Dear Editor Sir,
Please publish the attached article in your esteemed daily. Thanks and
regards.
Shazzad
Exploring Alternatives to Improve Quality of Primary Education
By Habibur Rahman, Director, Education, Save the Children USA
The current happenings around the proposed role of BRAC in Primary School teachers training has provoked me to discuss further on such an issue, i.e. quality of primary education, which has already been one of the most discussed and vital topics in the education sector of Bangladesh. The teachers have taken firm stand against any proposition of involving BRAC in supervising and monitoring the primary schools. BRAC has stated in a press-conference that there hasn�t been any intention from their side of intruding the supervision, monitoring and administration of primary schools.
The teachers have correctly pointed out that they cannot be supervised by any NGO. They are accountable to their authority and management system. The government has multi-level setting for supervision, monitoring and evaluation of primary education.
The primary school teachers along with the government and community have achieved one of the highest enrolment rates in the South Asian Region. They have also contributed in achieving parity in boys and girls enrolment in primary education. However, ensuring quality in primary education is still a far cry. More than 40% children cross their primary school going age without completing the full cycle of primary education. Two out of three are entering adulthood without basic literacy and numeric skills and preparations for life. There are poor retention and high drop-out rates. The rate of post-primary discontinuation is also alarming. Due to the crisis of quality, most of the children do not achieve minimum competencies even after completing the primary education cycle.
Numerous researches and real life experiences show that there are inadequacies in terms of child-friendly teaching learning methods, materials and well-trained teachers in the country. We need to take special measures and invest more resources for improving the teaching learning processes in classrooms.
The teachers might agree that the improvement of the quality of teachers is a must to ensure quality primary education. The question remains that how far the existing system could address the capacity development needs of a very large number of primary school teachers and management personnel.
The scopes of building the primary school teachers� capacity are limited in the country. There are 54 Primary Training Institutes (PTIs), which offer one-year certificate course (C-in-Ed) for primary school teachers of the government and registered non-government primary schools. This means the 54 PTIs need to serve more than 80 thousand primary education institutions in which there are more than three hundred twenty thousand teachers! In fact, most of the non-government primary school teachers teach without any training for a long period of their services. This has also to do with the capacity of National Academy for Primary Education (NAPE), National Textbook and Curriculum Board (NCTB), and Upazila Resource Centers (URC).
Most of the government primary school teachers have already received C-in-Ed or been receiving the cluster trainings. After the pre-service training, it becomes difficult for the teachers to translate the training into the prevailing classrooms settings for various reasons. On the other hand, teachers of other institution receive very limited opportunities for capacity building.
It was found during the civil society consultation as part of mid-term review of the PEDP II (Primary Education Development Program phase II) that the existing teacher training was not producing the desired results. The consultation found PTI trainings are not updated and less contributing in achieving the desired competencies for the primary school children. Reform in PTI training has been under consideration for a long time but there hasn�t been any notable progress so far. Therefore, the stagnation in teachers� capacity building should be addressed through the alternative models and experiences that exist in the country. Models and experiences of BRAC and other NGOs could be utilized to design and trial more effective practical and efficient approaches.
The government is implementing the PEDP II to increase primary school access, participation and completion in accord with 'Education For All' (EFA), Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other commitments. PEDP II has set the Primary School Quality Levels (PSQL) standard, which shows its systematic approach in working for and tracking the progress around quality. There should be all out efforts in realizing the target and efforts should explore paths alternative to the ones that have already been proven as not so much effective. .
Rasheda K Chowdhury, the Advisor for the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME), has already declared that BRAC had not given any authority to monitor and supervise primary school teachers. She added that BRAC would pilot their experiences in teachers� capacity building in those Upazilas.
So far, we have got the views of BRAC and the teachers on the issue. However, we have yet to know the Upazila level government officials� views. The government officials� roles in this pilot project were not discussed in the newspapers. There are several disconnects took place regarding BRAC�s pilot program and teachers� associations position. It seemed that it was not well communicated among the teachers and their associations on the goals and objectives of the program. Most probably there weren�t any consultation by the government took place with the primary school teachers and their association. The decision should be communicated by the district and Upazilas level government primary education officials to the teachers. The government should have introduced BRAC with the teachers and clarify the goals, objectives and benefits of teachers before initiating the pilot project.
The government should take the following steps before implementing the teachers' capacity development program with BRAC:
MoPME should organize press conference to clarify their position as well as the nature of the support expected from the BRAC in developing teachers' capacity further in the respective Upazilas;
The government should hold dialogues with the appropriate representations from the Primary Teachers' Associations preferably in presence of BRAC;
The government should have series of meetings at the respective Upazilas with primary school teachers� along with Upazila level officials for clarifying all stakeholders' roles and activities including outcomes of the BRAC pilot project.
Finally, BRAC should organize series of meetings with teachers, SMC members along with other members of the civil society, local administration and media.
We believe that the time has not run out to start this pilot program. The government should immediately take measures to remove confusion around the project and facilitate the process towards an amicable solution for improving the quality of primary education in Bangladesh.
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