Education rates high, quality low

Prothom Alo illustration

The government authorities have said that the education rates have been increased and now they will turn towards improving quality. That is an admission that the quality of education has been overlooked all these days. They seem to have ignored that fact that education means equipping human resources. Taking the short cut by churning out certificates at the end of the academic year does not make sense. This is not the way to create competent and skilled citizens.

The education that fails to meet the demands of the day and which is of no pragmatic use cannot be called education. It is said that the British had introduced ‘modern education’ in this country to create a clerk force. But more unfortunately, the education prevailing now in the country cannot even create qualified clerks.

We claim that we are moving up from being a least developed country to a mid-income country, and dream of becoming a developed one too. But our education system remains outdated. Our youth wander the streets with university degrees and no jobs, while thousands of skilled and trained persons are brought in from abroad and appointed with high salaries.

A 2014 report of the Economist Intelligence Unit stated that Bangladesh has the highest rate of unemployed youth in the world. The situation has worsened further in the past six years. The reason behind this is that while the government has opened new universities and awarded thousands of students with certificates every year, it has failed to actually educate them. New departments which are of no use at all, have been opened up. And the the fields of education which offer potential for employment, have been shrunk.

Updated policies are required for updated education. And such policies require proper implementation. Almost all the governments so far have formed education commissions, but to no avail. They had to step down from power before they could implement the proposed policies. But the present Awami League government has no such problem as it has been at the helm even 9 years after it had declared its national education policy in 2010. It has more time ahead too. The government claims that this policy was drawn up on the lines of the 1974 Kudrat-e-Khuda commission’s recommendations.

What were the recommendations of the commission? The Khuda commission had recommended a uniform, free primary education up till Class 8. It recommended higher studies in Bangla. The government has not implemented any of these recommendations. On the contrary, the students have come under pressure of even more examinations. There are the public exams now like the Primary Education Certificate and the Junior School Certificate. Our education is exam-oriented, not lesson-oriented. And there are four types of education systems in the country at present – Bangla medium, English medium, English version, and madrasa education.

The second recommendation of the Kudrat-e-Khuda commission was for secondary education to be taken up till Class 12, and higher education at the university level after that. Instead of doing that, the authorities have simply been setting up one university after the other, with no proper infrastructure or any qualified teachers. These universities have no professors, no associate professors. Some of the newer universities are being run with provosts and assistant professors. How can we expect any standard of education from such institutions?

The government policymakers are now talking about a common curriculum for all at the secondary level. There will be no separate groups for science, commerce or humanities. That means new text books will have to be prepared. This initiative of the government is nothing new. The BNP government took a similar initiative. The educationists protested, saying this was a move against science. The initiative was cancelled. If the educationists protest again, what will the government do?

Recently Prothom Alo carried a report that changes were being made in the education curriculum, with the government claiming that the new textbooks and curriculum would increase the skills and competence of the students. At present there are 33 textbooks at the primary level and 71 at the secondary. Changing these books is a massive task and a costly one too. In 2012 the curriculum from the primary to the higher secondary level was changed, but for the worse. Amendments were made after much protest. But these changes brought no real change to education. There was no reflection of any science-oriented thought process. Awami League’s education policy and curriculum had surrendered to Hefazat-e-Islam.

Laws are required for the implementation of any policy. Unless there is a law, any violation of the law goes unpunished. Unfortunately, over the past 10 years the government has failed to enact a single education-related law. Vested quarters invariably put a spanner in the works. The latest draft law drawn up by the government bans guide books and note books, but allows coaching centres. Their condition is that the coaching centres cannot run during the day. These will run at night and school teachers will be able to take classes there. When education at the school level has turned towards coaching classes, it is useless to try and bring the students’ focus back to school. Yesterday a guardian in Mirpur related his experience. He said he had to take his daughter to be coached by two teachers of the school where she studies. Unless they take these coaching classes, they are failed in school. That is why the guardians hesitate to even complain again these teachers.

Despite all these discrepancies and anarchy in the education system, the University Grants Commission (UGC) took initiative for a cluster admission test at the university level. That is a laudable decision. The sufferings of thousands of students and their guardians will be assuaged to an extent. Ever year during admission time, students have to rush from one university to the other, sometimes failing to get admission to the university of their choice as the exams dates of several universities are too close to each other.

UGC first tried to establish a central admission exam, but it has now decided for this to be held in separate parts, one for the agricultural universities, one for the engineering universities, one for the science and technology universities, one for general universities.

There are academic curricula running in 46 public universities. Of these, 17 are remaining outside of the cluster admission tests for various reasons. These include four medical universities. The top five universities of the country also will hold their admission exams in their own method. These are Dhaka University, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Jahangirnagar University, Chittagong University and Rajshahi University.

UGC for some years now has been talking about such a uniform admission exam, but could not implement this because the top universities did not agree. It is to be seen whether UGC will succeed this time, with those particular universities remaining out of the system.

The department of education in recent times has been a bit active. The education ministry too has spoken about improving the quality of education. But whether these activities are mere eyewash or are genuine, only time will tell.

* Sohrab Hassan is joint editor of Prothom Alo and also a poet. He can be contacted at [email protected]. This piece appeared in the print edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir