Coaching centres are harming

Former Dhaka University Vice-chancellor, Professor Maniruzzaman Miah on Sunday said that different types of coaching centres across the country were harming the education system. ‘Aware of the harmful role of coaching centres, I had asked the government to close the coaching centres much earlier,’ said Maniruzzaman Miah, also chairman of the national education commission report 2003. Speaking at a press conference in the National Press Club, he also pointed out that there were allegations of question paper leakage against some coaching centres. The Bangladesh Principals’ Council and Bangladesh College Teachers’ Association jointly organised the conference where they put forward different demands including the establishment of an education service commission for recruiting competent teachers at non-government schools, colleges and madrassahs. ‘We demand an end to the discriminatory education system which creates a distance between the rural and urban and government and non-government education systems,’ said Principal Mazharul Hannan, president of the Bangladesh Principals’ Council. ‘We demand raising of the house-rent and annual increment for non-government teachers and employees as more than 95 per cent educational institutions are under the non-government management,’ Hannan said. Urging the government to stop unplanned establishment of educational institutions, he said they would hold a series of conferences in different parts of the country including Dhaka in the next two months to improve the overall situation of education. M Sahriful Islam and Liakat Ali of the association attended the conference, among others.