The primary education programme in Comilla district is in crisis due to a lack of education officers, headmasters and assistant teachers.
Positions of 24 assistant education officers, 274 headmasters, and 350 assistant teachers are currently vacant in the district’s 16 upazilas.
Sources said a long-time teacher shortage has been disrupting the academic activities of Monairkandi Government Primary School in Comilla’s Homna upazila. On the record, the school has three teachers, but among the three, Headmaster Abdul Latif is currently on leave after being injured in a road accident, while one of the assistant teachers, Imam Uddin, is frequently absent at work.
Khairul Alam, the other assistant teacher at the school, is running the school, said the sources. The school shuts down completely when he goes to the upazila Sadar for the school’s official work, they added.
In this regard, the district’s Primary Education Officer Bilkis Ara Begum said the vacancies are created when teachers go into retirement.
She said written and oral examinations had been held in order to appoint teachers for the vacant positions, and the process was at the final stage.
In addition, the higher authorities have been informed about the crisis, said the primary education officer.
