When and how the schools can open

The vacation of the educational institutions in the country has been extended till the end of January. The main question at the moment is, when and how will the schools be opened. Education Watch has produced a research report on when and how schools can be opened in corona situations. I have served as the lead researcher on this study. Mostafizur Rahman was the associate researcher and the coordinator of the research team of the mass literacy campaign.

For this survey, data has been collected from 72 areas in 24 upazilas of 8 divisions of the country. A total of 2,992 primary (fourth and fifth grades) and secondary (eighth and ninth grades) students, teachers, parents, education officials were included in the survey conducted in the first two weeks of December.

An interim report of the first phase of the two-phase survey was presented to the government through a webinar meeting on 16 January. The mass literacy campaign organised this meeting.

Education Watch’s president Kazi Khaliquzzaman Ahmed presided over the meeting, which was chaired by Rasheda K Chowdhury, the executive director of mass literacy campaign. People at the policy-making level of the government attended the meeting. Among them was the minister of state for primary and mass education Md Zakir Hossain, MP, secretary of the ministry of education Md Mahbub Hossain, secretary of the ministry of primary and mass education Golam Md Hasibul Alam, director general of the department of primary education Alamgir Muhammad Mansurul Alam and director general of the department of secondary and higher education professor Syed Golam Farooq.

The key information we got in the survey

1. 75 per cent of students, 76 per cent of parents, 73 per cent of district education officers, 80 per cent of NGO representatives voted in favor of immediate opening of schools.

2. 56 per cent of teachers and 52 per cent of upazila education officers want to open schools with caution.

3. In order to compensate for the loss of education, 62 per cent of the teachers support shortening the syllabus and teaching the main subjects only.

4. A large proportion of teachers, parents and education officials (40 to 47 per cent) think that the impact of coronavirus will increase the rate of absenteeism in schools. The risk of dropout and child labour will also increase.

5. Most of the teachers and parents think that educational institutions should be re-opened by maintaining health guidelines and maintaining social distance in the classroom.

6. About 70 per cent of the students did not participate in distant learning. In addition to device and communication problems, the effectiveness of the lessons given was also a problem for them.

7. 62 per cent of the students did not get any help from teachers or anyone else when the school was closed.

8. Due to the outbreak of coronavirus, 42 per cent of the students' families lost their ability to meet their daily needs in 2020 as compared to 2019, which was 10 per cent. In the case of teachers, it has increased from 2 per cent to about 9 per cent.

The most noteworthy point here is the fact that most students and parents are in favor of reopening the school. About 70 per cent of the students did not participate in distant learning or they could not take part in it. About two-thirds of the students said they did not receive help from teachers or anyone else.

Secretary of education Md Mahbub Hossain said in this regard that according to their information a lot of pupils have joined the distant learning programme and the teachers have said that they have contacted all the students for this. The director general of the department of primary education also made a similar comment.

A six point recommendation was presented based on this survey:

1. Schools will have to be opened gradually. Schools may open in rural areas in February and in big city areas in March.

2. Area and school-based activities need to be taken to maintain health, cleanliness and social distance.

3. A two-year plan for 2021-2022 will have to be taken to compensate for education.

4. Teachers need to be given support and training to deal with the situation. They should be given incentives and allowances for the extra work. Teacher assistants should be appointed in collaboration with NGOs to provide special assistance to the backward students.

5. For the recovery of upazila-based and school-based education activities, a task force should be formed with the stakeholders. In the current and next financial year, 10 per cent of the education budget should be allocated for the recovery of education in proportion to the number of students at the upazila level.

6. Measures should be taken to create area-wise action plans, increase public participation and support and monitor progress in implementation by combining the Mass Literacy Campaign, Bangladesh Health Watch and Bangladesh Early Childhood Development Network (BEN).

Md Zakir Hossain, the state minister of the ministry of primary and mass education, has mentioned this survey as important and timely.

He said, “We agree with the 98 per cent of the recommendations.” However, some issues may need further consideration, he added.

Golam Md Hasibul Alam, the secretary of the ministry of primary and mass education, has said that a work plan has been set to overcome the corona situation and assistance of the development partners has been sought for this. The survey recommendations are largely consistent with the programme they have formulated.

The director general of primary education department, Alamgir Muhammad Mansurul Alam said in his speech that they are working on the planning and directives to reopen the schools. Their planning is largely consistent with the survey data and recommendations.

Director general of the department of secondary and higher education, professor Golam Farooq appreciated the survey and data-based recommendations. The students' interest in returning to education and the morale of the teachers and officials has evoked his hope.

In his speech, Kazi Khaliquzzaman said that data is needed for decision making. This work has been done in the survey. He also thinks that it is necessary to see how much the inequality of education has increased due to the pandemic.

State ministers and senior education officials refrained from commenting on specific recommendations for reopening the school. Policymakers still seem to be swayed by this.

Manzoor Ahmed, educationist and professor Emeritus of BRAC University.