Govt Plans to Bring All Primary Education Streams Under One Monitoring System
State Minister of Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj says unregistered schools will be closed, while registered schools will face checks on infrastructure, teachers, attendance and learning.
In a Nutshell:
- At a workshop held in Chattogram on Wednesday, Hajjaj said schools providing primary education without registration will be closed.
- The common monitoring system will cover classroom size, playgrounds, infrastructure, teacher presence, student numbers, attendance and actual learning.
- The government is preparing a new teacher policy covering assessment, promotion and pay, while trying to recruit more than 32,000 headteachers.
- The revised curriculum will emphasise learning through play and storytelling, with officials preparing school hour plans for one-shift and two-shift schools.
Context
Hajjaj's announcement is part of a broader attempt to bring Bangladesh's fragmented primary education system under common standards. In July, he said government, private, and English-medium schools would have the same minimum learning standards in core subjects while retaining their separate streams. He says the monitoring proposal could address gaps in the law, which have allowed schools and kindergartens to continue operating without meeting registration requirements. It would allow field officials to examine whether schools actually meet physical and teaching standards, including whether a private operator is running an unsuitable school from a residential building. This move comes as a part of Hajjaj’s overall emphasis on improving five areas in the education sector: curriculum, teachers, administration, infrastructure and technology.
Why it matters
At present, stronger state oversight is concentrated on government primary schools, while Hajjaj is proposing a single monitoring framework to oversee all institutions serving the same age group across different media. If implemented properly, this monitoring system would go hand in hand with the other reforms that Hajjaj has proposed. Since the BNP took office, many such initiatives have been proposed, including the One Teacher, One Tablet system, which is intended to monitor teaching and identify learning gaps in real time. A curriculum is also being developed for 2028, focusing on literacy, numeracy, practical skills, and defined learning outcomes, with teacher guides, workbooks, remedial materials, and video lessons prepared alongside textbooks. For now, all of these initiatives remain on paper and are yet to be fully implemented. So, it is likely that the same thing will happen with this new proposal.
What we think
Bringing private and English-medium schools under state monitoring would be a significant and meaningful shift, but the plan's scope is broad and ambitious. For now, the government will have to focus on bringing the many reforms already proposed to life before this can be seriously enforced and expanded. But a question remains: if the state oversees the education system, how will it ensure quality education? Before implementation, this ambitious plan would require a road map from the ministry.