A view exchange meeting titled “Remedial Education: Challenges and Future Visions” was organized for lagging students by the Mass Literacy Campaign and in collaboration with Save the Children. The meeting was presided over by Rasheda K. Chowdhury, Executive Director of Mass Literacy Campaign, a press release said.
Honorable State Minister for the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, Bobby Hajjaj, was present as the chief guest. He said, the government is considering the education sector as a national investment. We know and accept that we have a learning deficit. According to the National Student Assessment (NSA), half of the primary students are lagging behind in basic skills. I have visited at least 25 schools and the actual number of students lagging behind in achieving skills may be higher. All of you will cooperate in whatever way you can to fill the learning deficit. He further said, our goal is to strengthen the basic learning foundation of children aged 4 to 10 years in pre-primary and primary levels. The reality is that many students have not been able to acquire the skills required for that class even after studying in the third grade. The government has taken a special action plan to bring the backward students forward. It is true that the number of primary students is decreasing, we will make government primary schools in such a way that they come back again. We want to bring any type of primary school on the same straight line so that students, whether government or private, get quality education wherever they go. We will train the teachers and send them to the classrooms from now on. We will review the findings you have received in remedial education and try to work on the recommendations.
Tapan Kumar Das, Deputy Director of Mass Literacy Campaign, delivered a welcome speech at the beginning of the meeting. Then, Save the Children’s Education Lead Shaheen Islam, Senior Manager-Education Tahsina Taimur and Professor Murshid Akhtar presented keynote papers on Bangladesh in the context of remedial education: Situation analysis, current challenges, opportunities and review of experiences. They said that the effectiveness evaluation study of the ECE project found that many primary school students still lag behind in basic literacy and numeracy skills, especially among children from poor and vulnerable families. The study found positive changes in student learning progress, teacher skills, parent involvement and school-based supportive environment in the remedial education program conducted in Rajarhat of Kurigram and Madarganj upazilas of Jamalpur. Teacher training, daily remedial classes, teacher learning circles, parent meetings and regular monitoring have improved students’ reading and numeracy skills and increased teacher motivation and participation. The study recommended that considering learning deficits as a national level education challenge, it is necessary to introduce remedial time in schools, include remedial methods in government teacher training, make teacher learning circles part of the national CPD system, strengthen supportive supervision systems and take effective steps for students who are lagging behind by regularly assessing learning progress.
The meeting was addressed as guests by Dr. Manzur Ahmed, Emeritus Professor of BRAC University, Zerin Mahmud Hossain FCA, Council Member of Mass Literacy Campaign and Founder of Chalpari, Suman Sengupta, Country Director of Save the Children, and Israt Jahan Sohana, a student of Dhaka Ahsania Mission’s Godhuli ULC School. In addition, various open stakeholders also expressed their opinions and recommendations.
More than 150 representatives of teachers, students, guardians, education officers, development workers, media workers and domestic and foreign development cooperation organizations were present at the discussion meeting.
