Parents, teachers concerned about decline in education quality: Education Adviser

Education Adviser Professor Dr C R Abrar has said that the longstanding concerns over education quality cannot be resolved without realistic and impartial assessment. Parents and teachers alike remain worried about the deterioration in standards.

He was speaking as special guest at a discussion organised jointly by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education in the capital on Wednesday, November 26.

The adviser said that despite many initiatives, the real challenges at the grassroots must be understood more deeply. The data presented on education quality is highly significant and will serve as a foundation for future policy.

Professor Abrar said the government has already initiated the process of joining an international assessment framework to better understand where Bangladesh stands in global rankings for primary and secondary education.

“We may be at the lower end — that is not the problem. At least we will know where we stand and what needs fixing,” he said.

Criticising previous decisions regarding exam results, he stated that awarding marks without holding examinations was unacceptable and set the education system back. “We have been trying to move past that.”

The adviser added that assessments show significant weaknesses in students’ reading capacity and mathematics skills, and stressed the need for larger-scale evaluation.

Regarding coaching centres, private tuition and guidebooks, he said these cannot be stopped by bans alone. “We must understand why demand exists. Why are parents and students dependent on these? That is the core question.” He added that political interference in school and college administration has caused severe disruption in the education system, and “fixing this is among our most urgent tasks”.

He also said integrating the assessment processes of primary and secondary education would be more effective in future.