Despite years of sweeping reforms in Bangladesh’s education sector, more than 66,000 teachers with only secondary or higher secondary-level qualifications continue to teach in government primary schools – posing a significant challenge to the implementation of modern, competency-based curricula.
According to data from the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE), the country currently has 65,569 government primary schools employing 384,981 teachers. Of these, 11,736 female teachers hold only Secondary School Certificates (SSC), while 53,144 male teachers have completed Higher Secondary Certificates (HSC).
In addition, 1,417 teachers hold Dakhil or Alim degrees from madrasas, 38 possess MATS qualifications (equivalent to HSC), and 16 have nursing diplomas — bringing the total number of underqualified teachers to 66,297.
These teachers were recruited under the 1991 recruitment rules, which permitted the appointment of women with SSC and men with HSC qualifications as assistant teachers.
Although the policy has since been updated to require at least a bachelor’s degree, those appointed under the old regulation remain in service – many of them struggling to keep pace with the demands of a modernised, technology-driven education framework.
Officials at the DPE acknowledge that it may take another decade for all secondary-qualified teachers to retire, at which point the entire cadre of primary teachers will hold graduate-level qualifications.
At present, 318,684 teachers in government primary schools have at least a bachelor’s degree. Among them, 21,435 hold only a bachelor’s, 114,622 are graduates (pass course), and 156,579 possess both bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
A small group of teachers have specialised or professional degrees, including MBA (5,924), BSc Engineering (1,458), BSc Agriculture (309), LLM (335) and BEd (Hons) (296).
While the DPE declined to make an official comment on the issue, citing its “sensitivity”, one senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “These teachers were recruited under the laws of their time. Questioning their competence now could be seen as disrespectful. The only practical solution is to wait for natural retirement.”
He added that a long-pending demand for promotion to grade 10 could not be fulfilled until the older, less-qualified group exits the service.
In recent years, the government has accelerated efforts to upgrade teaching quality.
Around 20,000 new teachers with at least bachelor’s degrees have been recruited, and another 10,219 vacancies have recently been announced – open only to graduates.
According to DPE projections, approximately 22,000 lower-qualified teachers will retire within the next four years, with the rest expected to leave the service within the following decade.
Primary and Mass Education Secretary Abu Taher Md Masud Rana told Jago News: “Primary schools form the foundation of building a modern, science-minded nation. To strengthen that foundation, we need well-educated, forward-thinking teachers. Our focus is now on merit-based recruitment and higher educational standards. The priority is not to revisit past appointments, but to ensure that our new generation of teachers are motivated, capable, and committed to quality education.”