Cultural and physical education take a backseat as Govt scraps music and PE teaching positions

The government has reversed plans to integrate specialised arts and physical education into primary schools, scrapping the newly created posts of assistant teachers for music and physical education (PE). 

The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education issued a gazette notification yesterday (3 November), amending the Government Primary School Teacher Recruitment Rules, 2025, and removing the controversial positions following sustained criticism and threats of protests from major Islamist organisations, which insisted on the appointment of religion teachers instead.

The original recruitment rules, published in late August, had introduced four positions under Schedule-1: head teacher, assistant teacher, assistant teacher (music), and assistant teacher (physical education). 

Under the amended regulations, only head teacher and general assistant teacher posts remain, with all references to music and PE positions eliminated. The amendment also corrected a phrasing error regarding merit-based allocations, ensuring that 80% of common posts could be filled by candidates with degrees in "science and other subjects." 

The initial plan to create specialised music and PE posts provoked strong opposition, particularly from Islamist parties, who argued that religious education was essential for instilling morality and should be compulsory, while cultural subjects such as music and dance should remain optional. 

Previously, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar criticised the plan to appoint dance teachers as "completely unacceptable" and described it as a "suicidal move for the nation" amid what he termed a moral crisis among the youth.

Later in mid-September, leaders from Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Andolon Bangladesh, and Khelafat Majlish held seminars condemning the inclusion of music and dance teaching as "forced and irrelevant," claiming it promoted "atheistic philosophy" and threatened to make the next generation "faithless." 

Syed Rezaul Karim, Ameer of Islami Andolon Bangladesh, warned that "Islam-loving and religion-loving people" would be compelled to take to the streets if religious teachers were not appointed, while Maulana Jalal Uddin Ahmad of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish described the absence of religious instructors as "shameful, given that 92% of the population is Muslim." 

Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Mujibur Rahman pressed for a separate recruitment process to teach religion in schools, proposing that candidates with Dawra-e-Hadith degrees from Qawmi madrasas or Fazil degrees from Alia madrasas be made eligible.

Rights organisations, however, defended cultural education. Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) criticised calls to scrap music teacher recruitment as "misleading and harmful to Bangladesh's cultural rights." 

Citing constitutional guarantees, ASK emphasised that music education fosters mental development, moral values, creativity, and tolerance, and should complement—not replace—religious instruction. The group described the removal of music teacher posts as a "deliberate attempt to spread division and hatred in society."

Despite these arguments, the government ultimately yielded to ideological pressure, removing the specialised teaching positions. Critics say the decision sets a troubling precedent, sidelining holistic education and cultural inclusion in favour of appeasing religious interests, raising concerns about the shrinking space for arts and creative instruction in Bangladesh's public primary schools.