High time to focus on quality of education
The lack of quality education remains a major concern for the country, academics said yesterday, urging the authorities concerned to invest more for improving the quality.
They said while Bangladesh has achieved nearly cent percent enrolment and gender equality in primary schools, it is high time that the government now concentrates on its quality.
"Only 25 percent students who completed class V achieve standard reading quality of English and Bangla," said Prof Emeritus Dr Manzoor Ahmed of Brac University, citing an assessment report of 2013-15 by the Directorate of Primary Education.
Besides, some 20 percent students are dropping out of primary schools, he said while addressing a discussion titled "Improving Quality of Education" organised by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
BIDS organised the two-day programme -- BIDS Critical Conversations 2017 -- at a hotel in the capital.
Learning time for primary school students in the developed countries is 1,000 hours per year, but it is less than 500 hours in Bangladesh. Again, a teacher deals with 50 to 60 students in a classroom in the country -- the number is almost double compared to the developed countries, said Prof Manzoor.
He said currently there are 45,000 posts of teachers lying vacant, while 15,000 schools do not have headteachers.
Annual public spending for a primary school student in Bangladesh is $100, which is around one third in comparison to other South Asian countries.
Dhaka University Economics Prof MM Akash said different streams of education -- Bangla medium, English medium and madrasa -- are creating divisions among the population.
Experts have been advocating for promoting vocational education, but the authorities concerned have been quite negligent, he said. The government is not looking into these issues seriously, but doing "politics" with education.
He said earlier the government talked of reforming the madrasa syllabus, instead they are now recognising Qawmi madrasa syllabus without any reforms.
Campaign for Popular Education (Campe) Executive Director Rasheda K Choudhury questioned if the government really has any policy on improving the quality of education.
"We need to rethink if four public exams before the university can really ensure quality education," she said.
She suggested that the government focus on education of children in the chars, haors, tea gardens and slums who remain far behind the other kids in terms of education.
In his keynote speech, Dr Minjah Mahmud of BIDS said good nutrition for children and parenting are important for their cognitive development.
Academics also suggested investing more in education and providing incentives to draw quality teachers.
In a different session on labour market, experts stressed the need for designing education based on the market demands.
Farhana Rahman, vice president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services, and Syed Nasim Manzur, managing director of Apex Footwear Ltd Managing, spoke.
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