Nothing to make up for learning loss

The proposed budget did not offer any new way out for the recovery of learning loss of millions of students caused by the Covid-19 pandemic through school closures.

The proposed budget for a Covid-battered education sector appeared to have also glossed over the need for capacity building of teachers for the proper implementation of new curriculums.

These two vital measures have been missed out although the theme of this year's budget is "Return to the Path of Development Leaving the Covid-19 Behind".

Moreover, ignoring longstanding appeals of educationists and Unesco recommendations for increasing the GDP's share in the budgetary allocations for education, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal went for a reduction.

GDP'S SHARE IN EDUCATION DROPS

The finance minister allocated Tk 81,449 crore -- Tk 31,761 crore for the primary and mass education ministry, Tk 39,961 crore for the Secondary and Higher Education Division and Tk 9,727 for the Technical and Madrasa Education Division -- for the fiscal year 2022-23.

He had allocated Tk 71,954 crore for the outgoing fiscal year.

In other words, the finance minister allocated only 1.83 per cent of the GDP for the education sector for fiscal year 2022-23. It was 2.08 per cent in the current budget.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) recommends spending 6 per cent of the GDP on the education sector.

The amount of fiscal year 2022-23 makes up 12.01 per cent of the total outlay. It was 11.91 per cent of the total outlay of the current budget.

Attending an event yesterday morning, Education Minister Dipu Moni claimed that the current size of the education budget was 3 per cent of the total gross domestic product (GDP) but it should be increased to 6 per cent in the future.

Once the ongoing mega projects are implemented, education will be the country's largest mega project, she added.

LEARNING LOSS

The finance minister in his budget speech said the country's education programme faced disruptions since the first week of March 2020 due to the spread of coronavirus infections.

He mentioned that the authorities continued teaching online and through TV and radio. Imparting of lessons through TV continued to keep students focused on their studies even after the reopening of schools, he said.

"In addition, to ensure close monitoring of the progress of students' studies, teachers are continuing their regular teaching activities through mobile phones and personal communication with the students," he said.

Educationists said most students in urban areas have access to learning through the internet but the digital divide has so far proved to be a great disadvantage for underprivileged learners, mainly for a lack of devices and poor access to the internet.

Economists and educationists expressed dissatisfaction over the proposed budget providing no way out for addressing the important issue of learning loss.

They quoted a study of October 2021 saying that nearly eight million students across the country were at risk of learning loss due to the prolonged school closure caused by the pandemic.

But the government still appears to be in the dark about the situation on the ground, said the joint study by the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and Brac Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD).

State-run Bangladesh Examination Development Unit (BEDU) is assessing the Covid-induced academic loss for secondary-level students and it is at the final stage, said BEDU Chief Robiul Kabir Chowdhury.

Published on October 19, the study said 3.96 million primary and 3.9 million secondary students -- a total of 7.86 million students -- were at risk of learning loss.

Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of the PPRC, told The Daily Star that it seemed the government's main focus was the reopening of schools.

 "Unfortunately learning loss challenge has not been well understood by the government and therefore we don't see the proper reflection in the budget," he said.

 "We were hoping for a big initiative," he said, adding that there should be a mega national dialogue exclusively on learning loss recovery.

 "I think you cannot give the load of learning loss to schools, they are already loaded with resuming classes. We need a community level solution," he added.

Professor Emeritus Manzoor Ahmed of Brac University said the long school closure created an extraordinarily difficult challenge of learning loss.

For instance, children who were in class five at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 are in class seven now, skipping two school years and largely unprepared for their new lessons.

He suggested taking up a remedial plan for them to catch up alongside technical and financial support to teachers and schools to implement the remedial plan and others.

 "The authorities may not have proposed specific budget lines for these activities," he said.

Prof Mohammad Tariq Ahsan of the Institute of Education and Research at the University of Dhaka said normally the education budget of Bangladesh was lower than many other South Asian countries.

He said the country's education system does not have the resistance capacity to face the hit generated by the Covid-19 pandemic. A new arrangement of the education system is needed following the hit already suffered, he said.

There is no alternative to increasing investment in education for enhancing the quality of teachers and education and increasing facilities at schools, he said.

 "Increasing the capacity of teachers is a very important matter, so that they can improve their classroom delivery for implementation of the new curriculum," he added.

The new curriculum, which is set to be implemented in phases from January 2023, will be fully implemented by 2025.

Campaign for Popular Education Deputy Director KM Enamul Hoque said a huge investment was needed for building the capacity of teachers.

They will need to take innovative approaches and spread motivation for the recovery from the huge learning loss stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

He said the government should increase coverage of social safety net programmes such as stipends and their amount as out of pocket education expenditure has been increasing due to a hike in the price of education materials.

He proposed for the introduction of special stipends for female students who were victims of child marriage during the pandemic so that they can continue their education.