Education heading for the wilderness

When annual examinations of government primary and secondary schools along with pre-test examinations of grade 10 are used as a pawn for realising demands by teachers, the rot set in the country's education is laid bare. Although the Bangladesh Government Secondary Teachers' Association has temporarily called off their work abstention programme after two days, the primary school teachers have decided to continue their abstention and non-participation in the annual examinations. Teachers of all the associations refrained from holding the crucial examinations scheduled on Monday and Tuesday. Examinees had to return home without appearing for the scheduled exams. 

Assistant teachers of more than 65,500 government primary schools are unbent on their demands and a faction, the Primary Assistant Teachers' Organisation Unity Council (PATOUC) declares that unless their demands were met by Wednesday, December 3, they would lock down the schools all across the country. The Primary Teachers' Demand Implementation Council (PTDIC), another faction of the boycotting teachers simply stay away from schools and have expressed their inability to hold annual examinations for their students. 

Students of secondary schools have been given a chance to get over the trauma but the younger ones at the primary level may have to suffer the agony of not completing their annual examinations in time. The uncertainty and confusion may take a heavy toll on their preparation for the final examination of the academic year. This is unimaginable and quite unprecedented. The pandemic year saw a more pervasive disruption of the academic study. Today's secondary students were the worst victims of the pandemic Covid-19 and post-Covid academic disruptions. This consideration alone demanded sanity to prevail. 

Teachers may have genuine grievances but starting a movement at the time of year-end final examination on their part smacks of a devious ploy. Earlier the non-government teachers opted for protests like sit-ins, hunger strikes and road blockades for realising their three-point demands. These three-point modest demands were 20 per cent house rents, an allowance of Tk1,500 medical allowance and a 75 per cent festival bonus. They also demanded inclusion of non-MPO institutions in the monthly pay order (MPO) scheme. An offer of 15 per cent house rent of the basic salary was announced and the teachers of non-government institutions called off their strike programmes. 

Essentially, teachers of both non-government and government schools have launched the protest programmes in order to press for rise in their pay package and other benefits. One such common demand involves elevation of assistant teachers to 10th grade on the pay scale. Around 65,000 primary headmasters have been upgraded to the 10th grade. If the assistant teachers' status is upgraded, the headmasters can demand further upgrading of their positions. Both factions of government primary teachers, however, have also three-point demand programmes. But after the government assured that they would be placed in the 11th grade of the pay scale, the PTDIC alliance withdrew their programmes. 

The result is that some schools were locked down and others held examinations on Wednesday. Right now the education system at the primary level has experienced a complete breakdown with the PATOUC forcing a shutdown at many schools. Headmasters of some schools have somehow managed to conduct examinations with help from guardians. Even upazila education officers extended a helping hand to conduct the annual examinations.

Evidently, it is an awful mess. One faction of assistant teachers has accepted the offer of 11th grade but the other has refused to accept the deal. They stick to their demands for the 10th grade and resolution of complexities in securing higher grades after 10 and 16 years in service along with cent per cent departmental promotion to the post of headmaster. However contentious or not the demands are, the fact remains that the current service rules do not permit the government to accept the demands in their present form. There is a need for a thorough discussion of the problems facing the administration and the protesting teachers. 

Clearly, no one is bearing the brunt as the innocent school-going children do. Much as the demands may have merits, the ploy of holding students hostage in order to press for their demands does not go well with the people, the guardians in particular. This arm-twisting tactic is sure to create bad blood between teachers and guardians. Even they may end up antagonising their students. The interim government has its limitation to accommodate all the demands in the service rules. By the time enough damage has been done so far as the already fragile and outdated education at the primary and secondary levels is concerned. 

This country has been struggling with its system of education incompatible with the demands of the time. Then the quality of teachers also matters. People complain that when educated youths fail to land a high-paid job, they opt for the teaching profession at the primary and secondary levels. This cannot be ruled out, although there are rare exceptions to this rule. A few will definitely qualify for the 10th grade but the majority will leave much to be desired for accessing the grade under the education cadre service. 

Sure enough an overhaul of the education system is urgent. This will have to happen in the interest of making education compatible with the average global standard, if not with the best in the world. Not all teachers will fit in the scheme. In that case, emoluments and other facilities have to be raised further than today's teachers have demanded. Investment has to match with the quality of education. Big investment in education has returns in spades.

nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com