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Published : 02 Oct 2025, 01:52 AM
Two decades ago, Bangladesh’s National Education Policy recommended separating the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) into two entities.
The idea went nowhere.
Now, in the wake of the August 2024 mass uprising that toppled Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government, the plan is back on the table. In July this year, a fresh proposal was sent to the Chief Advisor’s Office to carve out a separate directorate for secondary education, a recently retired senior official in the Secondary and Higher Education Division (from the administration cadre) told bdnews24.com, declining to elaborate.
Attempts to reach Secretary Rehana Parvin were unsuccessful, a text message also went unanswered. Joint Secretary Badrun Nahar said on Friday night there was “no update” on the file.
Supporters argue the split would finally give long-neglected schools the institutional focus they deserve. Opponents, largely senior education cadre officers, insist it is less about reform than about bureaucratic turf wars.
At its heart, the debate is about control: education versus administration cadres competing for authority.
WHY SECONDARY TEACHERS FEEL SIDELINED
Secondary teachers have long felt overlooked under a directorate that simultaneously supervises almost 19,000 secondary and lower secondary schools, 1,480 combined schools and colleges, and 3,341 colleges.
Senior posts, from director general down to deputy director, are held almost exclusively by BCS general education cadre officers based in government colleges.
“School teachers are deprived. Even though national education policies promised separate directorates, nothing happened. Secondary education keeps being neglected,” said Omar Faruk, spokesperson for a committee of government secondary school teachers campaigning for a split.
Teachers point to decades of stagnation in their careers.
“Many who joined government schools decades ago are still assistant teachers. Some are only senior teachers, some assistant headmasters, a few headmasters. Batchmates have split four ways. Teachers aren’t even given time scales,” said Abdus Salam, a senior teacher at Sabujbagh Government High School.
“If secondary education had its own directorate, run by schoolteachers, problems in government schools would finally be addressed,” he added.
HISTORY OF UNFULFILLED COMMISSIONS
Calls for separation date back to the 2003 National Education Commission, led by Prof Mohammad Moniruzzaman Mia.
It recommended an independent directorate to manage secondary schools, arguing teachers should have promotion pathways all the way up to director level.
The 2010 Kabir Chowdhury Education Commission repeated the call, suggesting a Directorate of Secondary Education and a Directorate of Higher Education and Research. It also pushed for accountability and clear division of responsibilities.
Later, district commissioners at the 2023 DC Conference again urged splitting Mausi, noting that the directorate’s workload had become “too heavy to manage”.
Naogaon’s former DC Khalid Mehedi argued: “With both secondary and higher secondary under one directorate, the workload is overwhelming. Separate directorates would ease service delivery and make field-level monitoring easier.”
On Oct 2, 2024 at a ministry workshop on education administration (CEDP), a BIAM Foundation study advised replacing the current structure with two entities: Secondary Education Directorate and Higher Education & Research Directorate.
The Public Administration Reform Commission under the interim government echoed these demands in its February 2025 report to Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus.
It recommended creating two entities: a Directorate of Secondary Education and a Directorate of College Education, with the director general’s post upgraded to Grade-1 on pay scale.
The report warned secondary education is being de-prioritised and quality is declining under the unified DSHE.
Despite these repeated endorsements, the proposal never advanced beyond paper.
THE CADRE FAULT LINES
The fiercest resistance comes from education cadre officials, professors and lecturers who dominate the DSHE.
“Administration cadre has long seen education cadre as their rivals. Splitting the directorate is just their way of establishing authority,” said a Dhaka College associate professor, declining to be named.
The General Education Cadre Association argues fragmentation will not improve quality. “Education must remain unified,” said Khan Moinuddin Sohel, director of the DSHE’s secondary wing. “Dividing the system without broad consultation will not deliver results.”
Administration cadre officers see it differently. They say separation is about making field-level monitoring and service delivery easier, not about grabbing power.
Kh M Kabirul Islam, a former additional secretary who once oversaw secondary and higher education, called the split “urgently needed”.
“Secondary and primary education are the nation’s foundation. They cannot be left behind,” he said. “Teachers at the secondary level have long felt neglected.”
PUSH FOR EMPOWERMENT
Non-government secondary teachers, who make up the vast majority of the workforce under the Monthly Pay Order (MPO) scheme, also back the idea.
The Bangladesh Shikkhok Samity (BSS) says qualified MPO teachers should be deputed into officer posts in a new secondary directorate.
“Many MPO teachers are principals and experienced administrators. They know the institutions best. If empowered, they can ensure better governance and the long-standing deprivation will end,” said Mejbahul Islam Prince, secretary general of the BSS.
Habibullah Raju, president of the Bangladesh Teachers Forum, stressed that although 97 percent of MPO-listed schools fall under DSHE supervision, “not a single MPO teacher holds a senior post. Those who run secondary institutions should also supervise them”.
‘FOCUS ON QUALITY, NOT TURF’
Education researchers warn that the cadre dispute risks obscuring the real issue: quality.
“The directorate has failed to meet people’s expectations. Corruption, red tape, and neglect have persisted. A separate directorate could help improve monitoring and quality,” said Prof Md Azam Khan, head of the Institute of Education and Research at Jagannath University.
Sayeed Iftekhar Ahmed, a Bangladeshi academic at the American Public University System in the US, said the goal must be improving outcomes, not creating posts.
“Creating posts for one cadre or another is not the point. The goal must be improving quality. Teachers must be empowered, trained, and given authority. If done right, this reform could be transformative,” he told bdnews24.com.
He, however, warned against “education-unfriendly administration” blocking reform. “Secondary is the foundation. It must be made student-friendly. Teachers understand secondary problems best. They must be in charge.”
WHAT NEXT?
For now, the proposal sits at the Chief Advisor’s Office. The education ministry admits it has no update.
Secondary teachers remain hopeful but wary. Education cadre officers remain defensive. Researchers urge that unless reform is anchored in quality, the debate will amount to just another bureaucratic turf war.
As Bangladesh moves toward elections in February, the fate of Mausi’s split -- and the future of millions of schoolchildren -- may depend on whether the interim government acts now or leaves the decision for the next elected administration.
