Northern schools lagging behind

Compared to Chattogram's hill regions, schools in northern districts are lagging in distributing textbooks, educating in the mother tongue and teacher training programmes, to implement multilingual education, showed a study.

Researchers revealed this information in a programme, titled "Assessment of Multilingual Education (MLE) in the CHT and Plain Land" organised by Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) in the capital's Brac Centre.

Rani Yan Yan, advisor of Chakma circle in Rajbari, Rajdweep and Rangamati, presented the keynote in the programme.

The number of trained teachers in multilingual education is much lower than necessary. The duration of their training is also very short, she said during the presentation.

The report found that around 60 percent of students drop out of primary school due to economic, social, cultural and linguistic problems.

As the medium of education is Bengali, those textbooks look unfamiliar and unattractive to indigenous children.

The study also said around 162 indigenous students among 182 in the plain land did not receive MLE lessons and textbooks. They could not even read or write in their mother tongue.

The study identified some reasons behind the problems, which include -- a lack of clear guidelines from the government, inadequate training facilities for teachers, lack of qualified teachers and multilingual textbooks.

Attending as the chief guest, Mosammat Hamida Begum, secretary of the CHT affairs ministry, said, "If we can continue to teach our children in their mother tongue, they would get quality education."

She also termed the mother tongue as an intangible cultural heritage and urged on preserving it.

Attending as a guest of honour, Rasheda K Choudhury, executive director of Campaign for Popular Education, said, there has been a misconception among the people of CHT that they would not get the opportunity to pursue mainstream education or get good jobs if they receive education in their mother tongues.

"And hence, we need community mobilisation to create awareness," she said.

Rasheda alleged that there is a lack of data on the indigenous peoples of the country and the coordination between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education.

She also criticised the plan on introducing scholarship at the primary level, citing the education minister's comment about minimising certificate-oriented education.

While chairing the programme, Shaheen Anam, executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation, said, "Manusher Jonno Foundation has been working with the people and local organisations of the Chittagong Hill Tracts for the last 17 years. We worked on their education and livelihood as well as preserving their cultures."

She said the government took a positive initiative to introduce mother-tongue-based education.

"As this is a new initiative, many challenges, including the lack of teachers, remain. But the students are quick to learn when they are taught in their mother tongue," she added.

Prasenjit Chakma, assistant resident representative of UNDP; Md Farhadul Islam, chairman of NCTB; Hakim Arif, director general of International Mother Language Institute, spoke at the programme as special guests, while Mathura Tripura, executive director of Zabarang Kalyan Samity in Khagrachari, spoke as a discussant.