Guardians take charge at school exam

Guardians, not teachers, with the help of the head master conducted annual examinations at a government primary school in Rajshahi metropolitan city as the latter got involved in a movement to press home demand for pay-scale upgradation. Meanwhile, secondary school teachers under the banner of "Bangladesh 'Government Secondary Teachers' Association' earlier had announced suspension of all academic activities, including holding of annual examinations. Simultaneously, a section of the primary teachers under the banner of 'Prathomik Shikkhok Dabi Bastabayan Parishad' (primary teachers' demands realization association) at the end of November announced that they would also boycott the annual exams. It is against this backdrop of the government primary teachers' strike programme, guardians conducted annual exams at the Rajshahi government primary school took place.

So, as noted in the foregoing, teachers of the said Bahrampur DB Anwara Government Primary School were on a strike and hence abstained from their duty of conducting the examination. And the guardians being concerned about their children's education could not stand by and watch their wards failing to sit for their final examinations. So, they assumed the role of teachers and took the bold step of supervising the examination. The guardians were so angry at the striking teachers that they would not even allow the teachers to enter the school premises at the end of their exam boycott programme. Notably, of late, teachers have been engaged in frequent street protests in support of their various demands. In some cases, the striking teachers even ended up in scuffles with the police in the capital city. There is no denying that the teachers of the government primary and secondary schools belong to a very deprived segment of government jobholders of the country. No doubt, being builders of the nation's future, they deserve better from the government and society at large.

But their condition was not created the other day. Their history of being neglected is long. As a result, the teaching profession, when it comes to teaching at government schools at the primary and secondary schools, it cannot be said that it is something covetable, if only for the poor pay and other benefits it offers. So, it is hardly surprising that the scarcity of qualified teachers at many of those schools lead to poor performance of their students at the school final exams. Unfortunately, the education department is also one of the corrupt government organizations with the result that it (corruption) has spread its tentacles to the school administration across the country. So, one is not surprised at the mushrooming of non-government schools many of which exist only on paper and are created to siphon off government funds in the form of MPOs (monthly pay orders). Overall, education at the schools where the foundation of the children's future career is built are now in a shambolic state. Small wonder that teachers are fighting for better pay and other entitlements. But should they engage in such movement programmes during their students' final examinations? At the school level, the students are likened to the teachers' own children. That is why, teachers are called the students' second parents. But what the teachers of the Brhrampur DB Anwara primary school did was anything but parent-like. In that case, the guardians cannot be blamed for the resentment they expressed through denying the teachers entry to school (by locking them out of the school premises) even when the teachers returned at the end of their programme to join their duty at the school.

The guardians complained that they have been compelled to play their supervisory role during the examination since the morning of Sunday (December 7). They were very critical of the teachers for their continuing movement programmes. Evidently, teachers staying out of their classes for such a long time are causing harm to the students' education.

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