Slashing educational expenses

FE Team | Published: April 01, 2024 21:22:24

Rise in educational cost, according to a study by the Education Watch---a civil society research organisation, by an average of 25 per cent and 51 per cent for primary and secondary students respectively in the first half of 2023 compared to 2022 is a disquieting development. Although it is a sample study, it projects a picture closer to the reality. In 2022, parents had to spend Tk13,828 per head but in the first six months of 2023, the expenditure was Tk8,647. For a class IX student the average annual cost was Tk27,340 in 2022 but in the first six months of 2023, the expenditure shot up to Tk20,712. The expenditures on both primary and secondary students are likely to go up because more students are expected to seek help from private tutors or coaching centres in the second half of the year. Also, under the new education curricula students who are required to sit for examinations will have to submit projects involving some costs.
Sure enough, the Covid-19 has thrown education everywhere into turmoil, only more so in this country. But primary education here is largely free. So, why should parents be compelled to spend extra money on tutor and private coaching? The study indicates that the extra expenditure is incurred not only on tuition and coaching but also on guide books and notes. Strangely enough, some teachers including headmasters, like doctors who prescribe medicines of certain pharmaceutical companies for commissions, are also involved in the task of promotion of guides and notes for commissions. It is exactly at this point the lofty objective of education at the primary and secondary levels as envisaged by the new education curriculum runs the risk of falling flat. If the architects themselves misguide their students instead of inspiring them to bring out the best in them, education will never achieve the goal.
While such challenges concern the quality of education at the foundational levels, the immediate implications of higher costs of education have proved quite damaging to the overall learning for young learners. Lapses in foundational learning during the pandemic required extra care but that was lacking in the post-Covid time when schools opened. This explains the greater reliance of primary students on tutors and coaching centres. For a few decades lessons at the secondary level have failed to live up to the expectation forcing such reliance on tutors, coaching centres and guide and note books. In the post-pandemic period, primary education also joined the fray. Students of parents unable to bear such extra expenses had to drop out. The study finds that 4.5 per cent and 6.0 per cent of second and sixth graders respectively of 2020 academic year dropped out in 2023. If the total drop-outs are taken into consideration, the number will be staggering.
The upshot of all this is that the country is going to lose its educational gains with a large number of children growing up as illiterate or barely literate citizens. About three-fourths of dropped out girls of the secondary level were married off and 41 per cent of primary and 49 per cent secondary level drop-out boys are engaged in child labour. Strangely, 57 per cent primary and 79 per cent of the drop-outs are not interested to return to schools. The policymakers must come out with a comprehensive plan for bringing the dropouts back to education. At the same time education budget has to be raised significantly in order to bring down both direct and indirect educational expenses.