No sooner had the New Year begun, the owners of coaching centres have become active to lure the guardians to send their children to their respective centres across the country. Agents of different coaching centres are now distributing eye-catching brochures and leaflets in front of schools and colleges across the country.
According to sources from Bangladesh Coaching Association, an organisation of owners of coaching centres, at present over one lakh coaching centres are being run across the country. Activities of most of these coaching centres are being administered after obtaining trade licence from city or municipal corporations. Persons who do not belong to any education institution at all are usually owners of these centres.
Sources concerned said a number of coaching centres are run by teachers from different educational institutions as well. Coaching centres emerging like mushrooms have now spread to the villages, causing a serious concern about the quality of education. Experts said as the government and non-government educational institutions are failing to provide quality education, finding no alternative, the guardians are being bound to send their children to the coaching centres.
For a long time, people from all walks of life including academics, experts and members of the civil society have been continuously urging the teachers to come back to their senses deserting the malpractice of ‘coaching trade’, but in vain. The call on the guardians requesting not to send their children to coaching centres has also fallen on deaf ears.
They have been alleging that most of the country’s teachers do not pay attention to ensure quality education at their respective schools and colleges.
Officials of Chattogram zonal office of Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) have detected that 43 teachers of nine government high schools of the port city are involved in coaching practice.
DSHE Chattogram office deputy director Hosne Ara Begum said, “The 43 teachers of nine high schools have tarnished the image of teaching profession. Anti-Corruption Commission have agreed to look into the matter. We are ready to hand over information about the detected teachers if ACC wants.”
Meanwhile, the situation has deteriorated to such an extent that at present, a good number of teachers are advertising their names, names of educational institutions, positions and degrees in posters. Some are even using the photo of the education minister in a bid to lure the guardians and students.
Many educational institutions are functioning on pen and paper only, and even have routines for the students. The teachers attend the classrooms according to the routine but these institutions do not have sufficient students.
When contacted, Professor Sheikh Ikramul Kabir, former managing director of National Academy for Educational Management and also the member secretary of the formulation committee of National Education Policy-2010, said, “The practice of coaching trade can be stopped through government decree or enactment of a law.”
“The draft of the much-talked about Education Policy was prepared long ago by consulting all stakeholders, but a section of bureaucrats are preventing the draft from becoming a law,” he said, adding if the law was enacted the malpractice of note and guide book printing would also come to a stop as well as the shutting down of coaching trade. Commenting on the issue, state minister for education affairs Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury said, “City corporations are providing trade licence to coaching centres. It should be investigated whether the practice violates any government policy.”