Govt to create stand-by pool of teachers
The government has decided to create a pool of 20,000 primary school teachers to tackle teacher shortages at the primary schools in the country.
The decision was taken at a special meeting of Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, at the Cabinet Division in the city yesterday.
Under the pool, 40 teachers in each upazila will be appointed on the basis of a monthly salary of Tk 3,000.
These teachers would act as stand-by teachers to fill the shortage created every year from leaves of absence due to professional training, medical leave, maternity leave, casual and earned leave or retirement, said Dr Afsarul Ameen, primary and mass education minister.
"We have appointed 52,000 teachers in last two years, yet teacher shortage remains a big worry in primary education," he said.
Asked about when the pool would start working, he said, "The date is not fixed yet, but we would form the pool as soon as possible."
Ministry officials said a vast number of teaching posts fall vacant for a temporary but significant amount of time, hampering the studies of the students.
Every year, an average of 20,000 teachers from government, non-government registered and community primary schools take part in the yearlong 'Certificate in Education' (C-in-Ed) training, showed ministry statistics.
Also, some 5,000 posts of teaching assistant and headmaster of government primary schools fall vacant that take an average eight to 14 months to fill up, the statistics said.
Besides, around 6,000 female teachers take maternity leave each year while many others take leave for medical reasons or go into retirement.
The credentials for being appointed as a teacher under the pool are graduation for the male teachers and HSC pass for the female teachers, said Afsarul Ameen.
He also said Tk 72 crore would be required as salary of the teachers every year and the amount would be adjusted from the ministry's budget.
Currently, more than 3.65 lakh teachers, 41 percent female, are taking classes in 81,000 primary schools across the country, showed ministry reports.
The teacher-student ratio in the country is 1:50, with some 1.65 crore students studying in these institutions, the reports said.
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