English and maths: two biggest worries
A report, prepared by a 16-member government committee, headed by University Grants Commission member Prof. Atful Hye Shibly, has stated that English is usually being taught through Bengali in classrooms, and that the practice hinders proficiency in English. The committee was assigned the task of identifying the obstacles to learning English and make recommendations to the government.
The report, submitted to the education ministry, has been gathering dust for the past few months. “At present, only reading and writing skills are exercised in our teaching and testing system. But it is of paramount importance to design an English education scheme, giving equal importance to reading, writing, listening and speaking,” it stated.
The committee’s report also stated that present textbooks were developed 10-11 years back. “These books are not attractive and their contents are not suitable for inclusive education. It is a common phenomenon that makeshift English teachers are teaching English in schools and madrasas, and these teachers do not have sufficient professional skills to conduct successful English classes,” it added.
The committee recommended establishment of a National English Language Institute for improving communicative competence of teachers and students, including an appropriate English language teaching methodology for Bangladesh through a programme of in-service training of English teachers. It also recommended class-wise mono-lingual (English) dictionary in the curriculum as a supplementary study, modernisation of English textbooks, reform of examination systems and development of an audio-visual English classroom in all institutions.
An investigation, conducted by The Independent, found that the only English Language Teaching Improvement Project (ELTIP) of the education ministry has remained suspended since July 2010, owing to a severe funds crunch. “Paying little heed to the education ministry’s request, chairpersons of the Dhaka Education Board and National Curriculum and Textbook Board have refused to fund the project. The ministry had asked the boards to provide Tk. 40 crore for the three-year ELTIP phase IV,” said the outgoing ELTIP project director, M. Mujibur Rahman.
“ We’re not getting our salaries since July 2010. The ELTIP office has remained closed for the last one month. The Textbook Board chairman, Mostafa kamaluddin, and its secretary Braja Gopal Bhaumik told me and my colleagues that the project has been closed,” he added.
Replying to a query, Prof. Mostafa Kamaluddin said, “I’ll have to face audit objection if funds are provided to the ELTIP and so I will not provide fund to the project which has been closed.”
Financed jointly by the World Bank and the Bangladesh government, in 2009, SEQAEP had introduced extra classes for English and
Mathematics in 1,621 selected schools and madrasas located in remote rural areas. However, the initiative came to an end in March thisyear.
Maths Muddle
An education ministry report, prepared in late 2010, said most Class V students, even though they are weak in maths, get promoted to Class VI. “There is a shortage of mathematics teachers in schools and madrassas located in rural remote areas, and that is why the teachers of other subjects are being sent to maths classes. Thus, weaker students are being promoted to upper classes, and as they need to face the SSC exam in Class X, they resort to cramming methods instead of understanding the subject,” it added.
The 10-member committee, assigned to identify the obstacles to mathematics and put forth recommendations to the government to overcome them, also said, “Introduced in 1995, the present curriculum is obsolete and a new curriculum needs to be introduced in phases. Instead of over-burdening students with unnecessary information, it is urgently needed to give emphasis in the curriculum on problem solving and creative and critical thinking.”
“As many as 98 per cent of the maths teachers have failed in the test to judge the quality of mathematics teachers in high schools. Most of the teachers used to teach their students wrong mathematical methods,” said Munir Hasan, an expert on mathematics and a member of Bangladesh Math Olympiad.
An education ministry survey, conducted in 2009, found that 45 per cent of the existing mathematics teachers at secondary level have Bachelor of Science degrees without mathematics. The survey, jointly conducted by the Secondary Education Quality and Access Enhancement Project and Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Statistics, had covered nearly 4,000 teachers of about 3,406 educational institutions of 121 upazilas across the country.
-With The Independent input
