Make teaching a first-choice career

Teachers must be given greater dignity, professional recognition and financial security to help build a knowledge-based society capable of meeting global challenges, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman said on Monday, stressing that education reform must place teachers at its centre.

He also called for modernising the education system and expanding the use of technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), while making clear that technology should assist teachers rather than replace them.

The Prime Minister made the remarks while addressing a discussion marking World Teachers’ Day 2026 at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka.

Organised by the Ministry of Education, the programme focused on teachers’ dignity, rights and professional development, as well as the need to ensure quality education.

This year’s World Teachers’ Day is being observed under the theme “Standing with Teachers: Sixty Years of Protecting the Profession, Advancing its Status, Shaping our Futures.”

Congratulating teachers honoured at the programme, Tarique paid tribute to educators from primary schools to universities for their role in preparing future generations.

He said teachers become role models for students once children move beyond the family environment and stressed that educators should be able to present themselves confidently in that role.

Curriculum needs modernisation
The Prime Minister said rapid advances in social media and AI had made it necessary to move beyond traditional teaching methods.

“Technical and practical education has become essential. Therefore, changing teaching and learning strategies and modernising the education curriculum have become a necessity of the time,” he said.

He said the government was working on a new curriculum and hoped students would receive textbooks based on it this year.

Students, he said, should not be encouraged simply to memorise information but should develop the habit of asking “why” and “how”.

“If students can develop the habit of asking why and how, they can gradually become their own teachers,” Tarique said.

He also stressed the importance of joyful learning, noting that the government had introduced “Learning with Happiness” for Class VI students for the first time this year. The initiative would gradually be extended to other classes, he said.

Technology as teachers’ tool Tarique said the rapid development of AI presented both opportunities and challenges for education.

He stressed the need to modernise teacher-training colleges so educators could acquire skills suited to changing educational needs.

“We do not want to see technology as a substitute for teachers. Rather, technology will be a tool for teachers,” he said.

He said the government would advance the “One Teacher, One Tab” programme, enabling teachers to use tablets for digital lesson plans, question banks, monitoring students’ learning progress and accessing educational materials.

The government was also taking initiatives to expand multimedia classrooms and free Wi-Fi facilities in educational institutions nationwide, he said.

No child should miss education
The Prime Minister said the government wanted an education system in which no child was deprived of schooling or forced to drop out at any stage.

Education had received the government’s highest priority, he said, adding that the country had allocated its highest-ever budget for the sector.

“We have plans to increase the education budget further over the next five years to achieve the targets we have set,” he said.

He sought teachers’ cooperation in implementing the government’s education plans, saying their support would be essential.

The secondary education sector alone has around 21,000 institutions and more than 300,000 teachers, with a substantial part of the country’s education system dependent on private and MPO-listed institutions, he said.

Tarique acknowledged disparities between urban and rural education and said the government was working to ensure students everywhere had access to qualified teachers and modern technology.

He said the government’s education reform vision was based on equal opportunities, quality education and non-discriminatory access.

Character building essential
While acknowledging the importance of employment-oriented education, the Prime Minister said securing jobs should not be regarded as the sole purpose of education.

“Ethics and character building should certainly be the main objectives of education,” he said.

“If knowledge is not connected with morality, that knowledge may become a cause of harm to society instead of contributing to its welfare,” Tarique said.

He stressed the need to make truthfulness, responsibility, empathy, patriotism, humanity, discipline and respect for others integral to education.

Teachers, after families, could play the most important role in instilling such values in students, he said.

Teaching should be first choice
Tarique said the government was taking measures to strengthen the financial security of teachers, particularly those at primary, secondary and higher-secondary levels, and make teaching a competitive career in terms of opportunities and social respect.

“Teaching can never be a last resort or just another ordinary job,” he said.

The government wanted talented people to choose teaching as their first career option, he added.

“The dignity of teachers in the state and society is linked to the dignity of the state itself,” Tarique said.

He directed the relevant authorities to ensure that, from this year, at least one primary and one secondary school teacher are invited to state functions marking major national days, including Independence Day and Victory Day.

Teachers, whether serving or retired, should be honoured by the state because of the dignity of their profession, he said.

He also instructed the relevant ministry to ensure that teachers did not have to repeatedly visit government offices to receive salaries or retirement benefits.

“A teacher should not have to suffer by going from office to office for their salary or retirement benefits.

Their entitled payments must reach them through banks on time and according to the rules,” he said.

Describing teachers as a key pillar of a knowledge-based state and society, the Prime Minister concluded by paying tribute to educators in Bangladesh and around the world on World Teachers’ Day.

At the programme, 102 distinguished teachers from different levels of education were honoured for their contributions to education and nation-building.

Tarique handed over the awards, with each recipient receiving Tk200,000, a crest and a certificate of recognition.