Kindergarten schools in Chandpur district reopened amid enthusiasm on September 12 after a long Covid-induced lockdown. Yet, 41 of them located in seven upazilas of the district have remained closed because of shortage of teachers and staff.
According to the Bangladesh Kindergarten Association five Kindergarten schools in Chandpur Sadar, ten in Faridganj, six each in Matlab Uttar, Hajiganj and Shahrasti, four each in Matlab Dakshin and Kochua Upazilas have remained closed even after mass reopening. Locals said these KG schools are about to shut down completely.
Being hit by financial crisis during Covid lockdown, many of the teachers and staff of these Kindergarten schools shifted their jobs elsewhere for survival. Meanwhile, the students of these schools are now attending local government primary schools while many are attending local madrasas.
Bangladesh Kindergarten Association’s District President Omar Faruque and General Secretary Sabuj Bhodro said there were a total of 897 Kindergarten schools in this district. About 12 thousand teachers and 13 hundred staff were working in these schools.
However, many are unlikely to come back to these KG schools to reopen.
In addition, in most closed schools, furniture and other instruments used for teaching were sold out to pay rents to the landlords.
Meanwhile, those KG schools that opened have only a few students. About 40-45 per cent of students are absent from these schools.
Principal of Modern KG School on Bank Colony Road in the town Omar Faruque, who is also Bangladesh Kindergarten Association’s District President, said they are visiting the houses of the absentees to bring them back to the schools.
The authority of Modern KG School also asked its students to pay half the tuition fees but most of the guardians are unable to pay the amount.
“That’s why we cannot pay our teachers and staff members who are leading lives in hardship as they didn’t get any assistance from the government during the lockdown. Only about 400 teachers received Tk 1,000 each as financial assistance from DC’s relief fund,” said Omar Faruque.
When contacted, District Primary Education Officer Md Shahabuddin said, “We are not aware of how many Kg schools remain closed in this district but we can say about 80 per cent students of government primary schools are attending classes in the district.”
