As a continuation of the first Education Watch this year's Watch looked at another important aspect of the Bangladesh primary education, the quality. The Education Watch 2000 had two foci:

Focus 1: Assessment of the achievement of students In terms of the terminal competencies at the end of primary cycle.
Focus 2: Assessment of the state of teacher education for primary level.

The following presents the summary of the second focus. It is a study In the specific context of Bangladesh. Generally it tries to relate 'teacher effectiveness' at the primary educational institution (formal and non-formal schools) with teacher education and training. To inquire into present teacher effectiveness and suggest future policies and strategies, the study provides the following: (i) an up-date on the current situation of trained teachers In the sub-sector by educational Institutions, (ii) supply-related situation of the trained teachers, (iii) the relationship between the classroom (pedagogical and other related) and school-level practices followed by the trained teachers, and (iv) the demand-supply situations of teacher training leading up to 2010 AD.

In Bangladesh there are about 360,000 primary-level teachers belonging to four major streams. The State-schools present the highest percent of trained teachers which is 96 percent of total teachers of government primary schools. Then follows the NFPE; about 85 percent of their teachers are trained. The schools belonging to the mainstream private primary schools, Ebtedaiyee madrassas, and KG schools have 32 percent, 20 percent and 15 percent of their teachers trained, respectively.

There are 54 PTIs in Bangladesh (53 State-owned and one privately owned) and they enrol about 6500 trainees every year. The State spends around Tk. 3,6000 per PTI trainee per year. In addition, a PTI trainee has to incur a private cost of Tk. 3,6000 per year for the training. The economy can produce a PTI-trained (in C-in Ed) primary teacher at a cost of roughly Tk.7,2000 (in 2000-2001 Taka). The C-in-Ed course (one-year running one) consists of pedagogical subjects like Principles of Education, Primary Education and Modern Thinking, Child Psychology; in addition there are eight school-related subjects, e.g., Bangla, Maths, Environmental Science, English, Arts and Crafts. The course assesses learning outcomes of each of these subjects. Generally, the outcomes vary quite widely among the subjects; the outcomes are largely descriptive and theoretical in nature. But activity-based outcomes are very few. Big NGOs such as BRAC and DAM have their own Foundation Training course for their non-formal teachers spanning 13 to 15 days. These training courses are not uniform but they contain subject-areas of Child psychology, School Management, Class Management and Curricula.

The majority of the Instructors of PTIs are Master degree holders (58%) and about half of them have Master-level professional degrees like M.Ed. Another 44% hold B.Ed or equivalent degrees. But none of them have actual training background suitable for primary-level teachers or primary training institutes. An instructor in PTI is supposed to teach any subject whenever necessary. Instructors' teaching-load in PTls seems to be quite high. On an average over 17 classes are taken by the PTI instructors per week. The duration of each class in the PTIs is 40 to 45 minutes; between the classes there in no gap for teacher transition or trainees, rest. On an average the class size is 90. All these militate against quality teaching; the instructors neither can take any good preparation for class-lecture nor can do justice to the teacher-students. PTIs in general are equipped with different teaching aids, e.g., OHP, VCR and Computer. The library facilities are not adequate.

While considering the trainee or trained teachers we find that the female teachers are relatively more educated, the male teachers have more teaching experience. The government school teachers are more qualified than those of the private schools.

To gauge pedagogical practices in the classroom, the study constructed an index called IRI (Interactive Ratio Index) for estimating most productive-time/practice in a given (30 minutes) period for any subject-teaching. The overall analysis shows that in most of the subjects more than half of class time is spent for interactive situation. Largely this interactive time is higher in the government than in the private schools. More than one-tenth to one-third of class time is wasted in the process of counteractive situation. This is higher in government than in the private schools. It is interesting to note that many of the untrained teachers in school adopted interactive strategy while teaching in class. Female teachers in government schools and male teachers in private schools were more interactive than their counterparts. In government schools the trained male and female teachers were more interactive than the untrained teachers. The teachers of government schools seemed to be better performers in terms of qualitative teaching. Teachers' interaction with students is excellent in the NGO centre/schools and is higher than those of government or private schools. However, one should not lose sight of the disastrous outcome in terms of pupil achievement of terminal competencies (see volume I and 10) and the relevance of teacher education's in quality education. This study identified many deficiencies and limitations of teacher education at PTls. It is an opportune time to review the relevance of such trainees.

According to our estimates there were 186,794 PTI-trained teachers in the mainstream formal schools in 1998. As PTI produces roughly 6,000 Trained teachers per year, by adding an incremental number of 6,000 trained teachers every year for the sub-sector we find a stock of trained teachers of 204,794 in 2001. It goes up to 234,794 in 2006 and 264,794 in 2011. If all the mainstream schools employ PTI
trained teachers to absorb the total primary enrolment of 17.03 million in 2001, 15.03 million in 2006 and so on at a teacher-pupil ratio of 1:50 then the country will need trained teachers numbering 341,000 in 2001,317,000 in 2006 and 295,000 in 2011 in the sub-sector. To meet this demand for trained teachers, the State can take up a three-pronged strategy: (a) on a crash-basis involve the NGOs with demonstrated capacity and commitment (BRAC, Dhaka Ahsania Mission etc.), some public institutions, e.g., Bangladesh Open University (BOD) or private agencies, who have developed expertise and comparative advantage in teacher-training, (b) to impart C-in-Ed courses in the interim crucial periods (2001-2006) of huge supplydeficiencies and (c) ensure a more 'devolved' and participatory academic supervision of both trained and untrained teachers at the school-level

Four options look quite promising in ensuring higher number of trained teachers for the primary schools on the one hand and their better performance on the other:

• Fuller utilisation of the already-generated physical capacities of 54 PTls, by simplifying administrative procedures of trainee-recruitment.
• To enlist newer organisations, e.g., BOU, NGOs (such as BRAC, DAM) and private organisations to offer the same C-in-Ed course, to tide over the period (2001 to 2006) of acute shortage of trained teachers in the primary sub-sector.
• To enhance academic supervision (as conceived in the IDEAL or ESTEEM projects) at the school-level centering around the Headmaster/Head-teacher; also try out a 'devolved type' of academic and administrative supervision for the State-owned PTls.
• Increase interactions between State-owned PTls and NGO teachers' training programmes for mutual benefits. NGOs have developed short but cost-effective basic teacher training models and PTIs have larger physical facilities. Joining forces together will put teacher education at the centre stage thereby having a synergistic impact in enhancing quality primary education in Bangladesh.