All Private Schools Will Come Under Registration: Primary Education Advisor

News Desk    |    ০৫:৩৫ পিএম, ২০২৫-০১-২৬

Different nations possess various types of resources, but our most valuable resource is human capital. If we fail to harness this resource, we have no future, commented Professor Dr. Bidhan Ranjan Roy Poddar, Advisor to the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education.

He made these remarks while addressing a meeting with field administration officers on the necessary steps to improve primary education on Sunday morning (January 26).

The meeting was organized at the Circuit House conference hall in Chittagong by the Chittagong Division Commissioner’s Office and the Directorate of Primary Education.

The advisor to the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education stated, “We are working to bring all private schools under registration. We are registering them. They had some demands, including simplifying the registration process, and we have addressed that as well.”

He continued, “We provide textbooks to all government and private educational institutions. So, we can impose a condition: if you are not registered, you won’t receive textbooks.”

He added, “The goal of primary education is to make a person literate. Our job is to make people literate in our spoken language, written language, and mathematical language.” Dr. Bidhan Roy Poddar mentioned that infrastructure and teacher quality have improved, but literacy rates have not. “The primary goal has not been achieved. We are still only 78% literate on paper. In reality, the literacy rate is less than 50%. We cannot progress as an illiterate nation,” he said.

Chittagong Division Commissioner Md. Ziauddin chaired the meeting, with special guests including Abu Taher Md. Masud Rana, Secretary of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, and Md. Abdul Hakim, Director-General of the Directorate of Primary Education. Various government officials and education officers from districts across the Chittagong Division were also present.

During the meeting, officials discussed various challenges and issues. They pointed out that more students are enrolled in Nurani Madrasas and kindergarten schools than in primary schools. Despite having good teachers, primary schools have fewer students. This is because they have not yet been able to gain the trust of parents at the local level, which is why parents do not send their children to government schools.