Primary education reforms should be judged by how much students learn and whether their learning outcomes improve, rather than by completed projects or infrastructure development, State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj has said.
He made the remarks as chief guest at a dialogue titled “Is the Government Delivering? Spotlight on Primary Education,” organized by the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh, at a Dhaka hotel on Saturday.
“Education is a sector where you cannot bring about a massive change in one day, one night, one month or six months. You will see the actual benefits or count the results after two years, three years, five years or even 10 years,” Bobby said.
Speaking about the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP), he said constructing school infrastructure and ensuring learning in classrooms were fundamentally different.
“Creating infrastructure for a school under a development project and ensuring students’ learning and learning impact in the classroom are completely different things,” he said.
The government is working to reduce excessive project dependency and strengthen the institutional capacity of the primary education system, he said.
Hajjaj said a new teacher policy covering recruitment, career progression, performance assessment and training was also being prepared. A team formed under the Directorate General of Primary Education is expected to submit its report to the ministry by October.
He said the government also planned to bring all educational institutions under state monitoring. Bangla- and English-medium private institutions would be brought under the new curriculum by 2028, while Ebtedayee madrasas would gradually come under the monitoring of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education.
At the dialogue, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Additional Research Director Towfiqul Islam Khan presented a review of progress against electoral pledges and policy commitments.
According to the Bangladesh Reform Tracker of the CPD and Citizen’s Platform, 24 commitments relate to primary education. Three are directly related to the sector, with activities started on all three. Of 21 cross-cutting commitments, implementation has begun on six, legal and policy frameworks have been developed for three, initial steps taken for eight, while four remain unimplemented.
The review highlighted plans to expand the mid-day meal programme nationwide, introduce a two-year universal pre-primary programme on a pilot basis, repair multimedia classroom equipment and provide annual funding to schools for uninterrupted internet connectivity.
Other initiatives include resolving teachers’ retirement benefits, expanding sports and cultural activities, and promoting primary education in the mother tongues of children from ethnic minority communities.
The CPD, however, identified inadequate education financing, a lack of dedicated cleaners at government primary schools, gaps in teachers’ technology skills and delays in some PEDP5 projects as key challenges.
CPD Distinguished Fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said education was a key foundation for Bangladesh’s future, identifying examination failures, institutions without enough students and the reluctance of high-performing young people to enter teaching as major problems.
CPD Executive Director Dr Nazneen Ahmed said Bangladesh had achieved progress in access and gender parity but significant disparities remained between children from wealthy and poor households.
Campaign for Popular Education Executive Director Rasheda K Chowdhury called for a permanent, non-partisan education commission, stronger community monitoring and a comprehensive education law covering the country’s diverse education systems.
Director General of Primary Education Shaheena Ferdousi said work was underway to improve teachers’ career development, training and performance evaluation, including basic first-aid training.
Physician and political figure Tasnim Zara called for greater attention to practical problems at schools, including inadequate first-aid preparedness and equipment, and urged closer monitoring of education spending and implementation.
Representatives of government, civil society and non-government organizations also attended the dialogue.