A grand rally was held on 07 October 2025 at Shurawardy Uddayan on the occasion of World Teachers’ Day, where teachers gathered with the demand of annihilating discrepancies lying in the education sector and barriers to quality of education, deciding retirement age 65, bringing Non-MPO institutions into MPO and MPO teachers and staff to be nationalised.
Acting chairman of BNP Tarique Rahman said if they got the opportunity to run the state, they would do everything as per the government’s ability to ensure the teachers’ financial security. At the same time, they will form the ‘Education Reform Commission’, making technical education the centre stage.
He added that if the state failed to ensure the financial security of the teachers, we would not get the results of our going ahead. We see his speech and promise contain reasonable thoughts devoid of emotions.
He mentioned technical education several times, which I appreciate, as many graduates with heavy potentials with honours degrees depend on their parents’ income and remain unemployed for years together. That proves a burden on society.
They need to earn something to support themselves, their families and society. We need to popularise technical education. If some of them want to satisfy their demand to receive higher education in general, they can also be entertained through private study or night classes or such alternative ways.
However, technical education should be the focus of what Tarique Rahman has tried to mean. He said that many teachers talked about MPO and many nationalisations. Moreover, more teachers waiting outside this association may have some more demands. BNP morally agrees to these demands.
A nation cannot go ahead keeping teachers financially weak. It is also true that the way our education and teachers are going, bringing sudden change proves difficult. So, Tarique Rahman has very judiciously said that they would do everything for the teachers, keeping pace with the state’s ability and situation.
He also said that to survive in this continuously competitive world, technical education and moral and religious values are a crying need. He also said that all the good examples of the past can be accommodated to make a good walking history of education.
Our merit, knowledge and science to be enriched. Our state must be established on a knowledgeable society; teachers are the principal tools to make that base of the state. When these tools prove weak, it is challenging to construct the base of education. When teachers remain in an unpleasant situation, teaching in a peaceful and joyful environment becomes almost impossible.
Education must not be based only on books; it should be based on practical knowledge and skills. BNP is working on these aspects of education where teachers can confidently establish themselves as role model in society. Teaching can never be just an alternative, casual, and helpless profession, which must be treated differently from others.
His party is working to attract the real meritorious students to this profession. Mr. Tarique Rahman says that his party is working based on a real plan and specific criteria for the development of teachers and education, as without the development of teachers and education, no nation can go forward, whatever development plan it takes.
And he also said that to banish corruption from society, work must start from educational institutions. I want to add that our educational institutions are the lighthouse of society. If we could have taught our graduates morality, idealism, and values, we would not have sunk into the ocean of corruption we experience today.
All sorts of professionals have to come through educational institutions. If they had received real and moral education, its reflection must have been in society. It is impossible to create a corruption-free and ideal society solely through teachers. They need state support and sponsorship.
Mr. Rahman has also emphasised this point. The Secretary General of BNP has pointed out another good point. He said that on special days, the President and Prime Minister invite people from all walks of life, where primary and secondary level teachers are omitted. He proposed doing it so we appreciate it, which indicates the teacher’s empowerment and state recognition.
The principal demand of the non-government teachers is to nationalise education. What does it actually mean? Does it mean all teachers and educational institutions must be run absolutely by the state? Does it mean all sorts of teachers will be government employees?
If these are so, does the state have the ability to nurture all sorts of teachers and educational institutions? Or, do the teachers want just secondary-level teachers and institutions to be nationalised? If it is so, what about intermediate and graduation level institutions and teachers? These points are still shrouded in mystery.
But I think nationalisation should be done up to the intermediate level, but it is interesting that whenever teachers’ demonstrations take place, mostly the secondary level teachers lead those. What does it mean?
Our experience and practical situation that prevail around us say that running something by the state means no service, quality, responsibility, or accountability. It means nobody is for anybody, as seen in all the government-run institutions. So, there must be a complete and clear plan and proposal to be submitted to the nation by the teacher leaders to resolve these issues.
On the occasion of ‘World Teachers’ Day’, one retired director of DPE said that she discovered some government primary schools take non-government school students to appear in the primary scholarship exam, and they obtain a scholarship. Students of government primary do not get a scholarship, but they take the credit. This is another example of the government’s primary schools’ miserable situation.
Despite the abovementioned facts, education should be nationalised at least to the intermediate level. However, with the nationalisation, there must be a sound prescription so that the secondary and higher secondary level education does not show the performance that our government primary schools exhibit.
We see that the state bears the burden of the financial security of primary school teachers, whereas guardians opt for non-government primary schools to educate their children. When this is the fact, what is the necessity of nurturing primary education as free and compulsory?
We have seen that government primary school teachers have agreed that their education is of a very low standard when they did not allow children beyond government primary schools to sit for the primary scholarship examination this year.
Many teachers have given their opinion on Facebook that poor children reading in government primary schools cannot compete with those studying in non-government schools. When this is the case, was it necessary to nationalise it? Secondary school teachers with similar and, in most cases, greater academic backgrounds do not enjoy facilities, so they are supposed to claim to be nationalised, which is usual.
We know government hospital means no treatment, but the staff’s salary from the state must be paid; government office means no service, even if they provide service, it is not without any extra money. These practical examples lie before us.
Still, we want schools to be made by the government, which means lowering the quality of education further. There will be a huge problem with the service rule, which will trigger further movement and agitation; however, there will be no rally or agitation for bettering education quality. Still, education, at least up to the intermediate level, should be nationalised to bring the teachers and staff under the state’s safety net.
It will contribute to lessening poverty also. The pseudo-mastans and party leaders control the non-government educational institutions, and they harass the teachers time and again, but the state has turned a deaf ear towards that matter. Teachers want nationalisation not only for financial security but also to eliminate these so-called committee members. We all want to end this malady.
About the Author
Masum Billah works as a President of the English Teachers' Association of Bangladesh (ETAB), Dhaka, Bangladesh. He previously worked as an Education Specialist at BRAC, an international NGO in Bangladesh.
