How can 33,000 'starving' teachers teach?

Non-government secondary school teachers under the government's monthly pay order (MPO) system began a movement from 11 July in front the Press Club. They decided they would close school and stop taking classes from 16 July. Their demands included nationalisation of secondary school education so that the teachers under the MPO system would get salaries and allowances equal to their government school counterparts, would receive pension facilities and be able to live a decent and dignified life.

The general secretary of Bangladesh Teachers Association said, how can the teachers be expected to teach students in the classrooms if they fail to grapple with the high cost of essentials?

There are three factors of discrimination in the backdrop of the teachers' demands: Government teachers received house rent allowance equal to 45 per cent of their salary, while MPO teachers receive just Tk 1000. Government teachers get festival allowance equal to 100 per cent of their salary, while MPO teachers receive only 25 per cent. The teachers under MPO get just Tk 500 medical allowance, whereas the government teachers get Tk 1,500. MPO teachers have no pension benefits.

The teachers' demands are justified and the people empathise with them. As usual, the government came up with some assurance, some conspiracy theories, formed some committees, etc, to resolve the problem. The teachers did not take the bait. At one point they threatened to fast unto death if they were not granted an audience with the prime minister. They did not get to meet the prime minister. However, on 2 August a decision was taken on principle to address the inequalities and assurance was given to include representatives of the teachers in the committee formed by the government. The teachers then brought a halt to their movement and returned to the classrooms. 

Like primary education, secondary education is also a child's right and it is undoubtedly the responsibility of the government to ensure that right. In that consideration, the government must fund at least all schools in the villages and small towns, where almost all the students are from lower income families. However, where there are 19,662 non-government schools, there are only 691 government secondary schools. As a result, the responsibility of ensuring the children's rights to secondary education falls almost entirely on the shoulders of the non-government schools.

At a secondary level, less that 6 per cent of the 10 million students are getting education from the government schools. If we do not take into consideration the children of the middle class and higher class families paying fees of Tk 2000 to Tk 5000 to study in urban school, then in the case of the remaining secondary schools it is not possible to meet the teachers' salaries with students' fees. So at the end of the day, all these school must be nationalised. Registering under the MPO system is just a temporary stopgap measure.

Prothom Alo's Sohrab Hassan quite appropriately wrote, "What can half-fed teachers teach their students?" I spoke to a retired headmaster about this, someone who had been in the MPO system himself. The MPO teachers who are under Scale 11 and receive a salary of Tk 12,500, are young persons in their twenties. If they pass their BEd, they received Scale 10 salaries of Tk 16,000. (It is very easy to pas your BEd exam now. All you have to do is take the admission test and get a degree with no actual training). Then when they reach Scale 9, they receive Tk 22,000. There is an annual 5 per cent increment in salary. None of this is very attractive and teachers' allowances and benefits need to be increased, no doubt. But in context of the rural economy, this cannot really be called 'half-fed'. So I assume this was just a metaphor. The headmaster went on to say they get some benefits from the student fees, admission fees, exam fees, etc too. And then there is, of course, private tuition.

A total of 199,821 teachers received MPO support in 17,614 non-government schools that have MPO registration. And 72,568 employees of the lowest grade also receive this benefit. But what about the plight of 33,404 teachers who are teaching students in the remaining schools that are not under MPO registration?

Generally speaking, such teachers receive a monthly salary of Tk 5000 to Tk 8000. English  or math teachers can receive at the best Tk 10,000. And the schools are at a loss about how to even pay these wages. The government does not pay a single taka to these schools. The teachers’ salaries are paid partially from the students’ fees. Some schools have been established by wealthy persons and they bear the expenses. The rest are somehow scraping through.

If the teachers under the MPO system are ‘half-fed’, these teachers are ‘starving’. They are there because they have no other choice. Even slightly good teachers cannot be retained. Some are leaving to join low ranking jobs in the railway, some managed to pass the MPO exam and are posted to other schools. Some get jobs in government primary schools and leave.

1.   Of the demands voiced by the MPO teachers, their medical allowanced can be increased to Tk 1,500. The present allowance they receive is visibly discriminatory. Their festival allowance can be made at least 50 per cent of their salary, with plans to up this to 100 in future.

2.   It may take time to resolve the pension issue. But a flat payment pension can be considered (like Tk 5000 a month). While the decision is in process, those going on retirement will be benefitted by this.

3.   A decision can be taken on principle to nationalize all secondary schools at a rural level. It must be accepted that it will take time to implement this. Non-performing secondary schools will not be included. In phases these can be merged with nearby schools. The urban schools that are financially fit can be left out of this plan.

4.   The 33,000 non-MPO teachers must be immediately brought under MPO support with minimum facilities. But certain safeguards must be in place:

a.   The schools with negligible output (no one passing or only 5 passing), must be dropped from the initial list. Later their success and failure over the past five years can be assessed and decision taken accordingly.

b.   It must be made sure that no one uses these measures to make money out of recruitments.

For the present, it will cost an estimated Tk 5 billion (Tk 500 crore) annually to bring these 33,000 under the MPO umbrella. A very negligible amount of the Tk 7.61 trillion (Tk 7 lakh 61 thousand crore) budget will be required to implement this. According to the World Bank, Bangladesh lags the most behind in the world in the education sector expenditure as part of the GDP (2.1 per cent). (And a large part of this is spent on physical infrastructure).Even Pakistan fares better than us (2.4 per cent). Vietnam spends 4.1 per cent of its GDP on education and Nepal 4.2 per cent.

We talk about our vision for 2041. Even if it means reaching that goal a bit late, the least we can do it follow Vietnam in our education sector expenditure and take care of our teachers. We must remember, we hardly have anything else other than our human resources.

* Md Touhid Hossain is a former foreign secretary.

* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir