438 of 707 Rangamati primary schools have no headteacher
Graphics: Agamir Somoy
An acute teacher crisis has paralyzed primary education across Rangamati district, where 438 out of 707 government primary schools operate without a headteacher.
In some schools, only two teachers conduct all classes, while a handful of teachers in other schools struggle to manage students across multiple grades simultaneously. Teaching across many government primary schools in Rangamati has continued under these dire conditions for years because authorities failed to fill positions vacated by retirement, death, and transfers.
Authorities held the last recruitment examination six and a half years ago in February 2020, appointing 124 assistant teachers, but have conducted no recruitment exams since then.
As a result, 759 assistant teacher posts became vacant across the district. Although authorities initiated recruitment processes at least three times, they failed to administer the final examination even once.
Official records from the Rangamati District Primary Education Office show that 707 primary educational institutions operate within the district.
These include 393 older government primary schools, 206 nationalized schools, 27 schools under the 1,500 project, 81 nationalized schools managed by the UNDP, and 63 private schools receiving grants from the District Council.
These institutions contain 3,332 sanctioned assistant teacher positions, including pre-primary posts, but only 2,573 teachers serve in these roles. This creates a deficit of 759 vacant positions, though temporary charge arrangements reduce the number of newly recruitable posts to 615.
An upazila breakdown reveals that Baghaichari suffers the most shortage, with 163 vacant assistant teacher posts, Langadu has 112, Barkal has 75, Rajasthali has 74, Juraichari has 73, Belaichari has 65, Naniarchar has 63, Kawkhali has 49, Sadar has 49, and Kaptai has 34.
The crisis equally impacts administrative leadership, as 438 of the district’s 707 primary schools lack headteachers. In Baghaichari, 78 out of 116 schools operate without headteachers, while 60 out of 74 schools in Langadu lack headteachers.
Bangladesh Primary Assistant Teachers’ Association Rangamati District Convener Dipu Sring Lepcha said, “Although a huge number of posts remain vacant in the district, recruitment is not happening. Recruitment needs to be conducted at the earliest possible time. Some schools are conducting classes with only two teachers. It is not possible to improve the quality of education this way. Along with recruiting assistant teachers, authorities must also fill the headteacher posts.”
Bangladesh Government Primary School Headmasters’ Association Rangamati District Committee President Alomoy Chakma said, “Teacher recruitment is now the most urgent matter. If authorities finalize the gradation for headteacher positions alongside assistant teacher recruitment and promote waiting teachers, it will resolve much of the primary education crisis. The shortage of teachers is severely hampering educational activities.”
Prevention of Corruption Committee Rangamati President Omar Farooq observed that halted recruitment severely hampers primary instruction, increases student inattentiveness, and places excessive strain on existing teachers. Teacher shortages in rural and remote areas create educational inequality, weakening students’ foundational learning and negatively affecting their performance in secondary and higher education.
Rangamati District Primary Education Officer Md Kafiluddin offered assurances that authorities would resolve the situation. He said, “We are ready to conduct recruitment. But opposition from different factions at various times and various controversies have stalled recruitment. It is true that running educational activities has become difficult due to teacher shortages and vacant positions. However, we are hopeful that this recruitment crisis will end soon.”
Rangamati Hill District Council Chairman Dipan Talukder discussed the issue with the District Primary Education Officer immediately after assuming office. He explained that the recruitment clearance obtained from the ministry during the interim government expired because the council could not conduct recruitment within the stipulated period.
As a result, the council requested clearance from the ministry and plans to administer recruitment exams swiftly to resolve the teacher shortage once approval arrives.
