It is true that education at the primary stage is in a crisis. Its problems are two-fold: lack of resources and declining quality. The reason for poor quality of schooling in the country, as one might have diagnosed, is the physical infrastructure that is woefully inadequate. If all children were in school, as they are meant to be, school buildings or ramshackle houses, as they are now, would burst at the seams.

In some villages there is no infrastructure worth the name. One might have learnt from the newspaper report as published on May 30 in a Bangla daily with photograph that there are no school buildings or anything of the sort in some villages of Sirajganj and Comilla: classes are being held under shady tree. This is exactly the picture in many places in Bangladesh. Teachers said the state of the premises was the main reason why children didn't come to school. In most villages, if there are buildings, many of these buildings have leaking roofs, making it difficult to hold classes during rains.

How much attention can a primary school child hope to receive from his or her teacher? Very little. It has been revealed that in primary schools, there are about 50 children enrolled for each teacher. This implies that even if all teachers are always present and actively teaching during school hours, the total amount of teacher-time per child is, on an average, just around one hour a month. In one finding it has been revealed that children who have managed to study up to class five learned almost nothing. Most of them are unable to read or write even after several years of schooling. Other than that, their handwriting is abysmal. The reason is that paper is costly and children do not get or their parents cannot provide them with enough paper or copy book to practice handwriting.

Besides, very little teaching goes on in most of the schools. Often teachers are not there. Even if some teachers are there, teaching activity is minimal. Teaching aids are seldom available, let alone used. Teachers, for their part, feel that their working conditions are not conducive to better teaching methods. In most schools, teachers have to deal with more than one level of student at the same time. Some teachers in such situations concentrate their efforts on the higher grades, leaving the younger children to their own devices. No wonder that the younger children make slow progress.

The situation in the secondary schools and colleges is also equally appalling. English is hardly taught even at the secondary stage and there is a dearth of competent English teachers. As it appears, education from primary to college level is a low priority subject. In this background it is easier to understand why so many children drop out, despite the high level of parental interest in their education.

On the other hand, teachers' quality and teaching ability are also abysmal. Because many of them roped their way to the teaching profession, most often not to their likings and interest. No wonder the teaching job that demands high commitment from the teachers is distinctly missing. The dismal performance of the students in the SSC and HSC examinations year after year calls for an in-depth analysis of the state of education in the country. While the country is agog with lofty schemes of building infrastructure for development and leaders are making great fuss about national identity and culture, its educational structure is crumbling down. Turning outside Dhaka city one will find to his utter dismay that most of the countryside is portrait of human misery because of our failure to invest in our children's future. But there is also display of wealth: new cars are being imported, businessmen and politicians of all hues are crowding hotels.

But, artificial or actual, no boom can be sustained if certain problems are not solved, specifically, educating the masses, and providing them such basic necessities as sufficient food, vaccines for the young, and water that does not make people sick. The report card on these vital issues is still quite dismal. The recent report sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme concludes that this part of Asia has become the poorest, most illiterate, and malnourished region in the world. Despite so much of hue and cry, Bangladesh has still about 46 per cent illiterate population and literacy still means just to be able to read "Sona Monider Para" or write one's name.

Bangladesh today faces gigantic problems on many fronts. Not so long ago, this country was thought to be among the areas with the greatest potential for progress in the Third World. But now the spurt of chaotic violence, divisive politics, and hatred on party lines consume the whole country. Some of our leaders may have visionary moves, but these moves still fail to focus on the basic needs of the masses, long overlooked. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the realm of education. Arresting unfair means or expelling students resorting to unfair means is no solution of the problem the nation is now facing on the education front.

Schools the length and breadth of Bangladesh have failed to cater to the needs of our children. Our best schools are those that use English as the medium of instruction. Most traditional vernacular schools in the country are without exception outdated and out of touch with the modern methods of education. This is why even our politicians and bureaucrats who 'believe passionately in Bengali nationalism' end up sending their children to English medium schools. This is why even ordinary villagers in recent time seek English medium schools for their children, even when the expenses are prohibitive and never within the meagre means of the poor folks unless they either sell their properties or take a loan or resort to any other extraneous means.

Our findings have revealed that parents belonging to lower middle class and middle class families are seriously concerned with the bleak prospect of educating their children. Desperate and oblivious of the expenses involved, many of them are rushing to Dhaka to get their wards admitted to the English medium schools. In Dhaka city there are now uncounted number of such private schools offering quality education, as claimed by many, of course in English medium having little connection with our mores and tradition, to about 40 percent of the city's children. But this education comes at a price!

In the Indian capital city Delhi there are about 1500 such private schools collecting RsÊ1500 to 2000 as tuition fee a month plus minimum development fee of Rs 30,000 at the beginning of the year.

Severely incensed at such exploitation of collecting fees much in excess of the expenditure incurred and non-compliance with their statutory obligation of fulfilling 25 percent of seats with children from the weaker sections and granting scholarships to them, the Delhi parents associations filed a suit in the Delhi High Court. The court in a landmark judgment on April 27 directed the school authorities to slash the school fees by about 60 percent, thus fulfilling the aspirations of middle class and lower middle class parents of educating their wards.

Small wonder, the case came up before the Supreme Court as appeals by several private schools in Delhi against a High Court judgment. The Supreme Court authorised the Director of Education in Delhi to regulate the fees and other charges to prevent commercialisation of education. It permitted the managements of such private schools to charge development fees not exceeding 15 percent of the total annual tuition fee.

The administration in our country can't remain totally oblivious about the hardship the middle class and lower middle class people are undergoing in educating their children. Measures should be taken to see that these private schools are registered under the Directorate of Education and their fiscal budget, tuition and development fee collection process come under close scrutiny and is regulated by a strict code set by the Ministry of Education. In any case, it is never desirable that education should be commercialised in such a blatant way.

That pinpoints the responsibility of the government that must provide in public education what parents are now obliged to buy privately. This has far reaching consequences that the administration may not be able to realise immediately. This apart, sensible citizenry are dismayed by the loss of bright young boys to education overseas. At least hundreds of thousands of young learners in the secondary and higher secondary stages are migrating to the US, India and European countries for their schooling and in search of a life that is apparently absent in this country. Few countries can take satisfaction from such departure of their best and brightest.

What has happened in the country in the education sector is mostly an irrational approach. Education programmes were based on targets hurled from above. Some new schools with political consideration were built and quite a substantial amount of funds distributed. Government attempted to get a certain percentage of population into schools but did little else. One would rather be shocked to see that mothers have made beelines on school day during school hours for collecting "Incentive stipend money" while no students were seen in and around the primary school compound in a village Bayardanga 14 km away from Kalaroa upazila in the Satkhira district. The process only helped to turn some "record keepers" in the Directorate of Education office into millionaires because of unbridled corruption creeping in the system in absence of proper checks and balances, surveillance and monitoring of projects by the elected representatives.

This is a soul searching question for the whole nation and our visionary leaders must now ponder as to what it means by investing in education above all other projects. Situation in the educational sector in the country is now messy and chaotic. Most institutions have been pushed to the ropes by a severe resource crunch, dearth of qualified and competent teachers and lack of supervisory control in the teaching modules. To meet all such challenges, all these impoverished schools and colleges need efficient and qualified teachers with motivation, commitment and dedication. At the same time, government must take effective steps in putting curb on private tuition by teachers that goes at the expense of class-room teaching. This will promote egalitarianism among students and restore an atmosphere of fair education system.

Md. Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET.