Time-worthy education
Activities for reforms in the education sector seem to be going on round the year, addressing the content and teaching methodologies as well as teacher-quality, at primary, secondary and higher-secondary levels, but tangible achievements are too few compared to the time, effort and money spent. Corruption in the sector at least has come down to 15 per cent from the previous 35 per cent, which is by no means small, according to the education minister, and the media ought to take note of it. This remark comes in the context of the recent unflattering report by Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) on various state institutions. As one of the handful in the current cabinet who are seen to be honest and dedicated, the education minister understandably feels miffed by 'negative' reports. But the fact remains that there are miles to go, although there is no let up in his own efforts. One of them is the resolve to introduce Information Technology (IT) as a core subject in schools, which is very much time-worthy.
An IT- savvy, sufficiently knowledge-based human resource, would be better equipped to meet global challenges, provided the fundamental principle of education, helping pupils to learn to think and think to learn, is prioritised. Bangladesh's educational institutions, from the primary upwards, encourage rote learning instead, thus laying foundations of mass mediocrity and yielding mostly unthinking drifters who pursue empty 'certificates' rather than knowledge. There are of course some who are rightly oriented and do achieve brilliant heights in spite of the intellect-deadening general education system. The 'digital Bangladesh' initiative should focus seriously on developing highly-skilled, value-added brainpower that would be marketable at home and throughout the world. A really time-worthy quality education, pursued consistently and earnestly from the very basic level, would be able to transform Bangladesh's overwhelmingly young population into a competitive force.
The 1990 'education for all' idea called for universal quality education, with a particular focus on the poorest citizens, and improved dissemination of the knowledge, skills and values required for better living and sustainable development. This vision included gender equality and equity, health and nutrition, parental and community involvement and their management of the education system itself. Such an approach no doubt calls for a more perceptive curricula, including high- quality teacher-input, so that the very process of learning becomes a preparation for life for all students. It may be mentioned here that the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, which became binding international law the following year, and which Bangladesh has also ratified, elevates the educational 'needs' of children into their 'rights', as these are essential both to children's development and to social progress. Thus, Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention require countries to provide free, compulsory, quality basic schooling for all , if the practice of democratic citizenship is to be realised.
Many Asian countries, with their focus on human resource development, have achieved globally recognised standards and are moving ahead in a fast changing 21st century, a century marked by mind-boggling advances in science, technology and all spheres of human knowledge. Bangladesh can learn from the experiences of countries in the region but first and foremost, it has to arrest the low quality of education at the primary and secondary levels, focussing on both the general and madrasha streams and rationalising their contents and methods of instruction and evaluation. They must be thoroughly overhauled, and the teachers themselves subjected to rigorous education and training to enhance their capacities. If not, Bangladesh's higher-education-aspirants would continue to lag behind, except for a few who have a head start -- socio-economically -- and have access to better quality elitist institutions.
