Bangladesh children speak about their dream school - neat, multimedia classrooms, enough playtime

Primary school students want their institutions to be neat, well organised, secured, fitted with multimedia classrooms that have friendly teachers, big fields and offer them enough time to play.

The little pupils spoke about their preferences at the National Council on Quality Primary Education in Dhaka’s Sonargaon Hotel on Wednesday.

“The children have already spoken about what quality education is,” Rasheda K Choudhury, Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) Executive Director, said at the programme.

A total of 256 representatives of students, teachers, members of managing committees and education officials joined the council organised by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education.

The students spoke about the problems they faced in school and recommended way out.

One of them, Monisha Roy Omi from Sylhet, said, “The school I dream will be neat and well organised.

“The teachers will be like friends. They will openly discuss matters with their students. They students will be able to consult them if they fail to understand anything.

“There will be scopes for cultural activities,” she said.

Nishath Jannat Chhoton from Panchagarh said he wanted enough time to play.

“Our classes are from 9:30am to 4:15pm with half an hour recess. We don’t have enough time to play after having meal on returning home.

“Please fix such a school time that will let us play,” he said.

Diba Debnath from Pirojpur pitched for multimedia classrooms in all schools throughout Bangladesh.

“Learning will be easier for us if we have laptops or computers with access to the internet,” she said.

Shifrin Hridita from Chandpur put accent on more security. “Our school doesn’t have any boundary wall. The stalkers disturb us,” the girl said.

‘Arpan’ from Gopalganj said he did not like the biscuits they had for midday meal.

Rasheda Choudhury, a former advisor to a caretaker government, said the children’s list of desire itself defines quality education.

“We have organised a huge gathering to implement quality education measures. Now the children have told us what quality education is,” she said.

“If we make a list of their desires, we will get the environment for quality education. We won’t need consultants for this,” she added.

Headmaster Tarifa Naznina emphasised pre-school learning. She recommended not giving the children books until they are in Grade Two.

“We can teach them cleanliness, how to tie shoelaces, to behave well –things that are related to daily life,” she said.

SM Masud Mahmud, a member of a school’s managing committee in Khulna, called for abolishing Primary Education Completion examinations.