Politicisation cripples education system

They called for reforms in the education sector and an end to the discrimination between government and non-government teachers.

At a press conference, the leaders of Bangladesh National Front of Teachers and Employees also placed their eight-point demand including full pension through the welfare trust, formulation of an up-to-date examination policy, and withdrawal of education board fee hike.

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They called on the government to form an education reform committee comprising experts and teachers' association representatives.

The leaders said no teacher should be dismissed on the basis of students' result in the public exams.

Demanding measures to modernise the examination system, they said the institutions' internal examinations should also be evaluated.

They said various government measures in the education sector were 'outdated, inconsistent and politically motivated', which deprived the non-government teachers and employees of their due privileges.

Principals of 13 colleges in Dhaka city alone have been suspended with political motive, they alleged.

"Education Ministry's various orders, circulars and notes have virtually taken away the administrative authority of managing bodies of non-government schools and colleges, creating an anarchic situation," said Principal Quazi Faruque Ahmed, convenor and coordinator of the Front.

Faruque cited two cases in Kapasia and Shariatpur, in which leaders of a certain political party head the college managing committees.

Principal Kamruzzaman, Md Shahjahan, Md Azizul Islam, Principal Md Abdus Sattar, Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, and M Arzu were also present at the press conference.