The New Nation - Internet Edition

There are some positive signs that Bangladesh is inching nearer to the MDG target set for the primary education notwithstanding a number of systemic problems that stand in the way. Children want to go to schools; parents prefer sending them to schools; and the government of Bangladesh and NGOs have stepped in to fund and support education for the beginners. A bright picture emerges from a mix of these favourable factors and a recipe for success appears to be ideally in place. The challenge is to fit all this into a cohesive structured plan and translate it into tangible and specific action designed to bolster up the primary education system and make it work better to produce the desired results.

Bangladesh has been able to brush aside many constraints and handicaps that overwhelm the country to achieve the breakthrough in primary education. One accomplishment that stands out is the phenomenal growth in enrolment in a relatively short space of time. Over the last few years, primary education has crossed the threshold that makes the MDG for Universal Primary Education for all by 2015 an increasingly attainable prospect subject to certain conditions. Gross and net enrolments in primary schools have risen to 98.8% and 91% respectively (School Survey Report 2007 published by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education). There are more girls than boys in primary school stage (52:48 in 2007) thus eliminating gender disparity at the access point that existed previously. Nonetheless, the success story has been dented to some extent by a number of adverse circumstances that call for interventions by the government and other actors of society if Bangladesh is to move forward smoothly to reach the MDG for the primary education.

We selected the community of Purbapara village, south Keraniganj, an outlying suburb of Dhaka (10 km south) for purposes of our study along with a few other localities included in our survey on MDG issues. Nearly 30,000 people live in the village who are mostly day labourers. We had detailed discussions on the subject with a number of teachers, students, dropouts and parents of the locality to find out the truth on the ground.

They highlighted both the successes and failures of the primary education system in use. We first pinpoint here the drawbacks of the primary education system and the discouraging environment in which it operates that were confirmed and revealed by our scrutiny along with some pertinent suggestions made by the community people to stem the adverse tide.

(a) To offset a considerable part of the gains in enrolments, the dropout rate has been persistently high. Many students enter the school, but not all stick till grade V. "Ensuring that all boys and girls complete their primary school education remains a formidable task because of the prevailing excessive dropout rate, asserts Sultana Razia, headmistress of Nayashubhadya Government Primary School in the Purbapara village. She recollects only ten years back the percentage of school going children was barely over 50 percent in the area. But since then things have dramatically changed and gender discrimination is rarely visible in schools. She points out nearly 90% children of Chunkutia community now get enrolled in primary schools. However, many of them belonging to different classes drop out gradually before they complete primary schooling. About 800 students get admission every year in class I in her school but the number stands at 400-300 in class IV and declines further to less than a 100 in class V. The education system needs constant review, continued support and interventions from the government and its development partners to enable the stakeholders to overcome the hurdles getting in the way of meeting the MDG by 2015, the headmistress suggests.

(b) Child labour a bane of the society and an impediment to the advancement in education is still widespread. Strengthening monitoring and enforcement of law to prevent child labour are an imperative as its unchecked prevalence takes away from the children their inherent right to education.

Thus the primary education suffers a set back and the schools meant for educating the children are compelled to run with lesser students than originally planned causing a huge drain on scarce resources devoted to the educational infrastructure which a low income country like Bangladesh can ill afford.

Betari, 20, studying at a private university in Dhaka expresses the view that some guardians are either unaware or have doubts about the true role of education. Others shackled in chronic poverty are forced to send their children to work instead of to schools. Child marriage also brings to an abrupt close the academic career of many girl students, Betari adds.

(c) Many students in the village come to schools underfed or unfed. Hunger makes it hard for the children to concentrate on their studies and `digest' the lessons taught. Nasima, a teacher of the Primary Government School in Chunkutia says, "What will the child learn, how will it pay attention to lessons on an empty stomach? I sometimes share my tiffin with a child." Providing tiffin, in the form of nutritious biscuits or other food, to the students as an incentive can work in two ways; firstly to bring them to school and secondly to keep them alert and spark their interest in the lessons. So school feeding programmes should be expanded, if necessary, with the support of international organizations, she stresses.

(d) Under the existing scheme, 40 students out of every 100 are awarded stipends from the government. These are handed out on first come first serve basis. They get the money throughout classes 1 to 5. As a result, the remaining 60 students are left in the lurch who lose motivation for going to schools.

Out of frustration, many leave schools and look for work that pays. Had there been a provision for awarding stipends based on merit the scenario would have been different. Textbooks (3 new and 3 used ones) are also distributed among the pupils free of cost by the government, NGOs also joining the book programmes, which by themselves may not draw enough children to schools and keep them there. Students should also be supplied with stationery items like exercise books (papers), pens, pencils, etc. either for free or at subsidized prices as an added incentive.

(e) Children are the future leaders and builders of a nation. School curricula should be overhauled and brought up to date. The lessons should be taught in such a way as to arouse students' interest and curosity and be easily comprehensible. Students feel classes should be conducted in a student friendly environment by teachers who should be dedicated and committed to teaching. The traditional and conservative teaching methods that still persist should be abandoned in favour of modern and innovative practices that make learning process a satisfying and rewarding experience instead of a dull and often stressful exercise. The class room should be converted into a place of fun and adventure. The curricula need to be redesigned to make education more useful, relevant and responsive to the demands of the rapidly changing world.

(f) The teacher student relationship occasionally leaves much to be desired. It is understandable that for creating a right climate for pursuing studies in primary schools, the attitude of the teachers toward the students should be sympathetic and favourably disposed. Conversely, students should also show the respect due to the teachers.

The students of the school we visited want their teachers to be gentle and kind as they complained about the rude behaviour meted out to them accusing some teachers of verbal abuse that compel aggrieved students to leave the school in protest. While rudeness and abuse are surely undesirable, there is no report of any teacher beating the students with cane in the school which has become a rare practice throughout Bangladesh. The teachers of the school, however, deny any rudeness and cruelty to the students.

(g) Teachers who groom the future citizens are not paid well enough to make ends meet. Though teachers, like artists, are known to be doing their jobs out of a sense of service to the society being driven more by passion and conviction than by money, they need to be paid adequately to enable them to maintain themselves and their families comfortably. It is a pity that they are made to live on a pittance apparently as a form of punishment for the sins they never committed. The teachers have also to be oriented and trained for effectively and successfully imparting education to the children. Teachers' training that aims at building their capacity and upgrading their skills should be an ongoing process.

(h) At grade V, children are too young to make their own choices, and once they are out of the school the urge to acquire knowledge and skills or to continue studies is dissipated. Moreover, five years of study is considered inadequate for the children to master the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic (3Rs) and can hardly be useful for the rest of their lives. In addition, perfunctory learning cannot be applied in later life as a basis for skill development which is the ultimate goal of all education. Since prosecuting higher studies by the pupils requires a good deal of money, discontinuation of the study becomes the only option. As a solution, the primary segment from classes I to V needs to be extended to class VIII. With 8 years of the curricula, pupils can better prepare themselves to face upto the realities of life and the challenges presented by the world around them.

(i) Betari claims the number of schools and teachers are not sufficient in the area in comparison with its population. Chunkutia has only two primary schools, one run by the government which has 1600 pupils with 21 teachers and the other operated by BRAC, the world's largest NGO which has 400 pupils with 16 teachers, the teacher-pupil ratio being 1 teacher for every 124 pupils and 1 teacher for every 25 pupils respectively.

Primary School Registration Rules provides that at least one primary school should be established in every village which has a population of at least 2000. But there are some 2000 villages without a single school though their respective population is larger than 2000. Therefore, in order to ensure universal primary education by 2015, many more schools have to be opened. Long distance of the schools from the homes of the children is also a problem that discourages them from going to schools.

(j) Ensuring security of girls from being teased, pestered or molested by boys on their way to school may prove to be difficult. Security can come from community education and peer counseling aiming at fostering fellowship and respect.

(k) Besides free primary education for all, girl students are getting the additional benefit of free education upto the higher secondary education level.

These facilities sometimes go abegging. In national interest, it is imperative for all the opportunities being provided to be fully exploited. Government should make it mandatory for the guardians to send their children to schools to make the optimum use of all the benefits that await them. Government should also give education cadre a higher priority than for instance the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Establishment Ministry.

The first boy or girl in the BCS (Bangladesh Civil Service) should be encouraged to become a teacher rather than a diplomat or administrator, if the government is serious about pulling the country from a state of stagnation and backwardness, education being recognized as the key to growth and development.

Although progress has definitely been made in increasing the enrolment in primary schools, there are still nearly 14,000 villages in the country where there are no schools at all, according to Camri (Community and Media Research Institute), a research organization. Camri further reports, the government is able to supply new textbooks to only 60 percent of the primary schools. Besides, the School Tiffin Programme, with support from the World Food Programme (WFP), covers only one percent of total primary school students in the country. The government simply has not enough funds to meet these requirements which means that resources have to be diverted from less important projects to primary education which represents the most vital investment in any nation's future.