BENAPOLE, Mar 20: Quality of primary-level education is on the wane as 603 government primary schools in Jashore district are running without a headmaster, causing much trouble in schooling as well as official works.
Of the total 1,289 government primary schools in eight upazilas of the district, 603 do not have regular headmasters, according to sources at the District Primary Education Office (DPEO).
As a result, quality of education in the district is questioned. The standard of primary education here is downwards now; in many cases, discipline cannot be maintained.
Based on seniority in age, assistant teachers are performing duties as acting headmasters in the schools where the posts of the head teacher are lying vacant.
In most cases, these acting headmasters are 'unfit' to run the administrative and academic activities of the schools, claimed some of the assistant teachers.
Many of the acting headmasters are not even sincere about their works. In some cases, they allegedly try to exert influence on the assistant teachers as desired.
Local people alleged that quality of education in more than half of the primary schools in the district has taken a downtrend for absence of regular headmasters.
They observed that quality of education in the schools will improve if regular headmasters are appointed.
According to the DPEO, of the total 1,289 government primary schools in eight upazilas of the district, 686 have fulltime head teachers, 332 current head teachers, and 271 head teachers in charge. Most of them are women.
According to statistics, the primary schools in Abhaynagar upazila have 117 posts of head teachers where 57 are working. There are 29 head teachers on current duty and 31 are in charge.
There are 158 head teacher posts in Keshabpur Upazila where 99 are working. There are 42 head teachers on current duty while 17 are in charge.
There are 139 posts of head teachers in Chaugacha upazila where 73 are working. 32 head teachers are on current duty while 34 are in charge.
There are 131 posts of head teachers in Jhikargacha upazila where 69 are working, 31 are current head teachers while 31 are in charge.
There are 102 posts of head teachers in Bagharpara Upazila where 50 are working. There are 32 current head teachers while 20 are in charge.
The total number of posts of head teacher in Manirampur Upazila is 267 where 129 are working. There are 77 current head teachers while 61 are in charge.
There are 125 head teacher posts in Sharsha upazila where 58 are working. There are 35 head teachers on current duty and 32 are in charge.
There are 250 posts of head teacher in Sadar Upazila where 151 are working. 54 people are currently on duty while 45 are in charge.
Sources said that the headmasters on the current duty will soon become fulltime headmasters.
Jashore Sadar Upazila Primary Education Officer Ismail Hossain said, in-charges cannot run a school the way a headmaster used to run it.
It is normal for the education standard to go down due to the absence of a head teacher; because the incumbents have many more to do. As a result, they are not able to do many things properly.
District Primary Education Officer Ashraful Alam said a headmaster is the key factor for the operation of a school. The head teacher actually maintains the quality of education.
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