Liaquat Avenue in Sadarghat is jam-packed with countless rickshaws, traders and hawkers, as usual, like any other part of Old Dhaka.
In a little open space at the edge of the road, opposite to Jagannath University, stands Krishna Bhattacharya, a well-groomed woman in a simple sari.
“Hello! Where are you? Stuck in traffic? I guess you will have to leave your rickshaw and walk,” she phones this correspondent, struggling to make herself heard above the unrelenting blare of horns.
Krishna Bhattacharya is the principal of HEED International School (HIS), Sadarghat, and she exudes Old Dhaka’s traditional hospitality.
In a recent interview with Prothom Alo, Krishna Bhattacharya talks candidly about her English medium school and more.
Krishna Bhattacharya is no stranger in this part of Dhaka – a settlement that has grown over 400 years, and now a home to hundreds of schools. She has been teaching here for years, but took the charge of HIS in July, 2011. Currently, the school accommodates 930 students from Play Group to A Level and 66 teachers, apart from admin staff.
Talking about the school, Krishna Bhattacharya says, “The Sadarghat branch of HIS started its journey in 2004. In the first few years, the school had only a small number of students in the upper classes as parents and guardians used to choose Dhanmondi-based schools for the children after standard VIII, with an idea that proper O- and A-level education was possible only in Dhanmondi and some other places of Dhaka.”
Many students and their parents contend that they hardly find quality schools in the older part of Dhaka and their allegations double when it comes to English medium. And so guardians send their children to Dhanmondi, Banani and even Uttara for English medium schooling.
Krishna Bhattacharya agrees that there is such a tendency. But she says she does not believe that quality education is absent in old Dhaka.
“Things are changing here in old Dhaka. There are many educational institutions in this part which has glorious past and present records. As a school, we are trying our level best to increase the number of quality teachers in the school. We now have students both at O- and A-levels and they are doing pretty well. Some of them are outstanding achievers with several A’s in international standard examinations,” she adds with confidence.
The quality of teaching and grooming the children has been steadily improving since its inception. Heed Bangladesh, the sponsor organisation of the school, facilitates quality education and extra-curricular activities for the students as it believes it has a responsibility towards the society, Krishna Bhattacharya says, sharing HEED’s vision.
There is a general concept that only the rich can afford English medium education for their children.
HIS principal believes, “To some extent, this may be correct for some schools. But, HIS is a project of HEED (Health, Education and Economic Development) Bangladesh, a non-profitable organisation. Tuition fees and other charges in our school are much lower compared to other schools. Students of middle class and even lower-middle families can comfortably study in HIS.”
Almost every English medium student pays Tk 2000 to Tk 2500 for every course for three days a week in Dhanmondi-based coaching centres and in batches of private tutors, claimed Redwan Ahmed, an A level student living in Bangsal.
Drawing her attention to the issue, Krishna Bhattacharya says, “Studying in coaching centres, I think, is just a fashion.
-Prothom Alo
