Govt emphasises overcoming challenges in primary education

Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon on Tuesday said the government is giving high priority to primary education and has taken various initiatives for the well-being of teachers and students.

The minister made the remark during a meeting with primary education officials in Dhaka district. The state minister for education, and secretary to the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, also joined the meeting.

Similar meetings are planned across the country in phases.

Officials said that as part of the initiatives, the government is revamping the Prime Minister’s Gold Cup football tournament, promoting teachers following the removal of legal hurdles, increasing teachers’ remunerations, improving their social status and also expanding their responsibilities.

During the meeting, assistant upazila education officers and education officers highlighted their ongoing activities, challenges and recommendations, while the minister took note of the issues raised.

Discussions focused on students' learning gaps at the primary level, teacher shortages, teacher-student ratios and infrastructural constraints.

Noting the shortages of teachers in primary schools, Ehsanul Hoque Milon said that the legal complications surrounding the promotion of about 32,000 headteachers, pending since 2017, have been resolved, paving the way for their promotion.

This will create opportunities to recruit around 38,000 new teachers. He also said the recruitment of 14,300 teachers appointed under the previous government is being reviewed and will be finalised after verification.

He added that newly recruited teachers will receive two months of initial training at Primary Teachers' Training Institutes (PTIs) before joining schools.

Urging teachers to treat every student as their own child, the minister said improving learning outcomes requires the combined efforts of teachers, the administration and the government.

The government is revamping the prime minister's Gold Cup football tournament. The opening ceremony will be organised on a world-class scale with broader media engagement, Ehsanul Hoque Milon said.

He said the initiative aims to steer children away from excessive mobile phone use and drug addiction by promoting sports alongside joyful learning.

On the other hand, state minister for primary and mass education, Bobby Hajjaj, said the government plans to expand the responsibilities of education officials while also improving their remuneration, professional dignity and social status.

Bobby Hajjaj announced that, in addition to supervising government primary schools, field-level officials will gradually be entrusted with monitoring private primary schools. Stressing accountability, he said officials must take ownership of their respective clusters and upazilas instead of shifting responsibilities to higher authorities.

He instructed officials to strengthen monitoring of schools, teachers, learning outcomes and the school feeding programme, saying negligence or failure to report irregularities would no longer be acceptable.

Md Shakhawat Hossain, secretary, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, said field-level education officers must closely monitor every school, teacher and student to improve learning outcomes.

He noted that the proportion of Category A schools (where over 80% of students achieve expected competencies) has increased from 1.3% to 12% within a year, while overall performance has improved significantly. He stressed the need for accurate data, third-party verification, targeted support for underperforming schools and regular academic monitoring to further raise education quality.