TEACHERS need to be paid well — well enough so that they can devote their time and energy to teaching without having to worry about the sustenance of the family. This is where the quality of education has suffered, with teachers continuing to go underpaid. Whilst the average salary of schoolteachers at the primary level, which lays the foundation for further education, is about 27 per cent less than the national average monthly per capita income, this is also lower than what their fellows receive in other Asian countries. The white paper on the state of the Bangladesh economy says that the average salary of a primary schoolteacher is $170.02, about 27 per cent less than the average monthly per capita income of $232, keeping to the Bureau of Statistics figure which puts annual per capita income at $2,784 in the 2023–24 financial year. The average monthly salary of a primary schoolteacher is $953.13 in the Maldives, $284.64 in India, $250.44 in Sri Lanka, $206.07 in Pakistan and $189.22 in Myanmar, the informational document, which the committee instituted on August 29 submitted on December 1, says. If teachers fail to maintain a decent standard of living with their salary, they cannot give the optimum level of their intellectual output.
In terms of the salary of primary schoolteachers, Bangladesh is ranked in the 45th position among Asian countries and in the seventh position in South Asia. The white paper says that the salary of primary schoolteachers is lower down the rung of the national pay scale. An assistant teacher in government primary schools is paid Tk 19,000 in monthly salary keeping to Grade 13 of the national pay scale, but studies show that the monthly food expenses for a family of four in Dhaka is Tk 22,664. This makes teaching too bleak a prospect for people who have all the qualities to make good teachers to aim for. Teachers of the institutions of tertiary education are no exception. A lecturer in Bangladesh universities earns between $220 and $482 a month. The figure ranges between $770 and $2,420 in India, $700 and $2,800 in Malaysia and $2,950 and $10,300 in Singapore. Experts, therefore, believe that salary and allowances for teachers should be high to ensure the quality of education. Poor salary, as educationalists say, is what holds back skilled and meritorious people from taking up teaching, especially at the primary level. Added to this is the issue of social dignity, which the government should urgently attend to. The white paper says that the political criminalisation of educational institutions has also left a negative social impact, especially on teachers who are meant to work with the institutions for three decades or so.
The document further says that the whole culture of education has been ministered in such a way that collusive political and bureaucratic decision-making has laid waste to the dignity of teachers. Whilst the government should, therefore, increase the pay for teachers, it should also nurture the culture of education to afford teachers the required social dignity and, at least, a decent living to ensure a high quality of education.