28 eminent persons call for an end to disruptive exam papers
A call has been made by 28 eminent persons of the country to bring a halt to the anarchy that has appeared regarding exam papers. They issued a statement in this regard today, Friday.
The statement said recently certain questions appeared in the creative section of the secondary, higher secondary and vocational public exams, that were incendiary, insulting to women and also instigating hatred towards a certain writer. This is unwarranted and unexpected and cannot be accepted in any way.
The signatories of the statement said that even 50 years after the independence of Bangladesh, won with sacrifice of 3 million lives, a science-based education system has not been established. By relenting to 13 demands of Hefazat, education has been made regressive and reactionary. A large section of the children are studying in the government-run Aliya madrasas as well as the qawmi madrasas that are out of government control. The creative method was introduced despite much debate, but there are questions as to whether teachers have been able to use this method effectively.
The statement went on to say that under the creative method of education, the teachers and the students all have to become creative. The recent question papers of public exams have displayed a reactionary, communal and anti-progressive propensity, instigating communal hatred, misogyny, a bias against certain persons. The time has come to question the competence and role of those who draw up the questions as well as members of the moderation board. Also, there is a need to reconsider the entire education system. It is also disturbing that a certain fundamentalist group has been demanding that Darwin's theory of evolution be removed from the science books. This will hamper the development of science education and free thinking in Bangladesh and will, in the long run, push the state and society into a darkness, communalism and bigotry.
The signatories of the statement are Pankaj Bhattacharya, Sultana Kamal, Syed Anwar Hossain, Rasheda K Chaudhury, Ramendu Majumdar, Dr Sarwar Ali, Nur Mohammed Talukdar, Rana Dasgupta, Khushi Kabir, MM Akash, SMA Sabur, Robayet Ferdous, Saleh Ahmed, Parvez Hashem, Abdul Wahed, MA Samad, Shelu Basit, Ranajir Kumar Saha, AK Azad, Alok Dasgupta, Abdur Razzak, Abdul Alim, Dipayan Khisha and Gautam Sheel.