Project English In The Education Sector Of Bangladesh: An Observation

With the rapid rise of globalization all over the world, English language teaching and learning keeps spreading in education, trade and many other sectors; Bangladesh is not an exception in this regard. Since colonial period, the English language has been playing a crucial role, mainly in the education sector. However, the current perspective for teaching and learning of English has significantly changed. Yet, typical concern among major stakeholders is that increasing spread of English could not yield phenomenal success in the academic fields; questions regarding efficacy in English curriculum, methodology and assessment continue to grow. Since its independence in 1971, Bangladesh education sector has witnessed arrays of changes and reforms regarding textbooks, medium of instruction, evaluation system as well as compulsory status of English in the curriculum. In the meantime, more than half a dozen of projects with huge amounts of foreign funding came and went by. All these projects were implemented here for the direct or indirect improvement of English language teaching and learning. Are the major stakeholders convinced about the impacts of those projects? Does not mismatch between textbook and teaching or teaching and evaluation of learning performance overshadow the desired outcomes? One study, in this regard, observes, “Language education reform is likely to fail if assessment system is not aligned with the curriculum” (Das, et. el., 2014). English projects like OSSTTEB, PERC, ELTIP, EQI-SEP, SESIP, FLTC English in Action, all poured huge amounts of local and foreign currency for nearly last three decades with a view to improving ELT material development, teacher training, assessment, student learning etc. The chapter attempts to present an overview of major project with relevant information. Critical observation will be made as to how and what extent these large scale projects have impacted on the improvement in English learning and teaching. The role played by the ministry of education along with funding agencies will also be discussed.

Introduction

Since its independence in 1971, Bangladesh has been witnessing arrays of changes in its education policies though all these changes did not take place in reality. However, all the education policy documents (Khuda, 1974, Taskforce Report 1976, Mofiz 1988, Haque 1997, Bari 2002, Miah 2003, NEP 2010 recommended reforms of various aspects, such as curriculum, methodology, medium of instruction, assessment, teacher training etc. There are several statements regarding English language learning and teaching emphasizing its significance and pedagogic issues. In addition, other occasional scattered reports, concerns, hearsays, speeches in the public domain typically clamour about the sorry state of English despite having quite a few big-budget project initiatives for the overall improvement of English language and teaching in Bangladesh. What impacted the interventions of several projects for the improvement in English learning in the country could bea case for critical evaluation. This chapter will discuss salient matters relevant to the major ELT project initiatives that were carried out during 1990-2017. This period is marked by four important projects, namely OSSTTEB, PERC, ELTIP and EIA that totally and directed concentrated to the improvement of English language teaching and learning specifically in the primary and secondary levels. There will be a short discussion on few other projects such as SESIP, TQI and SEQAEP initiated by the Ministry of Education with international fund support that had intervened in certain aspects of English language learning and teaching during this period. There have been another type of occasional efforts, still being implemented especially for English teacher development training offered by NGOs, government and foreign offices, and voluntary forums. BRAC, UKBET, NAEM, American Center, Council and BELTA fall under this type.

OSSTTEB

Orientation of Secondary School Teachers for Teaching English in Bangladesh acronymed as OSSTTEB which was funded by Aid, started working in 1990 in collaboration with the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) under the ministry of education with a view to developing English textbooks and providing teacher training to ensure effective teaching of those modified materials. Under this project, one expert along with local expert developed the textbooks for Grades VI, VII, and VIII adopting the principles of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach. These textbooks were introduced in 1996 which replaced structure-based textbooks. The project could train only 5000 teachers leaving about 55000 teachers untrained. (Hamid, 2010). This project developed BEd curriculum and planned to cover a huge number of secondary English teachers. However, OSSTTEB could not train majority of the secondary English teachers as planned. There was no strong monitoring cell or unit to oversee the expected changes in the classroom teaching. Consequently, many teachers were not serious in implementing their training experiences through the teaching of those newly designed textbooks. This project appointed one foreign consultant alongside local specialists but suddenly it wrapped up all its activities in 1995. On behalf of the project, there was a wrapping up report submitted to the ministry which reveals information in a quantitative manner. However, there was no impact study carried out afterwards by any independent body which could describe the real scenario of the project.

PERC

Primary English Resource Center briefly called PERC Project which was initiated by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and implemented by the Directorate of Primary Education. This project was funded by Department for International Development (DFID) and was managed by Council. The main aim of PERC Project is to improve the quality of Primary English teaching and teacher training in the Chittagong and Rajshahi Divisions of Bangladesh (Bamber 1999). Primary Training Institute instructors are responsible for providing one-year long Certificate in Education (CinEd) course through 54 PTI institutes all across the country. Under this project, instructors have received intensive training on ELT methodology, material development and assessment. This training has been closely linked with the need of the practising teachers, using actual school textbook materials to inform many of the activities. The emphasis is on communication in the classroom to facilitate the learning process. Central concepts of learner-centeredness and active involvement are stressed and several techniques to promote this are covered in each training course. (Dhar and Powell-Davis 1999). As PTI’s typical curriculum differs with what PERC proposed to deliver became a major challenge while implementing its modus operandi.

ELTIP

English Language Teaching Improvement Project, officially known as ELTIP project, a DFID funded initiative and managed by Council in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Government of Bangladesh. It started its journey in 1997 and finished its first phase in 2001. This project, in fact, a follow up larger-scale project of OSSTTEB, initiated by the same donor agency. Since then, it was totally owned by the Government of Bangladesh as a sustainable project. However, this phase also ended in 2010 and some of its trainers have been absorbed in various bodies like NAEM and NCTB. ELTIP as an educational project had spread all across the country. Under this project, 25 College teachers and 8 college/university teachers received master trainer and material writing training from the UK. The project had a plan to design and materials and two textbooks were developed, ‘English for Today’ for Grade IX-X and XI-XII which were introduced and distributed in 2001 by National Curriculum and Textbook Board. These two textbooks were designed and developed following CLT approach. Local writers with overseas training and guidance support from expert developed these textbook materials. The project provided intensive training on Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) to about 35000 secondary English teachers throughout the country. ELTIP project had 4 Regional Resource Center (RRC) and 26Satellite Resource Centers (SRC) all over the country with a central administrative office in the capital. The Project Team Leader, a, along with quite a few specialists came from the UK to develop textbooks, teacher training and assessment system in various phases. As this project ran more than a decade, it impacted somewhat on the way of teaching and learning were being practised in the country. Many teachers became familiar with CLT method of teaching that should have replaced long practiced grammar-translation method. However, the very pertinent question is that how much this trained contingent of English teachers could change their teaching styles and techniques in the classroom was not empirically studied.

As ELTIP was a large-scale project for the phenomenal improvement in the English language learning and teaching process in the country, it received many criticisms from various professional corners. Among those, the concern about the monitoring of CLT trained teachers’ performance in the class. There was no such relevant study that could empirically inform the effectiveness of training received by the master trainers and trainee teachers. Another big complaint was that the assessment system was not properly synchronized with teaching methodology and textbooks. Consequently, it is likely to be a mismatch among materials taught, ways of teaching and evaluation. In any education system, it is essential to ensure this synchronization otherwise efficacy of methodology and assessment are likely to suffer. This project could not cover the whole contingent of English teachers rather it only reached little more than 50% of teachers although it planned to cover a population of English teachers. Moreover, question could be raised that is, to what extent teachers changed their teaching behavior following CLT just after couple of weeks training. There was a huge lack of monitoring system from the government side, otherwise, the scenario would have been different. One study reports that by the name of CLT, most teachers teach English in disguise of the grammar-translation method (Abedin 2013). As a matter of fact, overnight change in anything meaningful is ambitious, sometimes misleading.

English in Action (EIA)

Full version of EIA is English in Action which is a very large-scale ELT project costing 50 million pound sterling. It planned to have benefitted 25 million people that include primary school students and teachers, secondary school students and teachers and adult learners. EIA activities ran for 2009-2017. It had three phases such as, piloting, up-scaling and institutionalization. The main aim of this project is to contribute to the economic development of Bangladesh by providing English as a tool for better access to the world. The project was funded by UK Aid and implemented by Mott MacDonald with local partners Friends in Village Development of Bangladesh (FIVDBD) and Underprivileged Children Education Program (UCEP) along with international partner Open University of UK. One of the unique features of this project was to help adult learners to gain proficiency with the use of technology. As its website states “English in Action is using mobile phones, the internet, print-materials, television, and peer-to-peer learning to help 25 million Bangladeshis improve their English as a route into work and out of poverty. Therefore, use of technology was a great teaching aid for primary and secondary students and teachers. EIA’s planning and target were based on their own baseline survey and their 3-phase strategic planning helped them move more systematically. Moreover, their administrative supervision over everything let every unit of the project go not only smoothly but also progressively. The project was divided into various important units so that it could accomplish their responsibilities properly. As far as their website is concerned, their every story is a success story glorifying the project’s effort. However, the other side of the coin has always some messages to share with all the stakeholders. The stories of failure have also some implications. In this regard, it is very important to note that irrespective of small or big budget project activities, stakeholders have the rights about how success is gained and project money is spent. Transparency at all stages keeps their activities not only responsible but also trust-building.

From its webpage report(eia.org.bd) the project claims to have involved by the year 2017, 51,000 teachers and 20 million students including adult learners. Behind its massive success, affordable use of technology such as mobile phones, mediated video and BBC Janala (Window) contribute to the innovation of learning. A qualitative study by independent body could have reflected more insightful understanding in this regard.The question of sustainability and institutionalization will remain as not taken care of by any governmental body and thus implications of project objectives tend to go short-lasting.

TQI, SESIP and SEQAEP

TQI (2005- present) stands for ‘Teaching Quality Improvement’ that is owned by the Government of Bangladesh with the funding support from the Asian Development Bank. This project is meant for enhancing quality teaching in the secondary school sector. Precisely, its main aim and areas of activities as the ADB’s website states, ‘The project will focus on improving teacher competencies, enhancing the learning environment, and advancing student performance, particularly in science, mathematics, and English language studies. It will also pilot computer-aided learning’. TQI provided short and long training for subject-based teachers including English teachers. This project also included head teachers for monitoring purpose. To improve the overall quality of teaching this project sent teachers from secondary schools and teacher training colleges for overseas exposure in pedagogy. TQI project played an important role in establishing National Teachers’ Registration Certification Authority (NTRCA) in order to ensure quality recruitment of teachers throughout the country.

SESIP

Secondary Educational Sector Improvement Project ran during 1999-2010 with the direct supervision of Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education. This project focused on reforms on curriculum and evaluation system of the secondary sector. About 67 teachers received pedagogic training overseas with the funding support of the project. This project worked closely with NCTB for improving the curriculum and with all examination boards of the country for bringing more reliability in the evaluation system (Das. et.el., 2017).

Secondary Education Quality Access Enhancement Project (SEQAEP)

This project worked for the overall quality improvement specifically in English language and mathematics education. One estimate (cited in Das et el, 2017) says, this project provided short term training to about 8 thousand English and Math teachers throughout the country during its period in 2008-2013. However, no reliable study was found which could inform more critical evaluation and impact matters on the teaching and learning in English and Mathematics.

NAEM, NU, BRAC, BELTA and UKBET

The above forums occasionally provide short term (from a day to month-long) training for secondary and tertiary level English teachers. However, none of initiatives is operated as a project, or not as an initiative for English language education. This could be considered a minor area regarding teacher training in the education sector of the country. A brief description below may help to get a basic overview.

National Academy of Educational Management (NAEM), a government body that provides teacher training in various subject as well as educational management training to the college teachers of the country. ELT is a common training initiative that has been running for a long time.

National University (NU) has huge number of tertiary level affiliated colleges all across the country. It provides subject-based teacher training occasionally in which ELT has been a regular subject to offer.

Building Resources Across Countries (BRAC), an international NGO having its headquarter in Bangladesh often operates teacher training programs for English teachers along with other subject teachers in the secondary sector. This has been going on since 2003 to support the mainstream secondary education sector of the country.

Bangladesh English Language Teacher Association (BELTA), a non-profit voluntary professional forum for English teachers. It provides occasional short-term teacher training and workshop session for all levels of English teachers. Currently this forum has 15 chapters in various districts of the country. This initiative has been continuing since 2003.

UK Bangladesh Educational Trust (UKBET) is non-profit regional NGO based in Sylhet has been providing training for English teachers in the greater Sylhet area.

Conclusion

Project English, be it coined as such or not, has been an influential phenomena as far as English learning and teaching concerned in Bangladesh. For nearly three decades it has been an emerging issue with multi-faceted problems in the field of applied linguistics, pedagogy and practices. One has to better understand the whole spectrum considering policy matters, planning, management, baseline study, ethical issues and many others multidisciplinary issues. From mid-1990s to date, more than half a dozen projects focused on the improvement of English language teaching in the country. Some of them have their own monitoring system, impact studies and evaluation reports but none of these have even been carried out by any independent body. Therefore, the issue of reliability and validity could obviously be raised. More important question is that in a country like Bangladesh with a huge number of English learning population, will another or more large-scale project in English be the solution process of quality learning? What will the epistemological, political and ethical issues legitimize its interventions locally and beyond?