Tangail Correspondent
A total of 1,459 teacher posts are vacant in 1,623 government primary schools across Tangail district, severely disrupting academic activities and affecting students’ performance.
Of the vacant posts, 888 are for head teachers and 571 for assistant teachers. Officials attributed the vacancies to various complications involving recruitment and promotion.
According to the District Primary Education Office, Tangail has 1,623 government primary schools across 12 upazilas. Of the 1,623 sanctioned head teacher posts, only 735 are currently filled, leaving 888 vacant.
The highest number of vacancies is in Gopalpur, where 126 of 161 head teacher posts are vacant, followed by Kalihati with 112, Ghatail with 110, Nagarpur with 105, Bhuapur with 75, Madhupur with 73, Tangail Sadar with 74, Delduar with 63, Mirzapur with 60, Dhanbari with 36, Basail with 30 and Sakhipur with 24.
The district has 9,068 sanctioned assistant teacher posts, of which 8,497 are filled. The remaining 571 posts are vacant. Ghatail has the highest number of vacancies at 85, followed by Gopalpur with 81, Kalihati with 64, Nagarpur with 65, Bhuapur with 54, Mirzapur with 50, Delduar with 46, Tangail Sadar with 41, Sakhipur with 29, Madhupur with 27, Basail with 13 and Dhanbari with 16.
Nasir Uddin, an assistant teacher and acting head teacher at Khajnagora Government Primary School in Ghatail, said the school, established in 1936, has 112 students who attend classes in two shifts. Although the school has five sanctioned teacher posts, only two teachers are currently working there.
He said the acting head teacher has to remain busy implementing various official directives, leaving only one teacher to conduct classes, which is virtually impossible. As a result, students are being deprived of quality education and falling behind in different competitions. Many parents are enrolling their children in other institutions, he added.
Bashirul Islam, president of the Basail upazila branch of the Bangladesh Primary Teachers’ Association, said a teacher usually has to take around 25 to 30 classes a week, while teachers at schools suffering from staff shortages have to take 35 to 40 classes.
“As a result, teachers do not have enough time to conduct effective classroom teaching or ensure students’ learning,” he said, adding that conducting baseline surveys has also become almost impossible. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are suffering the most, he said.
Former principal of Tangail Government Maulana Mohammad Ali College Shahiduzzaman Mia said adequate recruitment of teachers and practical, up-to-date training were essential to improve the quality of primary education.
Tangail District Primary Education Officer Shahin Mia said the teacher shortage was causing various problems, including disruptions to classroom teaching. Most of the vacant posts are in remote and marginal areas, he said.
“Attempts are being made to address the shortage by reallocating teachers among schools. The matter has also been brought to the attention of the higher authorities,” he said.
He added that the government was continuing the process of recruiting competent and meritorious teachers to fill the vacant posts. He also suggested introducing a rule requiring newly recruited teachers to serve in remote areas and promoting teachers currently serving as acting head teachers to fill vacant head teacher posts. #EK
