Primary education system needs a rethink

Research for Advancement of Complete Education (RACE) conducted a research on the effectiveness of creative system in primary level - problems and the level of understanding of the issue among the students and teachers. The surveyors interviewed 100 teachers and 80 students of 21 schools in 16 districts between April and November last year. More than half of the 100 primary school teachers, who took part in the survey, are still unclear about creative education method introduced five years ago to bring about a qualitative change in the field of education. More than 1,000 students from class III to class V appeared in a written test conducted to have their opinions on the method.
RACE, a non-government research organisation, presented a report on its findings at Drik Gallery in the capital on Sunday (January 24) titled "Ambiguity in understanding among teachers and students render creative method ineffective -- a study on primary school in Bangladesh."
The report shows that the principal problem of creative system is the dependence of students and teachers on notes and guide books. Instead of trying to make themselves creative, the students mostly depend on guide books available in the market. Ninety-two per cent students depend on guide books and 67 per cent take the help of house tutors to prepare for the examination based on 'creative method'. The method is still vague and hazy even to the teachers, let alone learners. The report says that more than 50 per cent teachers still do not have clear idea about the creative method. Forty-two per cent teachers' understanding in this regard is very poor and 13 per cent teachers are absolutely ignorant of the method. The report shows that 47 per cent teachers use note and guide books available in the market to teach the students and to prepare them for the examinations.  Thirty-five per cent of teachers talk about it with their colleagues and then impart lessons. Eighteen per cent teachers teach the subjects in their own way that makes a mess of it. The report says that 39 per cent students are afraid of English, 33 per cent think mathematics is difficult and 25.65 per cent feel that both mathematics and English are difficult.
RACE made some recommendations in view of these findings. These are:  
n undertaking special training arrangement for teachers
n  recruitment of quality teachers which is actually a matter of time
n making the question papers comparatively easy so that students can answer these from their textbooks
n making digital materials such as projectors, computers and internet available for the students and teachers
n the students and teachers in hilly, coastal, remote, border and scattered areas should get special attention
However, the government is already supplying the digital materials to the schools in phases.
 Cognitive research reveals that even with what is taken to be good instruction, many students, including academically talented ones, understand less than we think they do. With determination, students taking an examination are commonly able to identify what they have been told or what they have read. Careful probing, however, often shows that their understanding is limited or distorted, if not altogether wrong. This finding suggests that prudence is essential in setting out educational goals. Schools should pick the most important concepts and skills to emphasise so that they can concentrate on the quality of understanding rather than on the quantity of information presented. Students have to construct their own meaning regardless of how clearly teachers or books tell them about things. Mostly, a person does this by connecting new information and concepts what he or she already believes in. Concepts-the essential units of human thought-that do not have multiple links with how a student thinks about the world, are not likely to be remembered or found useful. Or, if they do remain in memory, they will be tucked away in a drawer labelled, and will not be available to affect thoughts about any other aspect of the world. Concepts are learned best when they are encountered in a variety of contexts and expressed in a variety of ways because that ensures that there are more opportunities for them to become embedded in a student's knowledge system.
But effective learning often requires more than just making multiple connections of new ideas to old ones. It sometimes requires that people restructure their thinking radically. That is, to incorporate some new ideas, learners must change the connections among the things they already know, or even discard some long-held beliefs about the world. (Ref. Effective learning and teaching project 2016).
'If students are required to go to coaching centres, why should they enroll at schools?' asked Professor Anu Mohammad while expressing his reaction to the RACE report. And it is known to us that coaching centres do not make our learners creative, rather they cram their brains with many unnecessary details just to prepare them for the examination. This creates a conflicting situation between creativity and public examination results.
On creative method, Anu Muhamamd said, 'Invited by Asian Development Bank, some people of our country visited some foreign countries to see their education systems and then they introduced this method here. But where teacher-student ratio is nearly 1:80 and lack of adequate classrooms is common, providing multimedia devices will not gain much ground there.'
He observed that "the government runs after success rate for political reasons. Side by side, there is education business.  Future may be dark if this trend does not stop. Students of primary level are overburdened with books and they are to undergo serious pressure both mentally and physically which do not allow them to be creative."
This issue calls for serious attention of the relevant authorities and particularly of the education ministries.

The writer works in BRAC Education Program as a specialist.
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