Involving locals in running schools begins to show results

Bishalpur Government Primary School.

A government initiative to involve local communities in the improvement of education imparted by government primary schools has begun to show results in some schools.
Under the initiative and with training provided by the Second Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP II) under the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE), a local school in Sherpur has already begun to show great success by involving the local community in its running.
“Last December, we held a two-day long workshop under PEDP-II at the DPE central office where teachers from 40 schools were trained on how to motivate local communities to get involved in the schools,” DPE Director Mufad Ahmed told The Daily Star.
“Following that training, Bishalpur Government Primary School under Sherpur thana in Bogra has now become a model for others,” Murad said.
Abu Sayed Sarkar, headmaster of the school said, “Alongside government funds, we run the school with financial aid from the local community. Our School Management Committee (SMC), Parent Teachers Association (PTA), Welfare Trust, and the School Level Improvement Programme (Slip) committee are highly active and this helps us run the school better.”

Sarkar, along with other teachers of the school, began to motivate their local community since January this year and the quality of the schooling has greatly improved in the last eight months.
“At first locals did not want to donate any money or get involved as the school was a government institution. But we tried to make them understand and now locals think of it as their own school,” the headmaster told The Daily Star.
With financial aid from the community and their involvement, the school has now expanded their library, gardens and playing fields and has added extracurricular activities for the students. They have also appointed two private teachers for the school with the private funds.
This has tremendously helped with the improvement of education imparted here, the headmaster said.
Teachers at the school use different methods to teach the students. After a typical class, a teacher divides students into different groups and allows them to discuss the lessons with each other for a better grasp of the lessons. After that the teachers provide students, who still feel they are not clear with their studies, with extra help.
The school also encourages the personal development of students and the classrooms are now decorated with the student's works. They are also regularly taken out on study tours and field visits.
With its extra efforts, Bishalpur Government Primary School has already achieved 100% pass rate in its exams.
“We don't need private tuition at home anymore as our teachers help us understand all the lessons. I feel proud when my poems, stories or drawings are displayed on class walls or the magazine board,” Sharzina Akhtar Jenin, a student of class four, said.
Mufad Ahmed said that DPE has trained teachers of another 40 schools last June towards involvement of the local community alongside government support.
“It is impossible for the government to bear all expenditures of primary schools because we are not a rich country and our education budget is limited. Without involving the community, we can't ensure quality education in our highly populated country,” he said explaining the introduction of these initiatives.
DPE has a plan to gradually spread this new idea across the country through training to more teachers, he added.