Educationists for increasing class hours to recoup learning losses

Educationists at a webinar suggested increasing class hours at the educational institutions to recoup the learning losses due to Covid-19.

They identified over-centralization as the main problem in the education sector of the country. 

Besides, they suggested the government find out the actual reasons as to why the budget allocated in the education sector fails.     

The suggestions came Saturday at the webinar titled 'Covid-19: Recovery Plan for Learning Losses' organised by 'Ghasful'. Researcher Tofail Ahmed made the keynote presentation at the webinar. 

The speakers proposed to cut the annual academic holidays to increase class hours and focus more on teaching maths, language (Bangla, English and in some cases Arabic) and science.    

In his presentation, Tofail Ahmed said that it is urgent to make public the full list of learning losses during Covid time. More attention should be paid to the losses of the pre-primary, primary and junior secondary level students.   

He further said that most of the countries have already recovered the learning losses and are taking innovative measures to regain them. The livelihood of millions of people is involved with education management.   

In his speech as the chief guest, Palli Karma Shahayak Foundation (PKSF) Chairman Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said a working group has been formed with a combination of civil society and teaching professionals to catch up with the learning losses.

The recovery process should be human-centric and people-friendly as there is a difference between the losses of rural-urban, rich-poor, haor, char, island, coastal areas and indigenous communities.

He emphasized involving students with cultural activities and sports alongside study to enrich their knowledge.  

"The main problem of our education system is it has not been decentralised. The government should find out the reasons why the education budget is not effective here," he observed.  

The speakers said that 91% of the children and youths suffered from a mental crisis during Covid. 

They suggested starting physical classes during the day shift and online classes in the evening to catch up with the learning losses.