A number of schools and colleges in the capital continue to take coaching classes flouting government directives for ‘extra’ classes for students.
The education ministry at a meeting on August 10 decided that educational institutions in the capital should not take coaching classes and left options for ‘extra’ classes so that students, especially the weak ones, could do well in the exams.
Such classes, according to the ministry’s directive, should be taken before or after regular classes, students should not be forced to attend such classes and teachers would receive not more than Tk 175 in remuneration for every one-hour class.
Many of the schools in the capital kept flouting one or more of the three conditions the education ministry put in place for institutions willing to run extra classes for students.
The guardian of a Class XII student of the Milestone College at Uttara said the authorities had not directly forced the student to attend coaching classes but said they would not shoulder the responsibility if she failed the exams without attending the classes. ‘I had no option but to allow her to attend the coaching classes.’
The students need to pay Tk 800 a month for every subject, said the guardian adding that the authorities were taking three one-hour classes every week and the number of students in such classes ranged between 10 and 20 depending on subject and the batch.
‘The teachers said they give the authorities Tk 100 from each student’s payment of Tk 800,’ she said.
A teacher gets Tk 7,000 for 13 classes a month if the batch has 10 students in the minimum and that is more than Tk 500 a class, the guardian said. With 20 students in a ‘weak batch’ for English, the amount increases to more than Tk 1,000 a class.
Charges in the T and T High School and College at Arambagh, however, do not appear to cross the limit set by the government with Tk 300 a month for Class VIII students for all the subjects.
But the school is running coaching classes with taking regular classes in violation of the government directive.
‘Our regular classes have discontinued from the time when the coaching classes have begun,’ a student of the school said.
Other students said the school did not give them any money receipt against charges taken for coaching classes.
Many educational institutions are not even aware of the education ministry directive regarding coaching or special classes.
‘This is for the first time I have heard of any such directive,’ said Viquarunnisa Noon School’s assistant head teacher Fatema Nasrin. ‘We will certainly go by the government rule, if there is any.’
Some institutions still think they are free to offer coaching or special classes for fees of any amount. ‘It is for teachers to charge any amount for coaching classes. Who is the education ministry to set the fees?’ said Masud Alam, administration officer of the Milestone School and College, which runs coaching classes for terminal examinations for students of Class V, VIII, X and XII.
As for government directive for teachers not to charge more than Tk 175 for a one-hour class, he said no teacher would take any coaching classes if they were paid this amount. ‘It is not possible in reality.’
The authorities of the schools not running coaching classes now said such practice in schools defying the government directive was creating ‘inequality’ and problems for them.
‘The guardians and students are pressuring us to take such classes as other schools do,’ said Mohammad Abdul Khaleque, assistant headmaster of the Government Laboratory High School. ‘Such an unequal practice may create a difference between the results of the schools.’
The director general of the secondary and higher education directorate, Mohammad Noman-ur-Rashid, said different agencies at various levels sometimes monitor educational institutions. But proper monitoring had not always been possible, he said, as ‘the ministry does not have any “inspection wing” and lacks sufficient manpower.’
‘The practice of coaching classes should be stopped as it hampers proper development of students,’ he said. ‘We will look into the matter more seriously to stop such practice.’
