The Division of Major Schooling has taken up a undertaking within the identify of bettering the standard of main schooling, losing 45,000 crore taka. Earlier than the Major Schooling Improvement Program-PEDP-4 was accomplished, questions have been raised in varied quarters about taking on one other undertaking with a giant funds amid financial tensions.
It’s learnt that this program might be applied outdoors the prevailing growth tasks within the subsequent 5 years.
The Ministry of Schooling says that the undertaking, referred to as PEDP-5, goals to construct an inclusive, equitable, sustainable, and high-quality main schooling system, the place each baby will purchase robust foundational literacy and numeracy expertise and turn into residents with the required expertise for the twenty first century.
Nevertheless, the evaluation of the Improvement Mission Proposal (DPP), price construction, previous expertise, and up to date academic indicators raises questions—will this program actually have the ability to resolve the training disaster, or will it’s a repeat of earlier pricey and fruitless tasks?
Planning Advisor Dr. Wahiduddin Mahmud mentioned, there’s a main negligence in bettering the standard of main schooling. The undertaking is barely offering infrastructure, youngsters aren’t studying something. It is because PEDP-5 has despatched the deadline for RADP. There is no such thing as a plan.
By means of this program, the purpose is to remove the long-standing studying deficit in main schooling, guarantee 100% internet enrollment from the present 94.55 %, enhance the first schooling completion fee from 84 % to over 90 %, and produce almost 2 hundred thousand youngsters who’ve dropped out or are out of college again into the schooling system.
The Ministry of Major and Mass Schooling (MoPME) has already despatched the Improvement Mission Proposal (DPP) of PEDP-5 to the Planning Fee and the Financial Relations Division (ERD).
A senior official of the Planning Division mentioned that the Nationwide Financial Council (NEC) in its newest assembly accredited the inclusion of this program within the record of unapproved tasks within the Revised Annual Improvement Program (RADP) for the present fiscal yr.
In keeping with the DPP, the entire price of PEDP-5 is estimated at Tk 45,000 crore. Of this, about Tk 30,000 crore will come from authorities funds and the remaining Tk 15,000 crore will come from overseas loans and grants. A significant a part of the financing relies on loans from the World Financial institution and ADB, in addition to grants from UNICEF, JICA, GPE, UNESCO and different growth companions. Which means with the implementation of this program, the burden of overseas debt will even be positioned on future generations.
The DPP states that the goal of PEDP-5 is to attain 70 % proficiency in Bengali and 60 and 50 % proficiency in arithmetic in grades 3 and 5, respectively. It additionally guarantees to attain 100% enrollment in pre-primary schooling, enhance the web enrollment fee to 100% in main schooling, scale back the dropout fee from 16.25 % to 10 %, and enhance the scholar attendance fee from 87.45 % to 93 %. There’s additionally a goal of accelerating the instructing time in single-shift colleges by 20 %.
Whereas these objectives are formidable on paper, the truth paints a distinct image. Virtually comparable objectives have been set within the earlier 4 PEDPs. However regardless of spending about Tk 33,473 crore on the third and fourth PEDPs over the previous decade, the specified enhancements haven’t been achieved.
The Bangladesh A number of Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2025 confirmed that almost all college students in grades two and three are severely lagging behind in studying and arithmetic.
The survey exhibits that solely 24 % of youngsters have primary studying expertise and solely 39 % can learn 90 % of the phrases in a brief story appropriately. About 30 % of youngsters can reply primary and inferential questions. In arithmetic, figures are extra worrisome. Solely 18 % of scholars have primary numeracy. Solely 36 % can add and subtract and solely 31 % can learn numbers. In such a actuality, the price construction of PEDP-5 is much more worrisome.
The DPP evaluation exhibits that a large amount of cash has been allotted for infrastructure building and administrative sectors. A goal has been set to extend about 25,000 single shift colleges throughout the nation. It has been mentioned that the speed of presidency main colleges assembly child-friendly requirements might be elevated from 72.5 % to 92 %. There’s a proposal to spend 1000’s of crores of taka on building of WASH services, protected water sources, boundary partitions, WASH blocks and new buildings. About 7,875 crore taka has been allotted for building of non-residential buildings within the infrastructure sector alone.
Alternatively, the outcomes framework for the areas which might be most important for qualitative change in instructing—instructor coaching, classroom-based help, and evaluation of studying outcomes—is unclear.
The Diploma in Major Schooling (DPED) has been proposed as a pre-service instructor coaching, the place 7,000 college students will bear coaching. There are additionally plans to type a Nationwide Trainer Certification Authority. Nevertheless, though the coaching and CPD framework was in place within the earlier PEDP, its sensible reflection within the classroom was restricted—a actuality that was not correctly acknowledged within the DPP.
The DPP requires decentralization and data-based decision-making. It goals to strengthen planning on the upazila and district ranges, set up 19 regional workplaces, and interconnect IPEMIS with different information techniques. However the expertise of PEDP-4 exhibits that despite the fact that there’s information, a tradition of decision-making utilizing it has not been developed. Native realities have been uncared for resulting from centrally imposed tasks.
PEDP-5 can also be not convincing on the difficulty of fairness and inclusion. Though particular methods are talked about for youngsters from hilly areas, pasture areas, city slums, disabled and minority language talking youngsters, their reflection in funds allocation is weak. Nevertheless, NSA and MICS have proven that youngsters from poor and marginalized households are essentially the most affected by the training disaster.
An identical image emerges within the analysis of PEDP-4. Regardless of the rise in infrastructure and enrollment, studying has not improved. About 16 % of the funds have remained unused. There’s a scarcity of instructor capability, inclusive and classroom-based help. But, with out a deep evaluation of that failure, PEDP-5 is being taken on a bigger scale.
Professor Dr. Abdus Salam, a instructor on the Institute of Schooling and Analysis, Dhaka College, believes that though there’s monitoring of administrative issues in main schooling, there’s a big lack of efficient monitoring in academia.
He mentioned, many of the initiatives taken within the schooling sector previously decade and a half have been primarily based on political concerns. As a result of this, the anticipated enchancment within the studying high quality and expertise of scholars has not taken place. Buildings have been constructed in varied tasks. In some circumstances, varied irregularities have been alleged within the procurement. In consequence, these tasks haven’t been in a position to play a sensible position within the growth of schooling.
Dr. Mustafa Ok. Mujeri, Government Director of the Institute for Inclusive Finance and Improvement, mentioned, “To attain high quality schooling, it’s essential to extend the quantity, {qualifications} and coaching of lecturers. Infrastructure growth alone shouldn’t be sufficient. Qualitative change in schooling shouldn’t be attainable with out the recruitment and coaching of expert lecturers. To make sure high quality schooling, it’s essential to extend the quantity, {qualifications} and coaching of lecturers.”
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