headmaster of the school is occupied with managing education officers. He has to constantly travel between the upazila and district, leaving little time to monitor assistant teachers."

Education administration officials have acknowledged that they are unable to visit the schools they are assigned to daily due to insufficient manpower.

Gaibandha has 165 chars (riverine islands). Participants at the CPD's dialogue highlighted that teachers are reluctant to work in schools located in these areas.

To address this issue, they emphasised the importance of providing special incentives, such as housing facilities, for teachers working in the char areas.

Teachers and parents expressed concerns regarding the extended school hours from 9am to 4pm, as it becomes challenging for children to stay in school for such a long duration.

The stipend amount should be increased

Around 55% of the respondents expressed satisfaction with the current level of government scholarships for students, but nearly half of the respondents indicated their dissatisfaction.

Respondents from various schools expressed concerns that insufficient measures were taken to address the learning losses caused by the post-Covid-19 situation.

Furthermore, all surveyed schools and other respondents highlighted the importance of introducing mid-day meals for students.

During the dialogue, Barrister Shameem Haidar Patwary, a lawmaker from Sundarganj, said the poverty rate in the area is estimated to be around 70%-80%. Given the challenging economic conditions, parents prioritise meeting their family's basic needs over education.

Towfiqul Islam Khan, senior research fellow of CPD, said that the lack of education infrastructure, teaching materials, and skilled teachers presents significant obstacles to delivering quality education to students.

Professor Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow at CPD, moderated the event.