The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Country's primary education still suffers from inconsistency in student-teacher ratio, lack of progress in infrastructure development, low salary among teachers and problems in teachers' training.

These negative aspects came to light during a field visit to Manikganj on Thursday to see the progress of Second Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP-II) of the government. Asian Development Bank (ADB), the lead donor agency of the programme, organized the visit.

The government, however, still does not have any data on the project to compare its success with the previous status of primary education, though it is being claimed that the quality of education improved overall after taking the PEDP-II programme in July 2004. A recent survey revealed that the number of dropouts from primary school was 32 percent prior to July 2004, but it increased to 47 percent after taking up the PEDP-II project.

Asked about the findings of the survey report and allegations that there is still no achievement under the project, Primary and Mass Education secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan termed the report confusing and claimed that the progress of the PEDP-II project is satisfactory.

He said: "The mid-term evaluation of the project is on and will conclude on November 12. As yet, there is not enough data in hand to compare the project status… It will be proper to compare (project status) after getting all the data."

While visiting the Shibalaya Upazila Resource Center (URC) and the district Primary Training Institute (PTI), teachers informed the high-level delegation that their salary was not sufficient. "Our salary is not sufficient," said a URC instructor when Canadian High Commissioner Barbara Richirdson asked him to identify just one major problem he faces in performing his duty.

The high-level delegation also included representatives from DFID, European Commission, Swedish Embassy, JICA, Netherlands Embassy, Norwegian Embassy, UNICEF and World Food Programme. Trainee teachers introduced to the delegation at the PTI also said it would have been better if their salary was a little more. "We are happy to see the success of the project, but the challenge is still ahead of us… implementation of the programme needs to be channeled from school to local level," ADB Country Director Hua Du told the visiting newsmen at the project site.

Maya Rani Sutradhar, a teacher of Shibalaya Kendriyo Model Govt. Primary School, said there is shortage of teachers and student accommodation.

But, she said, the teaching method under the project has improved the quality of education.

There are around 70 students under care of each teacher at the school, which is under the PEDP-II project aided by 11-donor agencies. The school with over 300 students has only eight teachers and seven classrooms.

Some major components of PEDP-II are quality improvement through infrastructure development and establishing suitable pupil-teacher ratio through quality improvement in schools and classrooms. Under the project, a total of 21,245 posts of head and assistant teachers under revenue budget have been filled up so far, while as of August 2007, 14,784 classrooms out of a total 29,824 approved classrooms have been completed in 7,329 primary schools. Besides, only eight trainers are training up 395 teachers in two shifts at the district PTI.

However, under the PEDP-II project, over 45,000 teachers would receive one year training against a target of 90,000. Trainers and teachers at the district PTI identified lack of trainers, trainee accommodation, library, auditorium, computer laboratory and transport facility, amid a huge number of trainee teachers, as the handicaps faced by the institute, which is under the PEDP-II project.