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Boosting primary education

M. Ashraf Ali
IT has been nearly a year since the new education policy was formulated. Education is a priority sector and there is no scope of sitting on it for years, since primary education up to class V does not provide the necessary knowledge to be a functional citizen.
Nearly 40 years ago, as an outcome of realisation of this fact, the Qudrat-e-Khuda Education Commission recommended primary education up to class VIII to make it viable. Since then, the Commission's report has been gathering dust. Now that the new commission has realised the importance of the idea, it is very important to start the project without losing anymore time.
One can realise that it is a stupendous task as the ministry has failed to launch the programme. Dr. Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, former VC of Brae University, said that it would not be possible to start primary education up to class VIII because there was no infrastructure for the programme. There are not enough classrooms, schools, buildings, labs, etc.
The government has also failed to build the basic foundation of education. Educational experts believe that it should be like a pyramid, broad at the base but tapered at the top. In this system there will be thousands of primary schools, secondary schools and colleges. But higher education should be limited and quality-oriented. But this system has not been accepted here and, instead of following the normal pyramid, an inverted pyramid system is in practice.
Nearly one hundred private universities are providing higher education of poor quality. Although the graduates from these universities are still getting jobs, it is obvious that as the numbers will increase there will be unemployment in the higher education sector.
There are 120 million illiterate people who are deprived of adult education. At the same time, primary education is not being expanded as required. This situation cannot lead to economic development of the country.
How primary education can be expanded under the existing situation is not clear. The existing primary schools are too small to accommodate students up to class VIII. Most schools are small buildings which can accommodate only 50-60 students. So, bigger schools will have to be built to the implement the project. It is clear that in order to start primary education up to class VIII, the minimum needed is a 2 storied building with 20
rooms. The building should accommodate at least 1,000 students. Besides, there should be a large field for sports. If the school is co-educational there should be some additional facilities.
No less than TK.l crores will be needed to build such a building. Educational equipment and teachers will require another Tk.l crore. So, Tk.2 crores may be needed per school. Needless to mention, the current budget for education does not provide such an amount of money for primary education.
The education minister says that primary education up to class VIII will be implemented in phases. But he did not mention how many schools in which districts would be built per year. No doubt this will be a wrong policy. The primary school population is very large and schooling for them should be started simultaneously and at the earliest. Students cannot be kept waiting.
Now the question of money comes. The recommendations of the committee should be implemented at a time, since primary education is a top priority. Money should be provided if necessary by cutting the allocations from other sectors. In the past, there was a practice of cutting the budget of the education sector in order to do the work of the other ministries.
Such practice leads to inequality of income in the country. While crores of poor people in the villages lead a life of beggars, a small group of people are given benefits which they do not deserve. Such self-destructive policy of the government will lead to nowhere.
The writer is a former Director, IER, DU.