“One key requirement to achieve quality education is improving quality of teacher”, stated Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid MP while addressing, as the chief guest, a national consultation on the Education Sector Review Report (ESR)of theWorld Bank titled Seeding Fertile Ground : Education That Works for Bangladesh. Responding to the concerns expressed by some participants over the education system that centres on exams, he said that the number of school exams could be reduced if Bangladesh had better teachers.
The national consultation organized by Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) was preceded by six divisional workshops where local level recommendations based on grassroots realities were collected. The consultation was aimed to gather stakeholder views since the report is likely to impact national and international policy discourse. CAMPE plans to identify areas for further advocacy with decision makers within the government and development partner agencies following this event.
The meeting chaired by Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman,Executive Chairman, PPRC & Former Adviser to the Caretaker Government was also attended by the State Minister for Finance, Mr. M A Mannan MP, senior Government officials, representatives from development partner agencies, NGOs & other relevant institutions.
The findings and recommendations of the report were presented along with the Civil Society perspective by Dr Manzoor Ahmed, Senior Adviser BU-IED and Vice-Chair of CAMPE.
The ESR report, which focuses on access and equity, quality and skills, was prepared under the guidance of two advisory groups drawn from the members of civil society, the government, academia, think-tanks and development partners in Bangladesh.
The report commends Bangladesh’s success in improving access to education and completion at all levels, despite daunting challenges. Bangladesh achieved gender parity in primary and secondary education well ahead of the 2015 Millennium Development Goal. Progress in education has paved the way for an increasing number of women to enter the labor market, bolstering the country’s manufacturing production.
Although the country has succeeded in expanding access to education, learning is currently low and unequal. Only a limited number of students remain competent in their respective grades. An assessment of literacy and numeracy at grade 5 indicates that only 25 percent of grade 5 students master Bangla competencies, and only 33 percent master Mathematics. Students with low levels of learning at lower grades are most at risk for dropping out and are most likely to join the informal labor market.
Policymakers, academicians & civil society members also added that corruption in administration and politicization of SMCs (school managing committees) are major impediments to ensuring quality of education in Bangladesh. Poor budgetary allocations coupled with lack of transparency in the spending process are also seen responsible for the less than expected level of quality education.
