To stop school coaching, overall improvement of education system needed

There has been discussion for several years about the coaching business in schools. Since the previous government’s time, there have been concerted efforts to stop coaching. Textbooks were even changed to stop coaching. But despite the government’s efforts, coaching could not be eradicated. Recently, coaching centres have mushroomed again like mushrooms after rain. Not only separate coaching centres, but in the schools themselves, teachers conduct coaching after classes end. To talk about why dependence on coaching centres in Bangladesh’s education system has reached this point, one must talk about the overall chaotic state of the education system. It is known — and almost everyone knows — that many students are compelled to do coaching due to pressure from teachers.

For a while, the issue of the coaching business had been out of discussion. Recently, it has returned to discussion since the plane crash at Milestone School and College. On Tuesday (12 August) at around 10 a.m., in the incident of the warplane crash at the Diabari roundabout, family members of the dead and injured held a human chain. Parents made nine demands. Their second demand was that the coaching business of all educational institutions in Bangladesh, including Milestone School, must be stopped. Their reason, they alleged, was that all the children who died at Milestone School and College were coaching students.

We already know that the students who were waiting for coaching after school were the ones who died in the plane crash. Parents say that there was extreme pressure for coaching at this school. Students who went to coaching were treated warmly by teachers. If they did not attend coaching, they were threatened that they would do badly in exams, and both students and parents were subjected to a kind of mental torture to make them join coaching. Parents, having no choice, were forced to send their children to coaching. And the coaching fee was almost three times higher than the school fee. All of this income went into the pockets of the teachers.

This picture is more or less the same all over Bangladesh. Especially in urban areas, the dominance of coaching is greater. Now at the upazila level too, the coaching business has started in full swing. What is the reason? Are only the teachers responsible for this? Where do they get so much power that they can hold the lives of millions of students and parents across the country hostage? In reality, parents also have a kind of silent consent to coaching. The reason for this is that they no longer have confidence in school teaching. The second point is that the chaotic state of the entire education system becomes clear through the coaching business. Behind the teachers there must be many powerful figures involved, who are on the school committees. It is unbelievable that such a big coaching racket could develop without their knowledge. This means that the administration must also be aware of it. Knowing everything, they have kept their eyes closed and their ears shut, because it can be said quite clearly that they have planned to destroy the country’s education system.

It is a very basic and fundamental question: if there is coaching, then what is the need for classes? In reality, classes seem no longer necessary. The school appears to be an advertisement to attract students, while the actual teaching now takes place in the coaching. If teaching is going to happen in coaching, why is it not done in class? This means that the lure of money is the main factor here. It also means that the vast number of teachers involved in coaching are essentially engaged in corruption — this is something that needs to be examined in depth.

However, there is more to it. Many coaching teachers are not connected to any government school, but are bright university students. Lacking trust in school teachers, parents send their children in the afternoons or evenings to these coaching centres. And there are different types of coaching. School coaching and coaching for colleges or universities are not exactly the same thing. Whatever the case, it is clear that huge business is involved, and through it the overall weakness of our education system is exposed. Without improvement of the education system, it is not possible to get out of this situation. For this, the first need is skilled teachers in schools. For that, teachers’ salaries must be increased. In other words, an overall reform of the education system is needed.