Chattogram Bureau

Primary and Mass Education Adviser Professor Dr Bidhan Ranjan Roy Podder today said work is underway to bring all private schools under registration.

“We’re registering all private schools,” he said while exchanging views with field level officials on the development of primary education.

Office of Chattogram Divisional Commissioner and Directorate of Primary Education jointly organized the meeting at Chattogram Circuit House.

The adviser said the demand for simplifying the registration process has been fulfilled so all private schools could be brought under registration easily.

He, however, issued warning to impose provision like stopping supply of textbooks on the school which would fail to do registration.

Dr Bidhan Ranjan Roy Podder said different nations have different types of resources, but the country has the most important resource which is human resources. “If we can’t utilize this human resource, then we have no future.”

He said primary education has the responsibility to make a person literate such as in speaking, writing and mathematical language.

“There has been infrastructural development, while quality of teachers has been improved. But there has been no development in literacy. The main goal has not been achieved,” he observed.

The adviser said “We still have only 78 percent literacy rate in paper. Those who don’t actually become literate, they remain lag behind in high school. And they can never do well in higher education.”

He noted “Our actual literacy rate is below 50 percent. We can’t attain progress with an illiterate nation.”

Primary and Mass Education Secretary Abu Taher Md. Masud Rana said although various educational institutions have been established at the upazila and district levels on individual initiatives, and the matter remains outside supervision.

In 2016, the government formed task force committees at the divisional, district and upazila levels to monitor the quality of education and institutions as well as provide recommendations.

“We have to work to improve the quality of education by activating the task force committees at these three levels,” he added.

In the meeting, Md. Ataur Rahman, Divisional Director of the Department of Primary Education, Chattogram, presented the overall statistics of the primary education in the division.

With Chattogram Divisional Commissioner Md. Ziauddin in the chair, Director General of Department of Primary Education Md. Abdul Hakim and education officials from various districts of Chattogram Division were present.

The advisor later visited the Primary Teachers Training Institute (PTI) in Chattogram and also exchanged views with officials and teachers there.