No alternative to skilled teachers for improving primary education quality

Primary education is the foundation of education. And the state of primary education in the country can be understood from just one piece of information – half of the primary schools in the country do not have a head teacher. According to information received in the media on July 16 (Wednesday), more than 34,000 of the over 65,000 approved posts of head teachers in government primary schools are vacant. That is, almost 52 percent of schools do not have a head teacher. At the same time, about 24,500 posts of assistant teachers are also vacant.

The reason for this is said to be the long-standing cases regarding head teacher posts and seniority, administrative complications, delays in recruitment examinations, and the slow pace of promotions. This crisis is being prolonged due to these issues. Its impact is being felt on the administrative and educational activities of schools. Students in marginal areas are facing the most harm. Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has directed that appointments to the vacant head teacher posts in government primary schools be made as quickly as possible. Along with placement in the head teacher posts, he has also directed for new appointments.

We have known for a long time that the state of primary education in the country is extremely fragile. It is deteriorating day by day. Yet primary education builds the main foundation of learning. Even so, primary education in our country has been neglected mainly due to a lack of policy decisions by the government. The main crisis in primary education is not just the shortage of teachers, the biggest crisis is actually the lack of skilled teachers. And the reason for this is that the salary of primary teachers is still very low. As a result, talented individuals do not want to become primary school teachers.

According to recent information, assistant teachers in government primary schools currently receive salary and benefits under the 13th grade. Their basic salary is 11,000 taka. Along with house rent, medical allowance, and other benefits depending on location, they receive a total of around 19,000 taka. In terms of salary, primary teachers in Bangladesh are far behind those in other countries. In terms of primary school teachers' salaries, Bangladesh ranks 45th among Asian countries. And in South Asia, it is in the seventh position.

With such a salary structure for teachers, the development of primary education is not possible in any way. Seeing the fragile condition of government primary schools, even moderately well-off families still prefer to send their children to kindergartens or private schools. This increases family expenses significantly. This disparity has created great chaos in the education sector.

If only the standard of primary education in the country could be raised slightly, the country’s development would have been accelerated in many areas. Because the creation of skilled human resources is linked to education. Since 1993, primary education has been made compulsory in Bangladesh. But so far it has only been aimed at creating literate people. The government still does not pay much attention to the issue of building skilled human resources through education.

There is no alternative to appointing skilled teachers for the improvement of government primary education. Therefore, improve the country’s primary education quickly by rapidly appointing head teachers in all government primary schools and recruiting skilled teachers in all other posts as well.