In alignment with the Constitutional Article 17 on Compulsory and free education, Government has formulated policy of inclusive and quality education for every citizen of the country.
To achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality education for all, different programs have been taken. Honorable Prime Minister of the republic has taken Education Assistance as one of the top priority initiatives.
In alignment Government Organs, Non-Government Organizations, Development Partners, Intergovernmental Organizations and Private Enthusiasts are all working together to promote and facilitate primary education in the remote most corner of the country.Field administration has always been working as a focal point in District and Upazila and even down to union level to achieve government's vision and mission.
Government's commitment of spreading quality education and bringing every child under the shade of primary education is no less important agenda to field administration as well.
In order to successfully and effectively implement Primary Education Policy, a number of innovative and brilliant ideas are on the execution, making a whole lot of schemes more efficient, productive and fruitful.
Some initiatives start from the pre-nursery education, where a new comer starts coming to school, and faces whole new kind of environment. This is the most critical and sophisticated stage of education, as a good imprint of this stage will leave a long lasting impression on the child's mentality and determine the extent to which the child will carry on his/her education.
So, steps have been taken to radically renovate the interior of the pre-primary classrooms to a fully playhouse style. Educational instruments, books and toys have been provided in abundance so that a child finds it most enjoyable to come, play together and have fun while learning.
The essence of patriotism and honesty should begin right at the onset of life. A child, when starts his/her formal education, should be embezzled with such moral values to the heart.
So, new and proper flags (to the code) have been organized in each school, where the children can assemble every morning, right before their class begins. They fall in lines of discipline and sing our national anthem, which teaches them the value and prestige of our flag and anthem.
Carrying on with such psychology, 'Bangabandhu Corner' and 'MuktijuddhoPathagar' have been established in schools. Students can come here, look at the Heroes of our Liberation War, know more about the life and deeds of Bangabandhu and his our freedom fighters. An enthusiast can pass a really good time here as well as get inspired by the stories of struggle of our ancestors.
The motive of this initiative is to realize self-developed patriotism among the future generation. Another initiative is 'Satata Store' where the students themselves own, operate and manage the shop of necessary convenience items needed in their school. In such a way, they learn financial transaction and practice the manners of honesty.
A school is as good as its teachers. The future of school going children depends on our teachers to a great extent. For the well-being of the teacher the salary structure has been made attractive, different training are arranged often to enrich their capabilities. Several schools in each Upazila have been clustered together and put under mentoring of a person serving in that Upazila level by a program called 'My School' program.
School times are long and tiring these days because of so much curricular and extra-curricular activities. Often children coming from different societies can't get proper supplement to meet their demands of nutrition. So, mid-day meals have been arranged in different schools, where children sit and eat together in a disciplined way.
Reading is considered one of the best habits of a person. It is in the childhood that a person gets used to this habit or not. In this era of digitalization, children are more and more prone towards gadgets and separated from reading habits.
To inspire children reading, different collection of story books and a whole range of selective literature have been provided in different institutions. So that, students can come, borrow books from the library and read and know more about things unknown to them. Various competition are often held to encourage students' reading habits.
Government is keen enough to support school going children at any cost. So, different local support programs are often taken. Children are provided with school bags, umbrella, cycle, water pot, mathematical set and what not these days! They are often taken on study tour and excursion to memorable places.
During different national days, children from schools are encouraged to participate at local and national level events. Often there are arrangement of documentary and liberation war movie shows in schools.
All these practice are nothing without a visible outcome. All the students are not the same, nor are their capabilities. As we are developing and our strength for investment on education has become comprehensive, now the time has come to pay attention to each individual children.
We need to focus on what resources we can accumulate and how we can put them to most effective usage. Current practices of implementing our education policies are promising and we can expect a bright future up ahead.
The writer is Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate in Sunamagnj.