The number of English and mathematics teachers at the secondary-level educational institutions in the country decreased in the past 13 years amid the students’ poor show in these two subjects in different public examinations.
From 2011 to 2024, the number of English teachers at the junior secondary schools, secondary schools and school section of the secondary school and colleges dropped by 14,673 and the number of maths teachers decreased by 1,607.
In the same period, the number of such educational institutions increased from 19,070 to 20,631 and the number of students at these institutions rose from 75,10,218 to 89,79,009.
The number of teachers having specialisation in these two subjects also remains low.
The crisis of teachers of maths and English has been the key reason for the students’ poor show in these two subjects in the secondary school certificate and higher secondary certificate examinations, experts said.
They said that negligence towards the education sector, bureaucratic complexities in appointing teachers and poor salaries and facilities for teachers were the reasons for the decrease in the number of teachers for these subjects as graduates in the two subjects enjoyed high demand on the job market.
The results of this year’s two public examinations once again exposed the students’ weakness in these two subjects, they said.
They observed that weakness in English and maths affected not only the students’ academic results, but also their skills and performances in getting jobs.
Officials at the education boards also said that most of the unsuccessful candidates in the SSC, HSC and their equivalent examinations failed in English and maths.
In Bangladesh, English is a mandatory subject from the pre-primary level to the higher secondary (college) level while mathematics is a compulsory subject from the pre-primary level to the secondary (up to Class X) level.
According to the Bangladesh Education Statistics 2024 published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics, 59,791 teachers were teaching English at 20,631 junior secondary schools, secondary schools and school section of the secondary school and colleges and the average number of teachers per educational institution was 2.90 in the year.
In 2011, 74,464 teachers were teaching English at 19,070 such educational institutions and the average number of teachers per educational institution was 3.9, as per the Bangladesh Education Statistics 2011.
In the case of mathematics, 61,707 teachers were teaching the subject at 20,631 junior secondary schools, secondary schools and school section of the secondary school and colleges in 2024 and the average number of mathematics teachers per educational institution was 3.14.
In 2011, 63,314 teachers were teaching maths at 19,070 such educational institutions and the average number of teachers per educational institution was 3.3.
Professor Md Fazlur Rahman, a teacher at the Institute of Education and Research under Dhaka University, said that the education sector was the most neglected sector in Bangladesh.
‘Even under this interim government, no reform commission has been formed for this sector,’ he said, adding that many positions of the teachers remained vacant due to bureaucratic complexities.
Fazlur also said that students who studied English and maths at tertiary levels were mostly unwilling to join teaching profession in the schools due to poor salaries and facilities.
These graduates go for high-paid jobs while students who study the other subjects are only left for the teaching profession at these educational institutions and they often fail to teach students English and maths properly because of a lack of regular and specialised in-service trainings, he added.
The combined pass rate, 68.45 per cent, in this year’s SSC and its equivalent examinations has recorded its lowest in 15 years. This year’s combined pass rate is the lowest after 2009 when the pass rate was 67.41 per cent.
Most of the unsuccessful students failed in maths.
In this year’s HSC and its equivalent examinations under all 11 boards, the combined pass rate declined by about 20 percentage points to 58.83 per cent from 77.78 per cent in 2024.
The pass rate, 57.12 per cent, in the HSC under nine general boards was the lowest after 2005 when the rate was 59.16 per cent.
Most of the unsuccessful students under the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka failed in English in the HSC exams, officials said.
A total of 32,000 candidates under the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Rajshahi failed in one subject and 22,000 of them failed in English.
The Bangladesh Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee chair and the Dhaka board chief, professor Khandaker Ehsanul Kabir, said that the candidates of the SSC, HSC and their equivalent examinations every year failed mostly in English.
He also said that many students were not good even in Bangla and they had a fear about English as it is a foreign language.
‘The pay scale for the teachers should be increased,’ professor Fazlur Rahman said.
He observed that the 2020 Covid pandemic and the 2024 uprising also affected both teachers and students while the replacement of the 2021 curriculum with the 2012 curriculum in the middle of 2024 affected the students.
According to the Bangladesh Education Statistics 2024, of the total English teachers, only 16.99 per cent or 10,153 studied English as core subject (7.32 per cent or 4,374 had Bachelor of Arts (honours) in English and 9.67 per cent or 5,779 had master’s degree in English).
In 2011, of the total English teachers, only 8.67 per cent or 6,459 studied English as core subject (3.32 per cent or 2,472 had Bachelor of Arts (honours) in English and 5.35 per cent or 3,987 had master’s degree in English).
In the case of mathematics, in 2024, of the total maths teachers, only a handful, 14.66 per cent or 9,046, studied mathematics as core subject (7.08 per cent or 4,370 had Bachelor of Science (honours) in maths and 7.58 per cent or 4,676 had master’s degree in maths).
In 2011, of the total maths teachers, 8.75 per cent or 9,046, studied mathematics as core subject (3.74 per cent or 2,365 had Bachelor of Science (honours) in maths and 5.01 per cent or 3,169 had master’s degree in maths).