Reform and development are often welcome news. Our education system is in severe need of an upgrade, and primary education (PE) cannot be an exception to this. Upgrading PE requires attention to be given to many categories including grades (classes), curriculum, number of schools and their infrastructure, number of teachers and their expertise (and salary!), the teaching-learning process, supervision, assessment methods and so on.
Primary grades
Till the 1950s, primary education was up to grade-4 in the present Bangladesh (till 1971- East Pakistan) as in entire the Pakistan. It was then that it was elevated to grade-5. This continued for the rest of our East Pakistan days, and is still the case today. However our first, and most resourceful Education Commission (of 1972) in independent Bangladesh, headed by the reputed scientist Dr. Qudrat-i-Khuda, proposed the elevation of the PE level to grade-8 in its report published in 1974. The question arises: why did Bangladesh Education Commission propose such a large jump, three grades, in a single go? So far as one can understand, it was to achieve parity with the UNESCO principle of compulsory schooling up to age 14.
Now let us ask ourselves: Why, in spite of the report being submitted in 1974, has this recommendation not been implemented for 35 years? Is it because governments in succession were disregarding the policies and plans of the previous ones and formulating almost everything anew? This might be one of the reasons, but it cannot be the only reason. The Ministry of Education (MOE) under the newly elected government is said to have plans to implement this once the newly appointed 16-member committee gives the go-ahead.
However, one must have serious doubts about the feasibility of this recommendation. An assessment of the education systems of 182 nations reveals that the highest number (87) of countries have PE up to grade-6, while only 28 (mostly cold European) countries have PE up to grade-8, followed by grade-5 in 19 countries, grade-9 years in 16 countries, and others. All the known developed countries of Asia, including Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea. Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have PE up to grade-6. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Iran are still content with grade-5. In the world at large, The USA, the UK, Australia and Germany (Japan was mentioned before) have very developed education systems where many of our students long to pursue higher studies. In all these countries, PE up to grade-6 is the norm; though primary grades in the USA range from 4 to 7 in different states, grade-6 dominates. The question arises, why have these developed countries not elevated PE beyond grade-6? The answer would be many years of education in a single system could create monotony in students' minds, and the desire to study in a different school, especially the feeling of studying in a higher seat of learning, alongside elevation of grade level would be defeated. How have these countries followed the UNESCO principles? The answer is, they developed another level for elevating the level of compulsory education, terming it "BASIC" (not primary), and this level in most countries is grade-9, rarely 8 or 10.
In Bangladesh, we have some added problems in elevating PE up to grade-8. To try that, we would need to develop infrastructure massively in primary schools and also appoint many new teachers; existing high school teachers would fear redundancy in such a situation.
Against this backdrop, Prof. Siddiqur Rahman (a member of the aforementioned 16-member committee) of Dhaka University, proposed in a recent article published in a vernacular daily that grades 1-5 be kept as primary schools as is now, and to rename lower secondary grades 6-8 as "Upper Primary". Such mere renaming signifies 'obedience' to the government's desires, but fails to solve our actual systemic problems.
A better way would be elevating PE up to grade-6 and to declare education up to grade-9 (keeping grades 7-9 in high schools) "basic", and compulsory as in the model followed above. Accordingly, there would be the need for restructuring at the secondary level too, which is beyond the scope of this article. Anyway, for this proposed one-grade elevation, existing infrastructure in most schools should prove adequate (with some improvement) and we could arrange a Primary School Leaving Certificate (PSLC, as in Singapore) examination to make primary teachers more accountable. Two more benefits of a grade-6 primary system can be: 1) to-be dropouts at grade-6 would continue for another year; 2) PSLC holders can study in vocational/technical schools (some mono-techniques would need to be established at union level) as in China.
Curriculum: Fully unified versus "unity in diversity"
Our Constitution provides for equal opportunity of learning for all. In principle, there is nothing wrong in unifying three main streams of primary education based on that constitutional provision. But that might not be wise or feasible. We can't stop English medium schools or Madrassahs; and fully merging them will amount to killing off both of these streams. As a result, the beneficiaries of these streams will refute any such attempt. Therefore, we need to develop a "core curriculum" consisting of some essential subjects including national language Bangla, second language English, mathematics, social studies (which should include our true history) and science. The main point to make here is that all streams follow these core subjects; Qawami Madrassas should be taken under the government's wing. Thus we can establish a unity in diversity that is socially acceptable to all.
Some final points
Alongside upgrading PE by one grade, the number of primary schools and teachers needs to be increased substantially. We have nearly 85,000 villages but only 58,000 primary schools; adding other primary level institutions numbering around 22,000, we get about 80,000 institutions providing primary level education. That is still far too little, less than one school per village. To ensure that at-least every school has a village, the community primary schools can be upgraded to full-fledged schools and be nationalized as early as possible, alongside new projects aimed at establishing schools in every village. The number of teachers in each upgraded primary school should not be fewer than five and the discriminatory admission policy for male and female teachers should be done away with.
A word for the teachers, who deserve to be better rewarded if we are to expect a better job from them. Currently, primary teachers' salaries are at the 16th and 17th national grades, very close to fourth class employees. Before considering any separate scales for all teachers and elevating the status of high school teachers, primary teachers' salaries should be upgraded to the 11th or at least the 12th national grade. Once the nation pays primary teachers a reasonable salary, we could expect 4-6 hours of quality schooling for the children instead of the below-par 2-4 hours that is the norm now.
Primary grades
Till the 1950s, primary education was up to grade-4 in the present Bangladesh (till 1971- East Pakistan) as in entire the Pakistan. It was then that it was elevated to grade-5. This continued for the rest of our East Pakistan days, and is still the case today. However our first, and most resourceful Education Commission (of 1972) in independent Bangladesh, headed by the reputed scientist Dr. Qudrat-i-Khuda, proposed the elevation of the PE level to grade-8 in its report published in 1974. The question arises: why did Bangladesh Education Commission propose such a large jump, three grades, in a single go? So far as one can understand, it was to achieve parity with the UNESCO principle of compulsory schooling up to age 14.
Now let us ask ourselves: Why, in spite of the report being submitted in 1974, has this recommendation not been implemented for 35 years? Is it because governments in succession were disregarding the policies and plans of the previous ones and formulating almost everything anew? This might be one of the reasons, but it cannot be the only reason. The Ministry of Education (MOE) under the newly elected government is said to have plans to implement this once the newly appointed 16-member committee gives the go-ahead.
However, one must have serious doubts about the feasibility of this recommendation. An assessment of the education systems of 182 nations reveals that the highest number (87) of countries have PE up to grade-6, while only 28 (mostly cold European) countries have PE up to grade-8, followed by grade-5 in 19 countries, grade-9 years in 16 countries, and others. All the known developed countries of Asia, including Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea. Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have PE up to grade-6. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Iran are still content with grade-5. In the world at large, The USA, the UK, Australia and Germany (Japan was mentioned before) have very developed education systems where many of our students long to pursue higher studies. In all these countries, PE up to grade-6 is the norm; though primary grades in the USA range from 4 to 7 in different states, grade-6 dominates. The question arises, why have these developed countries not elevated PE beyond grade-6? The answer would be many years of education in a single system could create monotony in students' minds, and the desire to study in a different school, especially the feeling of studying in a higher seat of learning, alongside elevation of grade level would be defeated. How have these countries followed the UNESCO principles? The answer is, they developed another level for elevating the level of compulsory education, terming it "BASIC" (not primary), and this level in most countries is grade-9, rarely 8 or 10.
In Bangladesh, we have some added problems in elevating PE up to grade-8. To try that, we would need to develop infrastructure massively in primary schools and also appoint many new teachers; existing high school teachers would fear redundancy in such a situation.
Against this backdrop, Prof. Siddiqur Rahman (a member of the aforementioned 16-member committee) of Dhaka University, proposed in a recent article published in a vernacular daily that grades 1-5 be kept as primary schools as is now, and to rename lower secondary grades 6-8 as "Upper Primary". Such mere renaming signifies 'obedience' to the government's desires, but fails to solve our actual systemic problems.
A better way would be elevating PE up to grade-6 and to declare education up to grade-9 (keeping grades 7-9 in high schools) "basic", and compulsory as in the model followed above. Accordingly, there would be the need for restructuring at the secondary level too, which is beyond the scope of this article. Anyway, for this proposed one-grade elevation, existing infrastructure in most schools should prove adequate (with some improvement) and we could arrange a Primary School Leaving Certificate (PSLC, as in Singapore) examination to make primary teachers more accountable. Two more benefits of a grade-6 primary system can be: 1) to-be dropouts at grade-6 would continue for another year; 2) PSLC holders can study in vocational/technical schools (some mono-techniques would need to be established at union level) as in China.
Curriculum: Fully unified versus "unity in diversity"
Our Constitution provides for equal opportunity of learning for all. In principle, there is nothing wrong in unifying three main streams of primary education based on that constitutional provision. But that might not be wise or feasible. We can't stop English medium schools or Madrassahs; and fully merging them will amount to killing off both of these streams. As a result, the beneficiaries of these streams will refute any such attempt. Therefore, we need to develop a "core curriculum" consisting of some essential subjects including national language Bangla, second language English, mathematics, social studies (which should include our true history) and science. The main point to make here is that all streams follow these core subjects; Qawami Madrassas should be taken under the government's wing. Thus we can establish a unity in diversity that is socially acceptable to all.
Some final points
Alongside upgrading PE by one grade, the number of primary schools and teachers needs to be increased substantially. We have nearly 85,000 villages but only 58,000 primary schools; adding other primary level institutions numbering around 22,000, we get about 80,000 institutions providing primary level education. That is still far too little, less than one school per village. To ensure that at-least every school has a village, the community primary schools can be upgraded to full-fledged schools and be nationalized as early as possible, alongside new projects aimed at establishing schools in every village. The number of teachers in each upgraded primary school should not be fewer than five and the discriminatory admission policy for male and female teachers should be done away with.
A word for the teachers, who deserve to be better rewarded if we are to expect a better job from them. Currently, primary teachers' salaries are at the 16th and 17th national grades, very close to fourth class employees. Before considering any separate scales for all teachers and elevating the status of high school teachers, primary teachers' salaries should be upgraded to the 11th or at least the 12th national grade. Once the nation pays primary teachers a reasonable salary, we could expect 4-6 hours of quality schooling for the children instead of the below-par 2-4 hours that is the norm now.
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