With the dearth of quality government schools, kindergartYn for 'proper' education.

There are no reliable statistics available regarding the exact number of kindergartens in the country. According to a 1999 survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Education, Information and Statistics, the number of schools is 2477, students 364196 and teachers 15052. But it is believed the actual figure of schools is much higher.

Md. Moffazzal Hossain, system manager of Bangladesh Bureau of Education, Information and Statistics says: "As the owners and teachers of such schools often do not cooperate, the exact figures are therefore very hard to obtain."

There is no control over the schools and the school authorities have no accountability. The owners of the schools establish and run the schools at their will taking advantage of the absence of a code of conduct. Many establish kindergartens for business purpose only and because of that the quality of education is not maintained. The high tuition fees and other expenses also make these schools reserved for children of the upper middle class and high-income groups.

In this backdrop, the ministry of education has taken a move to introduce the code of conduct. Earlier, the government had initiated formation of a similar code in 1994 that was never implemented.

The ministry of education has formed a 9-member body headed by Abdul Hannan, the chairman of National Curriculum and Textbook Board which will formulate the code of conduct.

"The body has already launched a study to evaluate the real picture of the schools, including calculating the number of schools, teachers and students, justify the quality of schooling and teaching, whether the school authority is following the curriculum selected by the government etc," said a top official of the ministry of education. The study is expected to be concluded within the next three months, he added.

"The code will be finalised on the basis of the study report and after consultation with the concerned parties," said Education Minister Dr. Osman Faruque.

The Minster also informed that the priorities of the code would be firstly, to decide the authority under which the schools will function. It could be either the ministry of education or the bureau of primary education. Secondly, it will bring all the kindergarten schools inside a systematic form through registration.

Thirdly, there will be a system to monitor the course curriculum of the schools and whether it was conflicting with the national culture and spirit.

Also, the schools must follow a book list approved by the government.

"The objective to form the code of conduct is not to impose the government's control over the kindergarten schools. We want all the schools to come under a system that ensures the quality education," said Dr. Faruque.

According to the Minister, the code of conduct will not regulate the tuition fees and the salary of the teachers. But guardians want the government's intervention in this regard.

Rezaul Hassan, a guardian said that the fees were exorbitant and the school authorities don't have any sympathy for them.

"We are hostages of the school authority. There are some schools where the tuition fees for a play group student is more than Tk 2000. This is so irrational. The government should do something about this trend."

The schools meanwhile have welcomed the code of conduct.

"In every country there are code of conduct for all educational institutions, we should also have one," said Md Abdul Maleque, senior vice principal of Oxford International School.