Up until 1990, the picture in primary schools
was almost the same all over Bangladesh.
But
there is now a new educational system in the
private educational sector. This is known
as the "kindergarten system".
Presently,
there are many kindergarten institutions in
Dhaka city. It competes with and to some extent
has replaced the "primary school"
system found in the public school sector.
Middle
class Parents are generally very concerned
and pay attention to their children's education.
Nowadays they abhor Bengali medium primary
schools.
The
environment is changing, most parents are
facing the language problem (English) in their
working life and will not like their children
to go through the same problem. Hence they
like the kindergarten education system which
is modeled along the English medium schools.
Most
kindergartens in old Dhaka are in residential
buildings. They have no play grounds, library
or common room.
They
have three to four classrooms. Each classroom
is between 100 to 120 square feet and normally
accommodates 20 to 25 pupils. The parents'
waiting place is usually the verandah or open
place outside the school building.
In
nursery, play group, & kg 1 every class
student read all most 8 subject which looks
like a very good method. There are no common
text books and syllabus for all kindergarten.
Most of the English books are from India.
School
time is around two to three hours. During
this time the kids are busy learning how to
read. In order to keep the kids interested
in the task at hand, the parents normally
stay with them, albeit in a different room
where they can be seen.
Most
parents are not used to this type of education
so they often hire private tutors even at
this early stage.
With
eight subjects at school, coaching and lots
of homework, kids do not have enough time
for play throughout the day.
Because
they are preoccupied with their children's
future, the parents tend to forget that the
toddlers probably need a different environment
in which to develop their minds.
However,
one problem that the kindergartens are facing
is that the city planners did not provide
for them in their planning for residential,
transport and other facilities.
More
importantly, the planners have not reconciled
public and private sector education. Parents
would rather send their children to the latter
and in any case, there does not seem to be
any planned new schools to cope with the expected
higher numbers of kids.
Parents
like to admit the kids in a local area for
avoid the traffic jam and monthly fee is under
their capacity. So they bound to choose those
type of kindergarten.
Moreover,
middle class can't choose higher facilities
kindergarten as their economy condition.
Parents,
government, and the kindergartens appear to
have different plans for the next generation.
Every one is anxious about the future of the
kids in their own way but all parties seem
to be ignoring the present.
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