Ban on Private Coaching

Ban on Private Coaching

An article in the Op-ed page by Hussain Imam on August 13 and a timely editorial on August 14 appeared in the Daily Star on private coaching. The editorial goes like this, Private tuition has become a roaring business and had reached an obnoxious level with the mushrooming of a huge number of coaching centers, mostly in the last decade and many run by serving school teachers, and this at the expense of classroom teaching which naturally was bound to suffer. The government has now put a bar on private coaching with the caveat that schools can run extra classes for the extra meritorious students and weaker section of the students, and that too only after class hours for which the teachers would be remunerated. The news has not yet spread across the country or media still seems to be reticent in spreading the message. We, the readers are, not sure whether the government has already taken the decision or contemplating to put a ban on private coaching. The task is gigantic and challenging.
The BNP-led four party alliance governments did a very commendable job by completely stopping copying in the examination, which engulfed the whole nation throwing the assessment system in the shamble. It was a revolutionary step indeed. The conscious educationists gave up the hope of curing the malady in the midst of so much politicization of education. However, finally it became a success. The present government also has taken some laudable steps in the field of education by distributing books free of cost and forming an education commission to present a reasonable education policy to the nation. The government can earn much credit by removing the social malady in the name of ‘private coaching’ along with these two epoch-making these in the greater interest of the nation.

Brilliant teachers should have the scope to earn more in honest ways. Scopes should be made for them so that they can be creative enough and practice professional development. Otherwise, brilliant students will come to teaching profession which will be a serious loss for the nation because low qualified and non-creative teachers can hardly give anything to the nation rather does an irreparable loss to the students. Private coaching has turned the teachers even the creative ones stereotyped ones. They have lost their creative faculty because of the lack of practice. They remain busy with the touch and pass system and earn name, fame and make fortune by virtue of this system. No touch of creativity is available there which is of utmost importance for a teacher who shoulders the responsibility to build the future leaders of the country.
Many teachers argue that because of private coaching the results have got improved. Actually it’s a false notion. Students and guardians have become depended on the system and more so, they have become bound to follow the system developed in the educational arena. The students and guardians have to spend a huge amount of time on the way, in the coaching centers and teachers’ house. Pupils hardly get any time to study by themselves which is a of great importance. They cannot give concentration on their studies. Moreover, guardians face huge financial constraint as a lion’s share of their income goes to private coaching. Students need peaceful time and mind to give concentration on studies at home. This tradition has started to lose totally. As a student has to move around almost five or six teachers a day posing to be a mad rush and mad game which we cannot afford to see any more.
. Hsain Imam wrote in his article, “It was also not common to take systematic private coaching as has to be invariably pursued these days, for admission to any level be it school, college or university. In those days except for BUET, there was probably no system of written admission test for admission into the universities or colleges. A student seeking admission into a good university or college needed, at best, a good second division. If he had a first division, he was admitted with what one may call’ jamai adar’.” Exactly so. Those second division holders students and teachers had depth of their subject. But now students don’t go deep into their subjects , they just manage grades by the techniques developed by the private teachers and coaching centres.

The whole nation will be benefited if ban on private coaching can be successfully implemented. Only a few private practicing teaching may have some little financial loss for the time being. The guardians always remain in tension as I see my wife continuously remain busy with my daughter taking her to different teachers’ houses. It is a common picture in almost all the school and college going students’ houses. Guardians along with the pupils are getting psychologically affected. Every family of this kind faces financial constraint only for this cause otherwise they could manage somehow. Visiting various teachers’ house also contributes a great deal to causing traffic jam . Considering all these sides, time is ripe to take the decision to put a stop to private coaching. Institutional teaching must be established at any cost. There is no alternative to it. Now the presence of students in the class registers very thin, whereas they crowd in the teachers’ hoses or in the coaching centres. This bad tradition must be annihilated once and for all.

Md. Masum Billah
Programme Manager: BRAC Education Programme, PACE
Cell: 01714-091431 , 9355253(home)
Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com, mmbillah@dhaka.net