Eight years inside implementation of a multi-billion-dollar project to improve secondary education quality, the government found at least 52 per cent teachers were unable to prepare creative questions for their students.
Of the 52 per cent teachers, 32 per cent take help of their colleagues in preparing and the other 22 per cent outsource the creative questions, according to a government survey conducted in May this year.
Failure in conceiving the method of preparing creative questions by the teachers was the main reason assigned by the survey for their frustrating performance that leads to harm the students’ academic life.
Conceived in 2008 and revised in 2013, the SESIP’s one of the most prime tasks is to promote creative questions, also known as structured questions, at secondary school systems, from class VI to class XII, in Bangladesh.
With a 10-year tenure, the total revised program is set to be financed by the Asian Development Bank with $ 185 million in soft loan and that by the government of Bangladesh with $ 2.95 billion from its Annual Development Programme’s allocation.
The survey also found the poorest performance in as only 20 per cent teachers are able to prepare creative questions while 55 per cent outsource and the others take help from their colleagues.
In Mymensingh, only 23 per cent teachers can prepare creative questions by themselves while more than 30 per cent teachers outsource and 43 per cent take help from their colleagues in preparing the questions.
In Dhaka region, less than half of the teachers can prepare the creative questions by themselves while 16 per cent teachers outsources and 36 per cent take help of their colleagues in preparing the questions.
The situation is same in Chittagong and Rangpur region, the survey shows, while 71 per cent teachers in Sylhet and Comilla regions have achieved the quality of preparing the creative questions.
Whatever the findings came out of the government’s survey, Bangladesh Shikkhak Samiti’s president Nazrul Islam Rony told dainikshiksha.com that more than 80 per cent of teachers in secondary education did not understand what the creative question is.
Former education secretary Md. Nazrul Islam Khan told dainikshiksha.com that the SESIP was a much needed programme to improve the education quality at secondary level.
Both of them, however, blamed inadequate training for the frustrating findings in preparing the creative questions by the secondary school teachers.
Dhaka University pro-vice-chancellor and Education Policy implementation committee member Akhtaruzzaman, however, said that the creative method was not something new as it was earlier in the country’s education system. But teachers are fear of the method unknowingly, he said, adding that the teachers should be trained well and be free of the fear.
SESIP (2013-2023) in Bangladesh is designed with the assistance of the ADB to achieve a more relevant secondary education in terms of quality, efficiency and equity through developing the secondary education sector as a whole.
The program is prepared to facilitate the implementation guidelines and directives regarding secondary education as set forth in the National Education Policy 2010 as well as in achieving the targets predetermined in Vision 2021.
It will make secondary education more relevant to job market by promoting efficient management, education quality and retention of students at secondary level, according to the SESIP document.
