THE concern of the officials of the Non-Government Teachers’ Registration and Certification Authority that it has failed to recommend aspirants for about 77,000 vacant positions in secondary and tertiary education institutions is worrying. The agency — which issues certificates after holding examinations to recommend aspirants that they are qualified to take up teaching positions in non-government educational institutions from the primary to the tertiary level — says that the crisis of teachers is more acute for teachers of science subjects such as physics, chemistry and information and communication technology. The agency, set up in 2005 to provide certificates for aspirant teachers for non-government institutions offering secondary, higher secondary, bachelor’s education, at a meeting in Dhaka has said that it has so far recommended 676,633 people to qualify as teachers from the first to the 17th batch. The agency says that students having science background usually chose to be physicians and engineers. They also try to work in banks and take up other government jobs. Even primary teachers do not want to be teachers under monthly pay order scheme and many of them are willing to take up the lowest Grade 3 government jobs as they believe that government jobs would earn them more facilities.
The agency puts the crisis down to the poor salary structure. It says that while students having science background are not willing to take up teaching as a profession, many who have already been in teaching for some years are willing to leave the profession for good financial prospects. This may not be the only problem harming the profession, but it certainly is a major problem. The absence of a career path also appears to be a problem in teaching, especially at the primary and the secondary level. The government needs to work on two fronts simultaneously to improved national education. The government has to create a situation, in consultation with stakeholders, if needed, so that students having science background and students who are willing and who could make good teachers to take up teaching as a profession. The other important issue that remains for the government to attend to is to retain such teachers in the profession by creating a situation where they could lead a decent life and could climb up a career ladder as it happens in government jobs. With these two important issues set aside, the government needs to attend to a horde of other issues to create good teachers — effective teacher training, a condition to stop teachers from burning out and clocking out and dignity of the profession.
The government should, in such a situation, sit with stakeholders and find out the reasons after a thorough analysis of the issues that hold back teaching as a profession. It should then create the environment and make the reforms in the system to make teaching appealing to aspirants and to retain them in the profession after their recruitment.