HOW important is it to have an overall law for the education system and what can it do to solve the many problems in ensuring the management and quality of the system?

Education Policy 2010 anticipated a comprehensive education law to serve as the legal basis to guide the work in the education system. A draft was prepared and put on the website for public comment in August 2013. Comments were made, pointing out inconsistencies in the draft and stressing that it did not meet certain expectations. A new draft was recently posted on April 3, 2016, on the Ministry of Education website, asking for comments by April 10 (www.moedu.gov.bd).

Many countries have constitutional provisions regarding the right to education and laws for implementing these rights. UNESCO produced the document "The Right to Education: Law and Policy Review Guidelines" in 2014, which asserts that "the right to quality education… cannot be achieved without strong national legal and policy frameworks that lay the foundation and conditions for the delivery and sustainability of good quality education."

Do the provisions in the 67-clause draft law lay the foundation for fulfilling the right to education and delivery of quality services for all children?

The law provides for compulsory education to include two years of pre-primary education and eight years of primary education. A managing committee is required for every institution. A person can head only one managing committee, prohibiting MPs and other influential people from heading multiple school committees. All institutions are required to be registered with the government in order to operate as an educational institution.

A core curricular content is made mandatory for all types of schools at the primary and secondary level. English medium private schools preparing students for external examinations will have to teach Bangla and courses on Bangladesh studies. 

Teacher selection bodies will select eligible teachers, and schools will have to appoint teachers from the list of those deemed suitable. Second chance alternative programmes will be offered to students who drop out of schools or miss their attendance. A permanent education commission will be set up to advice the government on education related concerns.

Notebooks and guidebooks, as well as private coaching and tutoring, are to be banned under the threat of jail terms and fines. Can these prohibitions be enforced? The answer lies in ensuring that dependence on guide books and private tutoring are rendered unnecessary by changing the nature of public exams and by improving the style of instruction in schools. 

The Act itself can only mention the broad provisions. Many of the provisions are qualified by the phrase "as determined by rules and regulations to be specified by government authorities." We are all way too familiar with many laws in the book which are not implemented and do not make a difference in people's life. 

The devil is indeed in the details. Will the provisions of the law be backed up by the capacity and motivation of the people responsible for carrying out these provisions and supported by strong political commitment and accountability? In this regard, the Permanent Commission can play a role, if it is set up in the right way, with the right people, and equipped with the necessary authority, personnel and resources. The Commission can advise on the rules and procedures to be framed and may have a role in assessing their application. 

Are there elements missing in the law which are important for achieving the objectives of the Education Policy 2010 and goals and aspirations of the nation regarding education?

The Act has no mention of adequacy and efficiency of resources and budgets for education or criteria and principles for education resource mobilisation and allocation. A rights and equity-based education system, for example, requires that public education resources are allocated equitably – by applying certain criteria - among upazilas, proportional to student population in each upazila.

The highly centralised structure of education governance, with decision making and management concentrated in the capital city for a student population of some 40 million and 150,000 institutions around the country, remain essentially intact under the new law. Upazila and district based-planning and management of basic and pre-primary school education are not envisaged in the Act, in spite of the stated Education Policy objective and the constitutionally required role of local government bodies in this respect. 

The anomalies and issues with coordination in this sector, with two ministries controlling school education, could be removed by bringing basic and pre-primary school education under the Ministry of Education and placing higher and professional education under a Ministry of Tertiary Education.

There could be pre-service preparation for future teachers by introducing education as a discipline in the degree programme, and establishing a national teaching service corps, to raise the status of school teaching and attract talented people to the profession.  

A code of conduct for students (as well as for teachers) could stem the tide of indiscipline, violence and criminal involvement of student organisations linked with political parties. The nurturing of a democratic culture and behaviour through elected student unions in institutions – a hallowed tradition that disappeared in recent decades – could be revived by the Act. 

The Act is liable to be in conflict with the spirit and provision of the public and private universities Acts – compromising self-regulation of universities. Although self-regulation and autonomy have not worked as expected, the solution may not lie in handing more power to the bureaucracy in the Ministry of Education. 

The Education Policy envisaged a strong Higher Education Council with increased transparency and accountability to the public, the academic community and the Parliament. For example, the annual report of the University Grants Commission (UGC), or its successor body, could be reviewed by the relevant parliamentary committee. The Permanent Education Commission can also have a review role. 

Whether the Education Law will make a difference in the system will depend on what assurances can be built to implement the law and to what extent the necessary missing elements are incorporated into it.  

The writer is Professor Emeritus at BRAC University.