Primary education -- performance standard
I feel tempted to write something on this issue. It may be mentioned that "Education Watch", 2002 and EMIS report of the ESTEEM project, 2003 also present a similar picture of an important facet of primary education in the country. These reports were based on collection and analysis of data in a professional manner.
The above findings on performance of primary education do indicate a major national failure. It is not intended to apportion blames to anybody for deficiencies and failures- but the questions are: Have we ever enquired about good achievement data for monitoring performance at schools? Have we ever considered the large number of vacant posts of teachers along with other posts in primary education? Have we ever considered the faulty recruitment of teachers? Have we ever looked at the effectiveness and qualification of teachers, academic supervision and quality and quantity of teaching materials? Our failure is the failure in seriousness of efforts-particularly in applying professionalism to management and decision making in primary education.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. A major reason behind poor achievement is the lack of accountability and lack of good achievement data for monitoring performance at school, upazila and central level, so as to guide school improvement activities. Linked to the shortage of good achievement data is the absence of awareness among teachers and guardians of the importance of students' achievements. Given a large number of vacant posts, how can we expect good performance of students?
About 10% of teaching posts (39,000) are lying vacant. Moreover, their uneven deployment also creates problem. Teachers' recruitment is generally based on academic requirements- not on teaching experience. As a result, teachers are appointed without strong evidence that they can teach well. In the recruitment criteria, thirty (30) marks are kept for viva-voce examination, encouraging corruption and discouraging the appointment of deserving and qualified teachers. If well qualified and competent teachers are not appointed, how can we expect good performance from students?
If we are serious about improving the performance of students at primary level, we must fill all the vacant posts of teachers forthwith including other posts, and free the recruitment of teachers from political influence.