The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The government is going to form a separate cadre service for primary education to improve the quality and to bring more accountability in field level basic education system across the country.

The Primary and Mass Education Ministry has recently sent the summery to the Chief Adviser in this regard for his approval, ministry sources said.

The move is likely to be approved at the next adviser committee meeting, ministry sources added.

Primary and Mass Education Adviser Rasheda K Chowdhury said the Ministry has been run by officers from other cadres since long which hinders the dedicated improvement of the primary education system.

Rasheda K Chowdhury said the initiative has been taken for a separate primary education cadre few years ago, the step now at the last stage and it is expected that the decision would be approved soon by the advisers.

She hoped that the new cadre would help improve the quality of the primary education.

Around 3 lakh teachers and other officials are working at a total of 83,000 government and private primary educational institutions across the country. The adviser also hoped that introduction of the cadre will must help bring back discipline to the huge establishment.

The government has 29 cadres for 8 lakh officials but it dose not has cadre services for 3 lakh primary and mass education officials.

Khandker Asaduzzaman, Director General of the Directorate of Primary and Mass Education submitted a summery on the issue to the Chief Adviser where he said young and brilliant student feel discourage to join education services as the service has no future.

Due to the absentia of bright carrier primary education department fails to improve the overall quality of primary education.

He said the information and technology emerged as the major component for education and the technology should be adopted for the primary education to qualify the level internationally and establish a separate cadre to run the changing educational system successfully.

At present on an average 500 teachers and other officials of the primary education are working under a Thana Education Officer meant an unmanageable responsibility to a single officer. The primary education system do not get momentum as a single officer needs to manage 500 to 1200 teachers and officials under him.

The delay in implementation of the separate cadre service for primary and mass education create resentment among the donor community as the Government promised them to implement the decision under the second phase of Primary Education Development Program project by December 2005.

A high-powered taskforce on development of Primary Education in 1992 suggested the then government to implement a separate cadre service for primary education did not consider by the successive governments. While the then Prime Minister approved suggestions to introduce primary education cadre was not finally implemented during her tenure.

Under the present Directorate of Primary Education a total 10 category of 257 posts are eligible for BCS first class gazette officer and other 10 category officers are also eligible for first class but excluded from BCS cadre.

A summery was prepared by the ministry and was sent the then Prime Minister in June 07, 2006. At the summery it was describe that the primary education do not get proper guidance from the officers as most of them come from other cadres and they did not get proper chance to apply their intellectual input to the ministry.

The summery concludes that Primary Education belongs the highest number of teachers and officials and in order to guide them properly, to enhance capacity and to bring dynamism a separate cadre is must for directorate.