DHAKA: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Tuesday bitterly criticised country’s teachers, guardians and student leaders for a lack of ideals, their mean mentality and commercial approach that apparently caused a setback on the educational front.

“Teaching was a noble profession in the yesteryear, from which ideals and principles have disappeared these days,” she said while addressing the opening ceremony of a new administration building for staff course of the National Academy for Education Management in the city.

Denouncing the attitude of competition among guardians, Hasina said that the guardians compete with one another (in buying the best education) instead of their children. This is “unfortunate”.

Flaying a section of teachers for their ‘education business’ the Prime Minister said one needs money to live on but money does not mean everything all the time.

“Their business prevails upon their teaching...private tuition or attending the coaching centre has become mandatory, and many times student cannot pass if they do not go for taking coaching from certain teachers,” she said, in a clampdown on a pervasive spread of what is jeered at as ‘coaching commerce’ of predatory teachers.      

Many teachers of the higher educational institutions were not beyond such malpractice, she added.

“Many university teachers spend their time in teaching students of private universities or consultancies, depriving the students of the public universities,” said the head of government in her unsparing criticism of the truancy on part of the teachers in the highest seats of learning.

She called upon the teachers to cast off such mentality for the greater good of the nation.

Turning to the parents, the Prime Minister said that many guardians find it more interesting to compete with other guardians instead of improving the quality of their own children. “Many guardians torture their children at home when they hear something from other guardians at school.”

Hasina noted many students at school proudly share the model of their cars. “Why children will have such mentality? The guardians are responsible for all this,” she said.   

She made a political point here, saying that corruption and irregularities by the governments in the post-1975 period degraded the values in society.

In a flashback on the moral standards of the good old days, Hasina narrated her own experience with a wristwatch her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman bought her from the United States of America.

“I was studying at Class VII when my father bought me a wristwatch from America. My teacher called me and had asked not to come to school putting it on. My teacher told me that my other classmates might have felt sad as their parents cannot afford to buy them such watch. I never even put it on for school since,” she said.

Hasina lamented that such moral lessons from teachers are rare nowadays.

Pointing her finger at the student leaders, she castigated them for selling admission form and bribing for admission. “Such admission trade cannot be accepted. We will not allow it anymore.”   

“I was also vice-president of the student union in the college. But I never thought of taking money for admission.”

She did not name any name or party, but the president and the general secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League, her party’s student associate body, who were present at the function, were seen sitting with their head down.

During her 45-minute speech, Hasina also said the government is constructing some 1,500 schools in areas where there were no schools in the past.

The PM earlier inaugurated the seven-storied administrative building, which took Tk 15.50 crore to build. It will be a 15-storey building in phases.  

She also inaugurated the 1st Staff Course for Principals and Senior Teachers of government and private colleges.

NAEM director-general Prof Shamsur Rahman chaired the function where Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid and Education Secretary Syed Ataur Rahman also spoke.

BDST 1430 HRS, AUGUST 17, 2010.