Two and a half years have elapsed since the Directorate of Primary Education took up the project to establish 12 new Primary Training Institutes in 12 districts, but their construction has yet to be completed.
Of the 12, the construction of the Primary Training Institute (PTI) based in Dhaka is yet to start.
Mismanagement, delay in land acquisition and the slow pace of construction are the reasons attributed to the failure to complete the construction work by June 2014, according to officials of the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE).
The delay in project work has also led to a decline in the percentage of trained primary teachers.
According to an April 2013 DPE report, the number of trained primary teachers has fallen from 85% in 2011 to 82% in 2013.
Project officials added that the PTI in Gopalganj was supposed to be inaugurated in the beginning of this year, but the authorities postponed the programme at the eleventh hour.
Officials are also concerned that the construction project might take more time and miss its deadline of June 2014.
Contacted, Project Director Abdul Mannan failed to give any satisfactory explanation when asked why the construction of the institutes has not been completed so far and when they would be opened.
He said: “I think the project won’t fall behind its schedule this time.”
Mannan, however, declined to give any details about the progress of the construction work.
DPE took up the Tk2.48bn construction project to establish PTIs in 12 districts in January 2011 with a view to increasing the number of trained teachers.
Some 1,584 primary teachers will be trained every year in these 12 PTIs.
Under the project, PTIs will be established in Jhalokati, Shariatpur, Narayanganj, Lalmonirhat, Gopalganj, Dhaka, Sherpur, Narail, Meherpur, Bandarban, Khagrachhari and Rajbari.
