Ensure ideal academic atmosphere to raise quality of education

Prof. Abdullah Abu Sayeed, founder of Biswa Sahitya Kendro, speaks at a roundtable on 'Amara Kemon School Chai' (what type of school we want) at the Cirdap auditorium in the city yesterday.

Only massive spending could not prevent the slide in the standard of education, they said.

Expressing concern over the declining standard of education, they identified lack of political will and corruption as the major obstacles to better education.

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An ideal academic atmosphere and inculcation of appropriate social values are a must to enhance the quality of education, they said.

The Better Education Movement, a platform of the civil society, organised the roundtable on 'Amara Kemon School Chai' (what type of school we want) at the Cirdap auditorium in the city, with Prof. Abdullah Abu Sayeed, founder of Biswa Sahitya Kendro, in the chair.

A cross-section of people, including educationists, experts, teachers, students and officials of education department, took part in the discussion.

Prof. Abdullah Abu Sayeed said the standard of education remained in an alarming state and was deteriorating day by day despite huge spending on infrastructure.

"We have got everything, including buildings, teachers and students, but we could not produce educated and skilled manpower equipped with appropriate social values."

Dr Masud-uz-Zaman of Dhaka University blamed the lack of motivation among teachers and better environment in classrooms for poor quality of education.

Dr Monzoor Ahmed of Brac Education Project said one in every five children did not receive primary education despite high enrolment rate and huge spending on education.

The spending, however, is not enough for a country with 14 crore population, he added.

Quoting an Education Watch survey, Dr Ahmed said there is only one teacher for 72 students in government schools while the teacher-student ratio in non-government schools stands at 1: 55.

He said about 40 percent students could not complete their study at primary level and only two percent students could attain the required competency rate.

A student of an underprivileged school said, "We want that there should be a playground and enough space in the school and teachers should be affectionate towards us."

The speakers identified low salary for teachers and lack of motivation as the biggest obstacles to raising the standard of education.

"Guardians are reluctant to send their wards to schools as they are aware of the fact that there is no job even for the graduates," said Ahmedullah Miah, a former teacher of Dhaka University.

Tasneen Athar of Campaign for Popular Education, Ahmed Kamal, Selina Akhtar, headmistress of Shibalaya High School, Jannatul Ferdous, assistant upazilla education officer, Ismat Sultana of Aroni School, Yasmin Habib of Sunny Dale School and Shah-e-Mobin Zinnah, an NGO official, also spoke.

Hossain Zillur Rahman, coordinator of the Better Education Movement, moderated the discussion.