Many teachers land in odd jobs 

Abdul Baten, an assistant teacher at a private school in Sylhet, is now working as a salesperson at a grocery shop after having passed days in hardship without pay since the school shut down in March last year. 

"I have not got any salary for the last one and a half years. In this situation, I struggled a lot to run my family. Finding no other option, I have been working at the grocery shop of one of my relatives since January," said Baten.

Like him, many teachers from private educational institutions in Sylhet are going through a tough time with no salaries amid the pandemic-led school closures. Many have also changed their profession to make a living.

On the other hand, owners of private schools in the city are also struggling to keep their institutions running. Many schools have already shut down permanently failing to bear operational costs.

According to sources, there are more than 300 private educational institutions in Sylhet. Of them, 20 have already shut down and around 100 are about to do so.

Eight entrepreneurs opened Zee Net International School in the Ghashitula area of the city. The school was doing well with around 350 students before the pandemic. But the authorities had to close the school in March last year after Covid-19 hit the country. After one and a half years, they have at last shut down the school permanently as they could not bear its operational costs anymore.

They said they did not get any tuition fees from students. As a result, they could not pay salaries to teachers.

Sohel Rana, chairman of the school, said, "We have already taken a loan amounting to around Tk7-8 lakh to keep the school's operation on by paying rent and other costs. But it is not possible for us to continue like this. That is why we have closed it permanently. If the situation gets better, we would think about reopening it."

Mohiuddin Faruk, president of the Sylhet Private School Owners' Association, said, "Most schools are unable to pay salaries to teachers and employees. They continue to pay rent by borrowing money. More than 300 private schools in Sylhet have incurred a loss of Tk150 crore amid the pandemic."

He said, "The government once gave an incentive of Tk5,000 each to private college teachers and Tk2,500 each to employees. But schoolteachers and employees have not got anything. In the budget for the fiscal 2021-22, incentives have been given to almost all sectors, but private educational institutions have been deprived of it."

Many schoolteachers in Sylhet were dependent on private tuitions for their living apart from their regular salaries, but they cannot do that due to the school closure.

Ayesha Siddika, a teacher at a private school in the city, said, "I have not been paid for 14 months. I used to give private tuitions before the school closure, but there are no students."

Online classes still a far cry

Osmaninagar Upazila Education Office in Sylhet instructed all the schools to take classes online during the pandemic. But most schools failed to do so due to a lack of logistical support and problems with Internet and electricity connections.

On condition of anonymity, a primary schoolteacher at the upazila said, "We held a meeting with the teachers of each school and made a schedule for online classes. But many teachers do not have equipment in their houses to conduct classes online. The Internet connection is very weak and there is load shedding too."

"The presence of students is also very small. Sometimes only two to four students participate in online classes. As a result, online classes are not held more than one to two days a week," he added.

Kabir Uddin Ahmed, the headmaster of Sylhet Government Pilot High School, said, "There are about 200 government and private secondary schools in the Sylhet city. As far as I know, only 8 to 10 of them take regular online classes. The rest of the schools take online classes only one or two days per week as they do not have the capacity to take more online classes."

Kabir said, "We take online classes almost every day a week. We take two classes per day. Most of the subjects are taught in these classes. Around 70% of students attend online classes."

Jahangir Kabir Ahmed, deputy director of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, Sylhet, said, "There are 942 secondary schools in the Sylhet division. Every school has been instructed to take online classes. But, most schools do not have the capacity. Since there is no cooperation from the government in this regard, we cannot take any strict action against the school authorities. We can only encourage them."

"We are making a list of the schools that take online classes. We will discuss with the higher authorities how to help others to take classes online," he added.