To boost primary education in areas where there are no public or private schools, the Awami League government established thousands of community primary schools across the country when it came to power over 25 years ago. Thirty-six such schools were set up in different places of Basail Upazila in Tangail.
District education office sources said that in these schools built in 1995-96, there was a provision to appoint locals as teachers as per government rules. But all the posts could not be filled accordingly due to lack of qualified teachers in
the upazila. On the other hand, those who got appointments left teaching and switched to other professions as the pay was low.
Dhaka TribuneIn the meantime, 21 of the 36 schools have been nationalized, while 15 schools remained abandoned, failing to operate in full swing.
Some of these 15 school buildings have grown weeds and bushes, while locally influential people use some others as residences, warehouses, cattle sheds, clubs, and gambling halls.
In 2019, the local authorities took the initiative to make seven of these schools operational. They sent a proposal to the Education Ministry seeking approval and the workforce needed to resume operations. Now, the proposal has remained pending for the last three years.
Bijoy Kanti Chowdhury, the land donor of Palpara Community School in Basail Sadar, said: “We gave the land to the government with the hope that our village will have a school where our children will study.
Dhaka Tribune“The school building is fine, but is of no use to us. Had it been on, we won't have to send our children to distant schools.”
Upazila Chairman Kazi Alid Islam deplored that these community schools had been closed for a long time. “If these schools are reopened, we will be able to play a role in advancing our primary education to some extent.”
In 2013, the government initiated nationalizing the community primary schools across the country. At that time, these 15 schools were left out because of the closure, according to Upazila Primary Education Officer Sadananda Paul.
“The government has undertaken a project to launch 1,000 new community primary schools across the country. We have selected seven abandoned schools and sent the names to the Education Ministry, seeking approval,” he told Dhaka Tribune.
