Shadow education centres demand policy support

The Association of Shadow Education Bangladesh (ASEB) on Sunday demanded that the government prepare a policy to smoothly run shadow education centres across the country.

The leaders of the association pressed the demand at a press conference at the ASEB office in the capital's Tejgaon area.

Shadow education is an increasingly visible phenomenon in Bangladesh. The system of private supplementary tutoring is widely called shadow education because much of it mimics the mainstream.

Addressing the event, Convener of the ASEB, Md Emdadul Haque said, "Shadow education is a demand of the time. It is popular in many developed countries, including the USA, France and Singapore. 

"However in Bangladesh, a certain group has been negatively representing the shadow education system. We are facing obstructions in running our institutions. We have requested the education ministry several times to make a policy for the country's shadow educational institutions."

He added that the ASEB is yet to witness any initiative taken by the ministry in this regard.

The convener continued, "About 20 lakh youths are working in shadow educational institutions across the country. They are in no way involved with the government run and funded educational institutions. 

"Despite not being connected with public educational institutions, they have been blamed for question paper leaks. A total of 190 people were arrested on charges of leaking question papers, and other examination-related irregularities since December 2017. 

"But no teacher from any shadow educational institution have been arrested over such allegations."

Joint-Convener of ASEB, Mahmudul Hasan Sohag said, "The education ministry closes shadow educational institutions during public examinations for no reason. The students of well-off families are hiring teachers at their homes during exams. 

"But the students of middle to lower class families cannot afford to take such extra care, and are being deprived of proper guidance during public exams. So, we urge the education ministry not to close shadow educational institutions during examinations."