Local English schools help stop studies in Darjeeling
July 4, 2009
There was a time when Bangladeshis used to choose Darjeeling and other places of India for sending their children for schooling particularly in English medium schools, reports BSS.But, in recent years the tendency has been changed as the Bangladesh Government took some positive steps for proper functioning of the English medium schools.
A few years back, the number of Bangladeshi students in Darjeeling, Shiliguri and Kurseong were 10,000 and the guardians used to spend about Tk 0.3 million (three lakh) per year for each of their children, thereby draining out a huge amount of foreign currency.
But at present, about 6,000 Bangladeshi students are studying in Darjeeling, Shiliguri and Kurseong at over 200 schools, sources said.
Most of the Bangladesh students used to return home on three months’ vacation. One could see in Burimari land port in Lalmonirhat several hundred Bangladeshi guardians returning from Darjeeling with their children.
Most of them said they send their children to Darjeeling due to the poor performance of the English medium schools in Bangladesh.
Apu Hakim, a student of class three at Himali Boarding School and College at Kurseong, told the news agency that he felt very lonely when he had gone there to stay at the school dormitory.
Mahmuda Sultana Koli, a housewife who lives at Lalmatia was returning home with her daughter Keya, a student of class eight at Saint Paul’s School in Darjeeling.
“It is hard for parents to leave their children at hostels in a foreign land for education. But I have to do so to ensure better education to my daughter,” she added.
She cited a number of reasons including low quality of education in most of the English medium schools in Bangladesh, lack of proper academic atmosphere on campuses while a few schools could provide good education but their seats are limited.
A businessman from Rangpur, whose son is a student of an English medium school in Shiliguri, said, “I wanted my son to be well-educated at an English medium school in Bangladesh. But none of the English medium schools in Dhaka or any other city has residential facility. “So I sent my son to Shiliguri”, he added.
Raihan Kabir, a student of class ten at a Darjeeling school said, many of his Bangladeshi classmates have been derailed after coming to India.
Some of them even used to take liquors with the Nepalese students on different occasions. But a few Bangladeshi students are doing good in Board examinations, he added.
English medium schools like Mastermind, Scholastica, Sunbeam, Maple Leaf International, Bangladesh International Tutorial, Manarat International and Oxford International have not only checked draining out of the country’s hard earned foreign currency by attracting students but also set standard curriculum for others in Bangladesh to follow.
Source: thefinancialexpress-bd.com
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