Editorial
Importance of classroom stressed
Need for a balanced policy approach
The government move to put a lid on teachers' involvement in 'coaching business' has got underway with the formation of a committee mandated to prepare a list of such teachers in seven days. The Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid has taken the initiative aiming to restore effective classroom teaching. We consider it a necessary step on the minister's part to get the teachers to prioritise classroom instructions over that of private tuition. We are for a balanced approach even though we are entirely against commercialisation of teaching which is a noble profession.
What worries us most is the fact that coaching centres have become an integral part of the education system whereas it should have been at best a supplementary feature. In classrooms, education is a matter of learning lessons and ideals but in coaching centres it is commodification of education. What is worse, the teachers themselves goad the students into attending the coaching centres run by them in order to make grades.
This trend, however, is but an effect of certain underlying causes without addressing which the real problems cannot be solved. Growing imbalance between teachers and students ratio is a major obstacle to effective classroom teaching. Compounded with it are teachers' inefficiency and their lower pay scale. Consequently, thousands of coaching centres have mushroomed catering to the students' needs in exchange of hefty sums of money.
We are firmly opposed to business of coaching as distinguished from service of coaching at reasonable fees. We would expect that the ministry will first enunciate a well devised policy to address the aforementioned concerns, which will eventually ensure effective classroom teaching and some coaching on the sides for weaker students. Let the government move result in a judicious outcome for all concerned.
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