All head teachers and assistant teachers at 50 government primary schools in Bera upazila of Pabna have been served show-cause notices for failing to meet targets under the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) programme.
Bera Upazila Primary Education Officer Mohammad Saiful Islam confirmed the matter on Tuesday night.
According to the notices, under a 180-day work plan, the schools were required to ensure by 30 June that Class Three pupils could read Bangla, Class Four pupils had mastered the four basic mathematical operations—addition, subtraction, multiplication and division—and Class Five pupils could read English fluently. The notices were issued after the schools failed to achieve those targets.
The notices further state that despite repeated instructions and supervision, the teachers failed to take effective initiatives. They have therefore been asked to submit written explanations within three working days stating why departmental action should not be taken against them for alleged negligence of duty.
An official at the Upazila Primary Education Office said the government is giving special priority to the FLN programme to ensure pupils acquire foundational learning skills. As the targets were not achieved within the stipulated timeframe, the authorities decided to bring those responsible under accountability.
However, several teachers who received the notices, speaking on condition of anonymity, said teacher shortages, administrative workload, transport difficulties in remote areas, irregular student attendance and a lack of parental awareness had become major obstacles to achieving the targets. They said they would cite these practical challenges in their written responses.
Saiful Islam said show-cause notices had been served on all teachers at the 50 government primary schools in the upazila. He added that if the explanations were found unsatisfactory, further legal and departmental action would be taken.
