Barishal Bureau

A large portion of government primary schools in Barisal division are operating without a head teacher.
There is a school, there are students, and there are teachers, but there is no headmaster.

Out of the total 6,243 government primary schools in the division, 2,599 do not have a head teacher. This means that almost four out of every 10 schools are running without a leader. Added to this is the acute shortage of assistant teachers. There are 3,029 vacant posts of assistant teachers in the division's six districts.

Not only in schools, but also in the field-level supervision system of primary education, there is a major manpower shortage. 31 out of 70 posts in the six district primary education offices and 313 out of 539 posts in the upazila primary education offices are vacant. As a result, stagnation has been created at all three important levels of primary education - school leadership, classroom teaching and administrative supervision.

According to the information provided by the office of the Deputy Director of Primary Education, Barisal Division. Out of 1,588 government primary schools in Barisal district, 933 do not have a head teacher. This means that more than half of the schools are running without a head teacher.

The picture is similar in the other five districts of the division. 391 out of 1,235 schools in Patuakhali, 340 out of 989 in Pirojpur, 428 out of 1,047 in Bhola, 306 out of 799 in Barguna and 209 out of 585 in Jhalakati do not have a headmaster.

In 3,644 schools in the division without a headmaster, other teachers are handling the duties of the headmaster. Of them, 1,014 are on 'current duty'. Instead of a permanent headmaster, work has been carried out through temporary arrangements for years.

The principal is not just the administrative head of a school; he or she is the main supervisor of whether teachers are coming regularly, whether teaching is being done properly, how students are progressing, and whether school discipline is being maintained. As a result, the academic activities of the schools are being severely disrupted due to the vacancy of this post for a long time.

Added to this is the shortage of assistant teachers. There are 33,123 approved posts of assistant teachers in six districts. On the other hand, 30,094 are working. As a result, 3,029 posts are vacant. Of these, 629 are in Barisal, 775 in Patuakhali, 496 in Pirojpur, 464 in Bhola, 380 in Barguna and 285 in Jhalokati.

That is, in some places there are no head teachers, in some places there are few assistant teachers, and in some places both crises exist together. This increases the workload on working teachers. As a result, important tasks such as providing adequate time in the classroom, regular teaching, and taking extra care of lagging students are being disrupted.

Bangladesh Primary Teachers Association General Secretary Mostafizur Rahman Shahin said that since 2009, the promotion of assistant teachers of government primary schools to the post of principal has been stopped. In 2017, some senior assistant teachers were given the current responsibility of principals, but they were not given permanent promotions. Many of them have retired or died, but no initiative has been taken for new promotions.

There is also a manpower shortage in the supervisory agencies outside the schools. Only 39 people are working against 70 posts in the six district primary education offices of the division, and 31 posts are vacant. Only 226 people are working against 539 posts in the upazila education offices, meaning 313 posts are vacant. Even in the office of the divisional deputy director, 5 out of 14 posts are vacant.

According to informed circles, if a large portion of those responsible for supervision are absent, it is natural to raise questions about the effectiveness of school inspections and the quality of education.

Barisal Divisional Primary Education Officer Mir Md. Jahidul Kabir Tuhin said that the entire matter has already been informed to the higher authorities and the ministry. He expressed hope that this problem will be largely resolved once the new recruitment process begins.