Teachers also need support for recovery from loss of learning

Without the right support, our teachers cannot help our students recover from the learning loss caused by the pandemic. Photo: Prabir Das

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Without the right support, our teachers cannot help our students recover from the learning loss caused by the pandemic. Photo: Prabir Das

We can all remember one or more teachers today as students who touched our lives in a special way. They inspired us to aspire higher and served as our role models. The image of a teacher was that of a scholar who selflessly imparted knowledge and wisdom to the younger generation, led a simple life, and did not care too much about material rewards. They could be viewed by young people as a mentor, friend, philosopher and guide.

This nostalgic vision is exposed, but carries a strong kernel of truth. Is such an image totally romantic and unrealistic in contemporary society? It shouldn’t be. Romance aside, teachers are still the gatekeepers of the young and responsible for equipping future citizens, leaders and workers with skills, knowledge and values. Teachers have a unique role in society unlike any other profession. The importance of this special role can be overlooked at the risk of society and its future.

Today, let’s salute the teachers who still try to live by the ideal image, and let everyone do what they can to help more of them live by the values ​​of the noble profession.

On World Teachers’ Day last year, in this very space, I wrote: “A comparative disadvantage of Bangladesh and the countries of South Asia — unlike other parts of the world — is that it does not have a teacher training program. Yet school education is the most important area of ​​employment for college graduates. The current practice consists in recruiting first college graduates as primary or secondary teachers, then letting them follow a pedagogical training of one year to 18 months… “

School education is not the first career choice for higher education graduates, especially the more talented. So it ends up attracting the “bottom of the barrel†of graduates, I wrote. The basic talent gap cannot be bridged by in-service teacher training. The need to rethink the attraction and retention of talents in the teaching profession is a major issue for improving the performance of the education system.

We have not seen any initiative to rethink the teaching profession. Meanwhile, the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has made the teacher’s job more difficult than ever. Teachers, as well as the rest of society, have suffered from the health, economic and socio-emotional distress caused by the pandemic. Media reports showed how teachers in private schools, known as “preschoolsâ€, resorted to menial jobs to support their families when schools were closed and their income lost.

Now that schools have reopened (it’s not certain that all preschools can reopen), teachers face the challenge of helping their students recover from the loss of nearly two school years. There are many administrative instructions from the central authorities on how the classes should be arranged and which group of pupils should come to school for how many hours.

But there isn’t much guidance on how students can be helped to recover from their learning losses, how the losses can be assessed, and how students can be helped prepare for their grade-level education. The emphasis is on having public reviews as early as possible, at all costs. Fortunately, the PECE and JSC exams have now been phased out, which many educators would like to see gone for good. Teachers have been plunged into a “mission impossible” by obsessing over exams and insisting on sticking to the current school year schedule, and have not received enough guidance and support on how students can be helped in an unprecedented situation.

Recently, 10 well-known educators from Bangladesh jointly proposed urgent measures for a program to restore learning (The Daily Star, September 25, 2021). The four urgent action points they proposed are: a) To carry out a simple and rapid assessment of the level of preparation of students for their class by focusing on basic language and math skills; b) Extend the school year until next June to allow more time for students, teachers and schools to adapt to the new situation; c) focus on preparing students to learn and postpone annual and public exams until later in the extended academic year; and d) Help teachers do their jobs well.

While offering support to teachers, educators said in their statement that in order to aid in the recovery of learning, guidelines and guidance should be provided to schools and teachers on: a) The use of rapid assessment of student readiness at school level; b) Pedagogical steps to help students using the results of the readiness assessment; (c) basic competency-based educational planning aimed at helping pupils to become independent learners; and d) Socio-emotional support for students and communication with students and parents. Online platforms should be widely used for orientation and guidance of teachers and to complement classroom instruction for students.

While implementing the recommended urgent actions, longer-term critical measures should also be initiated, according to educators. One of these measures is to seriously engage in new thinking about teaching staff. No education system can be better than its teachers, they said. While on-the-job training and guidance for teachers is needed, ways must be found to attract and retain talented and motivated young people into the teaching profession. The experiences of the best performing countries can be lessons here. A longer term plan needs to be devised, backed by high level commitment to bring it to fruition.

Hopefully, the education crisis we face today, made worse by the pandemic, will prompt policy makers to re-think teachers and teaching.

Dr Manzoor Ahmed is Professor Emeritus at the University of Brac.