The standard of primary education in various upazilas as well as in Rajshahi metropolitan areas has fallen alarmingly. It is learnt, due to an easy communication system in all upazilas and even in the union levels, most of government primary school teachers of rural areas, specially at the upazila levels, are reluctant to stay in villages. As a result, the teaching-standard of education of those schools are deteriorating.
It is learnt, more or less, same conditions are prevailing in all nine upazila level government primary schools of the district. The conditions of government schools situated at the char- villages are learnt even worse. A perennial, acute shortage of teachers prevails there.
Only the teachers who are residents of the char- villages or those who have their houses in the areas used to stay and work in those schools. Yet, many teachers of having their homes at the char-villages now prefer to live at city or towns and used to shuttle daily to the school from the city areas.
According to sources, several thousand primary school teachers working in various schools of Mohanpur, Bagmara, Paba, Godagari, Puthia, Charghat, Bagmara, Durgapur and Bagha upazilas used to live in Rajshahi city or adjacent areas and travel to and from their schools through buses and trains.
The road and rail communications being easy from the city, those teachers make a daily journey to their schools. As a result, often they reached late to their schools or failed to concentrate to their classes due to strain of journey.
Moreover, meritorious teachers are reluctant to stay at villages. By utilising political influences, they manage themselves to transfer to the schools situated at the city or suburb schools. Many of such teachers are also engage themselves in private tuitioning at the city coaching centres or at their houses while others remained busy in other part time jobs.
As a result of such tendency of teachers, the students of the primary schools at the upazila levels are being deprived from getting quality education.
Professor Sanaullah, Assistant Professor of Premtali College in Godagari who lives at Char Asariadaha village of the same upazila informed, in many schools of char villages, teachers do not attend their classes day after day. Shortages of teachers at primary schools are also responsible for deteriorating education system in all upazilas of the district.
It is learnt, primary schools at many upazila levels are running without proper number of teachers.
According to Upazila Primary Education office sources in Bagmara upazila, there are 104 primary schools with 501 teachers at Bagmara upazila. Number of teachers is very low in compared to schools and students in these areas. Some of those are receiving training at PTI at the city. There are lot of examples where only two or three teachers used to manage the entire school.
Primary Education Officer of Bagmara informed, teachers are not interested to stay in rural schools. After receiving joining letters, they start to throng at Upazila Education Office for transfer at the upazila Sadar or the nearest upazila. Ultimately, they used to convince upazila education officials and upazila education committee in their own way and succeeded to transfer themselves at upazila Sadar areas schools.
Bagmara Upazila Primary Education Officer said, performance of many schools is very poor because of scarcity of teachers. Guardian of the students at these schools demanded to the authorities to appoint teachers according to the ratio of students and impose a strict order to all teachers that they must attend schools by staying at the areas.