Quality Primary Education at Moheshkhali: What the teachers think and why

Quality Primary Education at Moheshkhali:

What the working teachers think and why

Mohammad Shahidullah

AUEO, Moheshkhali,

Coxsbazar.

This the time of ensuring quality primary education for every child throughout the world.

Countries of the world, including Bangladesh, once use to give importance on the fields like; school building, class-rooms, furniture, teachers, teaching-learning materials, 100 percent enrolment, minimizing gender disparity etc. At present, all the focuses have been being given to the quality primary education. In our country, the government and the related authorities use to give priorities on this. Almost all over Bangladesh, primary schools have been made well developed and fulfilled all the demands of them, but quality education. We are internationally committed to ensure quality primary education for every child. There are still some upazilas or areas those are lagged behind in having Infrastructural problems have not gone fully. Moheshkhali upazila is one of them which don’t have enough school-buildings, class-rooms, teachers, materials and other primarily needed equipments to run a school smoothly. As I have been working here for about one and a half year, I feel that there should have been establish 40 more schools according to the number of people ( more than 3 lakhs) live here at this upazila. There was a great chance to do it while the Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared all the Registered and Non-Registered schools nationalized from 1^st January, 2013. For Quality Primary Education a number of effective programs have been taken and being implemented by the present government.  In this series of articles titled `Quality Primary Education: What the working teachers think and why?’ I would like to draw the attention of concern authorities by narrating teachers feelings, both the Head teachers and Assistant Teachers of Moheshkhali. Since, I work with the teachers closely, I would like to express their thoughts on the view of quality primary education in this 1^st installment of the series write-ups.

Problems of Moheshkhali upazila quality primary education: There are about 500 teachers have been working at the primary schools of Moheshkhali. The number of primary schools are about 72 and the number of students are about 45,000 now. Almost all the  primary school-buildings are good and workable, but a number schools don’t have enough buildings, class-rooms and furniture as well as teachers. However, what the teachers say they face in ensuring quality primary education are as following;

1. Lack of school-buildings,
2. Lack of furniture.
3. Lack of class-rooms.
4. Lack of required number of teachers and post of teachers.
5. Guardians are not aware enough to have education of their children.
6. SMC, PTA and the community are active and sincere enough.
7. Teachers are not given enough facilities to maintain a minimum standard life.
8. There has been made a gulf of differences in paying salaries and allowances between Head teachers and Assistant Teachers.
9. There are some teachers, who are not competent and professionally committed enough.
10. The authorities are not sincere and transparent enough.
11. Government assistances for the over all development of Primary Education of Moheshkhali is not sufficient.
12. Geographically, the position and communication farcicalities of the primary schools and education activities of this upazila are not favorable.
13. Natural clamitis, like Cyclone, Tsunami, Tidal-bore, Eyela, Cider etc. sometimes make the education activities stopped as it is an Island and situated at, on the bay of Bengle.
14. Primary Schools of the some areas like Dhalghat, Sunadia, Matarbari, Kutubjhum are at adverse environment, for which teachers can’t feel comfort to work there.

In Short, these are the problems teachers see and trace out the hurdles for the ensuring quality primary education at Moheshkhali. They think that if the prevailing challenges could be mitigated, it is possible to improve the situation and be made more developed primary education of this upazila. Thus, the national goals and expectation of the locality would be fulfilled, in near future.