A.R. Farrukh Ahamed
Bangladesh has a long history of maintaining a routine form of local government even before its inception in 1971. As a sovereign, it has also continued the system with a more legal format under its constitution. However, the legacy of local government, which was mainly inherited from the colonial British rule, still does not have any effective impact on education management system of Bangladesh. Rather, the role of the local government remains a far cry in developing a local education management system with 
effective cooperation of respective local bodies. Therefore, there has always been a wide cooperation gap between the elected representatives of the local bodies and the bureaucracy dealing with education management system of any particular region.
In almost every region of Bangladesh, there is no active people’s representation in academic institutions except some dominative influences of the local Parliament Members (MPs) or his/her nominee(s). In many cases, their involvement is often criticized for illegal benefits and nepotism in teacher’s recruitment, infrastructure development work and other decision making process where some unusual benefits get the top priority. That is, rather corruption of a sorts goes unabatedly in the process. The ‘name and fame’ is mostly decisive to some consideration for some people, who have no proper knowledge in education management; they often opt for loopholes of rules and regulations involved in education system of Bangladesh. The system as a whole is more dominated (as well as executed) by the central bureaucratic set-ups of the state.
However, there is a little bit exception with an apparent coordination between the local government and the administrative body dealing with education management in the tribal zones of Bangladesh, thanks to the newly established Chittagoan Hill District Councils. Though, these newly devised local government entities are working for the hill areas of the country, still the integral part of the tribal languages, culture and living have not yet been properly valued in the academic outlays, and also in curriculum in absence of effective integration of the locally elected entities with the central bureaucracy.
As good governance, transparency, accountability and holding responsibilities should be the basic operating tools of the education management, so it cannot be an option of standard academic management ignoring the local government. The honest pledge of the state – Education for all – cannot be achieved in quicker track without incorporating and involving the local government in the education management system.
Bangladesh still lags behind in achieving Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), at least in the education area, in real sense when Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are now under development agenda of the world community. The local governments should play a significant role in the education uplift in the developed countries like Japan in Asia.
To achieve the target of being a middle-income country by 2021, Bangladesh needs to put well-weighted priority to mass literacy aiming to develop its national productivity scale. And mass literacy is inaccessible, if the involvement of local entities through people’s representation remains uncounted in education management system. In this backdrop, there is a strong need of an in-depth study on this topic to uncover the ground realities.
Bangladesh has a unitary form of government. The President is the Head of State and the Prime Minister is the Head of Government. The Prime Minister is assisted by a Council of Ministers. The permanent office-in-charge of the Ministries / Divisions is designated as Secretary who belongs to the Civil Service. Bangladesh’s Constitution of 1972 clearly spells out the legal basis and responsibilities of local government. Article 59, Chapter III of the Constitution states that, ‘Local government in every administrative unit of the Republic shall be entrusted to bodies composed of persons elected in accordance with law’. Article 60 of the Constitution states ‘for the purpose of giving full effect to the provision of article 59, Parliament shall, by law, confer powers on the local government bodies referred to in that article including power to impose taxes for local purposes, to prepare their budgets and to maintain funds (Constitution of People’s Republic of Bangladesh, as modified up to 30th of November, 1998).
For administrative purposes, the country is divided into seven divisions, each headed by a Divisional Commissioner. There are 64 districts under the 7 Divisions. The district is administered by a Deputy Commissioner who is assisted by Additional Deputy Commissioners. The District has a Zilla Parishad headed by a Chairman. The Districts are divided into Upazilas headed by an Upazila Chairman.
Currently, there are 583 Upazilas in Bangladesh. After revisions of its structure by different governments, the local government system now has three tiers–union parishad, upazila parishad and zila parishad. The urban local government consists of Pourashavas and Municipal Corporation In the hilly zones of the country, there is another form of local government system with three hill districts areas: Khagrachaori Hill Districts Council, Bandarban Hill District Council and Rangamati Hill District Council.
In the metropolitan areas, police stations are divided into wards, which are further divided into mahallas. The cities with a city corporation, having mayoral elections, include Dhaka South, Dhaka North, Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Barisal, Rangpur, Comilla, Narayanganj and Gazipur. Other major cities, these and other municipalities electing a chairperson, include Mymensingh, Gopalganj, Jessore, Bogra, Dinajpur, Saidapur and Rangamati. The municipal heads are elected for a span of five years.
Functions of Union Parishad:
Every Union Parishad is a body corporate, having perpetual succession and a common seal, with power to acquire and hold property. The functions with which the Union Parishads are entrusted by law include the following:
- Maintenance of law and order and assistance to administration for this purpose.
- Adoption and implementation of development schemes in the fields of local economy and society.
III. Performing administrative and establishment functions.
Providing public welfare services.
Functions of Upazila Parishad:
To prepare development plans,
- To implement all the transferred activities of the government.
III. To coordinate and monitor all the departments entrusted to the upazila.
- To conduct, repair and maintain the feeder roads.
- To ensure the services of primary health, nutrition and family planning.
- To take necessary steps for supplying pure drinking water to the people of the locality.
VII. To facilitate and take necessary programmes for the welfare of the people and etc.
Functions of Zilla Parishad:
The functions of the District Council include construction and maintenance of roads, and bridges, building hospitals and dispensaries, schools and educational institutions, health facilities and sanitation, tube wells for drinking water, rest houses, and coordination of activities of the Union Parishads within the District.
Primary education project under Rangamati Hill District Council:
There is a department performing duties for the execution of compulsory primary education under the active guidance of Rangamati Hill District Council. Despite of tough proper communication, communities located at remote areas and poverty of local people, this department is playing a significant role in implementing the programs of education and compulsory primary education for all. The Rangamati Hill District Council has been working with the department from 1st July 1990.
Besides, the routine administrative system, there is a District Education Committee headed by one elected councilor of Rangamati Hill District Council. District Primary Education Officer acts as the member secretary of this committee. On behalf of the council, this committee is responsible for the overall supervision and co-ordination of the activities of primary education in this district.
Besides Govt. programs considering the realities and necessities of this area, the Council is also implementing some projects, namely
(i) quality development of education (Giving some remuneration to the teachers who are giving service without getting any salary from the Govt and also recruiting some teachers with pay where teachers are inadequate considering the number of students),
- (ii) supplying furniture and sports and cultural goods to different schools.
To achieve the national goal ensuring the education for all, some measures are being implemented which includes motivational work, orientation and quality development of teachers, formation of local school managing committees and ward committees and food for education program to the poor students.
City Corporations:
The city corporations have no inclusive management regarding education development in the cities, though some city corporations have educational institutions under the supervision of the corporation itself in accordance with the rules and regulations of the ministry concerned.
Evaluating this background of the functions of local governments and education management system of Bangladesh, there is an apparent unfilled cooperation between theses two entities, which deserves a further study to weigh up the real scenario. Bangladesh constitution in its directive principles (Article 17) recognizes the right to education for all and enshrines that the quality and content of education have to be uniform. But it has been more than four decades since the independent Bangladesh got its constitution encompassing the guarantee of universal human rights. Education has however, yet to reach an up-to-the-mark level and is still considered as a privilege for some, not a fundamental right to all. There is no effective democratic education management system in Bangladesh. There exists a disintegration between the local government and the central bureaucracy centric education system.
To build up a real democratic and economically independent Bangladesh, a strong people participatory local government is very much needed. Besides, a decentralized democratic education management is also an urgent demand. Coordination between the two is simultaneously regarded as a possibility of ensuring ‘education for all’ policy of the government.
