Education: Let Us Think
Keshab K. Adhikary
A lot of people, of the country such an underdeveloped, are thinking modestly about the backwardness of ontogeny. In fact it is difficult to imagine the beginning and ending point of the developing plan due to the backward and non progressive level of thinking. But some body has to take the initiative, at some moment and have to begin some where in the rush of stillborn, ill motivation and illiteracy. But the question is, who, where and from when do begin the leadership of this keenly gestate of growth?
Now it is totally unpredictable, who will begin; and we already spent over thirteen thousand sunrises in the independent Bangladesh. In the site of geographical and economical context of Globe today after the victory of the war of independence is very sensitive and important. We have to make a long-term plan with a precise destination just now and from here. We have the instances around us to follow, believable and dependable; might be unlike but precede somewhere on the route with a very acquit terminus, somehow. We have the adequate chances of intellection for the beginning with consciously avoiding the question of leadership and startle.
When the progress is in getting ahead in the era of globalization with a wide angle, it can be assured about the alarm of any sorts of catastrophe in the trend of communication and correlation. Justly it is right that too, the global communication and cooperation might not back us to the way of booming necessarily and the lack of self-dependency is certainly a cause of severe disaster while spring up. For example, we are looking toward the foreign technology and invention for the drinking water whereas we float on water over two-third of the year as a whole. This is not all; everywhere we found blockage, miserable and ineffectuality. So, what will be the way out of us; political stability, economic growth, self-dependency on food, protection of corruption, clapper claw of so-called religious persons, trade or disseminate of education?
Yes, I'm telling about the dissemination of proper education with a proper plan for long-term basis. There is no alternative for intricate improvement rather wide spread education and plans. The main obstacle for democracy is only the illiteracy. Spreading of different ill forces, black-practices of religion and ill cultures are very liberal and bound to allow in this socio-educated environment.
The people of this Bengal are very soft and simple from the pre-historical era. Agriculture is the main occupation. The Bengali is the class of people and struggled as a nation for existing with the superior class originated from the end of the Brahmanism. Then, it was the time, came for the opportunist, ancient foreigner merchants for looting. Came over the darken era of unethical and inhuman activities of Vedan, French, Dutch and English. Bengali accepted the fate with their as usual softness, to make the country of dream of Golden Bengal with raping of green. Education was just arrested inside the four walls of the drawing room of the elites. Mass-people was just at their own position as they were. The dark still doesn't leave them. India subcontinent was divided into several parts. Because of that so called elites required a class of people to protect their interest. A middle class was generated and expanded. The touchy religious feelings for the soft people were used. Oh! That argued Pakistan! The Religions were not for the human but the humanity, social and moral values were sacrificed for the religion. What was the achievement? Bengali didn't grab the lantern of literacy. It was untouched and education was just away from them.
That Bengali just took over the weapons in 1971 to build the Golden Bengal. The red-green flag was secured and free from the grabs of brutes. The country was just appeared as a just bloomed bloodletting flower. The world observed with an astonishing look towards the nation. Just is an unbelievable dream. It was as a birth of an unveiled nation with a sprit of their eternity. A conspiracy breaks the dream and through the nation to the dark hole of the universe. The conspirators are squawking the flag in grab that was earned by the huge price. If look towards the neighbors, the shine of knowledge produce a breakthrough for an era of globalization with achieving sufficient tools for the survivability, advancement and competitions. And are we? No where, exactly no where in the stream. We have our backwardness as a whole, selfish thinking and living with the lack of personality. Even, probably the education system is totally rapped by the darkness of the past. Need education free from bindings, requires free thinking and expressing unbind, need open air for full breathing. Generations after generations are coming and sure, they will never forgive us for the world, what we are going to leave for them. So, this is the time to take initiatives of advancement and precautions especially on education.
A uniform and common education system is required. This will be based on mainly Science, Humanity and Heritage. After molding with these machineries of embedded system, strongly scientific philosophical based, freethinking secular products will be the outcome! Our main target is the freedom of future from the all sorts of unprivileged social and old religious sacraments. An idealistic and real materialistic based society only can survive with potential growth and development.
Probably we can unify the total system by upgrading the existing contents in the standard level with the basis of Dr. Kudrat-E-Khuda's education program in 1974. Here unifying means common and nationwide unique education system, not mixed, such as Government primary school, Non-government registered primary school, Non-registered non-government primary school, Experiment based primary school attached with PTI, Community school, Kindergarten school, NGO driven school, Ebtedayee Madrasha, Uccha madrasha-r ebtedayee shikhsha shakha, Primary education branch of secondary middle school, GEC, Ed-Excel etc. Among them, GEC and Ed-Excel with some others are imported programs. Where we have no any communicative link of our culture and moral values, that unable to bear our need of eternal thirsty and taste of ethnic philosophical outlook. In fact with the imported systems the product as a person is an incomplete personality and unable to fulfill the expectation of the nation in wide angle. Probably it turns the contemplated merit to ruin at most. Because we need intellectuals those who are holding our own philosophy, culture, ideology, thoughts and progressives. Yes, only for this reason we need to update our education policy and should be unified. The policy should be embedded with modern scientific basis, ethnical values, standard philosophical back ground and the traditional beauties those are in the modern form by their evolutionary reformation. Let us consider and try to speculate some of the points are urgent and might have to be taken into accounts immediately.
1. A modern scientific based, secular, realistically and applied education policy is the demand of the nation.
2. Modernization of institutional infrastructures is the most important issue over the country.
3. An adequate attention to words the interest of the teaching stuffs related to the profession is a basic factor for the nation for accomplishing of its next vision.
4. Enough government supplements are necessary for the academies (government and non-government both) in such a way where fundamental services should be equal for all the students over the country in the rural and urban area.
5. All the universities and research institutes should be encouraged for productive research by the Government and the relevant authorities. In this regards government should supplement adequate amount of annual budget for research and development in addition. At the same time there should be a constructive rule for collaborative and joint-venture research programs in the industrial sectors and others, correlated with the universities and relevant institutes.
If we unmask, it has very clearly seen that the so called educated peoples are involved into the corruptions even some lower earned fellows too. What are the reasons behind this? In generally each and every educated people should have their moral and ideological standard level, from where it should not be expected such activities and roles against the society but now, whole nation even internationally it is believed as so. In fact the political forces and the educated circle of the country mainly control the administration and take an effective measure against the corruptions and its (corruptions) individual equipments even the government or its part (if applicable) and its (government's) unfair activities. At the same time it is also an important factor for the politicians, their educational back ground! In fact, the nation could not expect anything from them because they are unable to serve to the country due to their very limited capability of well spreading view in the 21st century. It will be very clear if we go through the academic credentials of the nominated candidates for the last national parliament election 2008. Mind it; there is enormous difference between the educated and literate individuals. A number of illiterate or partially literate politicians are performing now days with their dullard view for the century of the digital era! As a result, the so called politicians are unable to point-out the destination of our education even the government may becomes blur. At the same time the abused so called literate personalities are loosing their credentials, gradually involving more and more to the unethical ill practices and inhuman decisions or doctrines inspire the government to ruin. So its impact will be emphasized and fall on the people and society which reflects the nature of the nation.
We the people those who have a minimum level of self-respect and Bengali National Egotisms are gradually inactive and our intellectual achievements are bewildered. We can easily have seen the sign in the society of this sickness. Students are seeking money with gradual increasing in lack of interest in academic periphery, education is just oriented and emphasized round the economic benefits- just as a business, research and development and ideas are going down, involved personnel are using this efforts as their extra benefits in exchange for their morality and ethical values. Even there are no any professional sectors and administration which are not in the grab of this dirty dark. We need to remove the darkness with the enlighten heart of the young generation. So the whole nation now in hurry to resolve the problem before it would become a plague out of control. What can we do in this case? The following points can be considered for the education program recently under progress.
Three staged education program is proper. But,
1. Primary Education:
(i) Play group to Class IV would be the standard Elementary Level.
(ii) Class V to VIII might be the High School Level
2. Higher Secondary Education:
(i) Secondary Level: Class IX to Class X
(ii) Higher Secondary Level: XI to XII Class.
3. Graduation:
(i) Then 4-Years Honors.
(ii) And two years Masters at the end of the academic life. It just means that a student will come out as a Masters with in 24 years of ones age provided that one's Play Group should started at 4 years old.
4. Madrasha Education Board is unnecessary equipments for the country. It can be dissolved with the Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board.
5. All the education boards should be headed by the recent retired renowned academicians and not necessarily from the cadre service based only. Because, they have their excellences, experiences to aim the destination for our young generation to march ahead. Moreover, the appointed post should be treated as an honor.
6. Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board should construct a syllabus with the light of the above view for Secondary Education and Higher Secondary Education.
7. The Education Boards, National text book board or any relevant authority shouldn't produce all text books according to the syllabus except the followings- (a) Bengali Literature, (b) English Literature, (c) History, (d) International relations, (e) Geography, (f) Economic Laws (g) Social sciences and (h) Political sciences.
8. Each and every academic institution will construct an academic council with certain validity and rules. The academic council has the authority to select the suitable and available text and reference books for the institution for a particular semester or academic year according to the syllabus declared by the education board.
9. Bengali literature, English literature, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology should mandatory for the Madrasha education with other respective subjects of this origin. Other religious education also can be emphasized in the way due to build up unified and patriotic nationality and stop emphasizing a particular racism.
10. But, from my personal point of view, state should reluctant for the all sorts of religious studies up to at least secondary education. Because this childhood is the improper time for an infant to swallow a pill of religious studies. Great chances are remaining there for psychological instability, wrong conceptions, development of racism, grudge of women and a kind of aversion to the society.
11. For the Madrasha students, education board will construct a syllabus. Respective student will take the syllabus instead of others 1 / 2 or more unimportant or negligible subjects (directed by the Education Board and the National Policy of Education) as pre-engineering students are taking Industrial Arts instead of Biology.
12. Co-education system should be instigated through the policy of education. Where male and female students are built up as them responsible citizen of the country with sharing their ideas, having nature to respect each other to develop moral and social values. In this case the view of policy must be emphasized indiscrimination of Male and Female.
13. All sorts of foreign education systems including institutes such as GCE ('A'-Level, 'O'-Level), EDEXEL should closed or centralized to the respective embassy or the Cultural Center of the country. Because English version of our own system is available. We need to build-up and develop this area by giving special emphasis. Respective English medium schools can be taken this responsibility instead of foreign curricula.
14. All the Cadet Colleges should free from the control of Army, except their additional part of Army Training. In fact, short-term army training should mandatory for all the students (male and female both) throughout the country before graduation. All the Cadet colleges can play a vital role in this respect. In some other cases only female students are eligible for short-term nursing training instead of army.
15. In the graduate level, only four years honors should be applicable. B. Sc. Pass course is indisposed for the 21st century of digital era. It is absolutely failed to fulfillment of the necessity and in fact is useless. This 21st century requires skilled technical hands for digital solutions. So we need to invest a substantial amount of budget for existing vocational training institutes, its development and expansions throughout the country. It has two benefits, firstly, it could be produced a potential impact for earning foreign exchange and secondly, it could be a great solution for improving skilled hands in the congested country. It also can open a door to build-up small industries as well as handicrafts.
16. At the same time transform the National University as a full-fledged National University in the country. By this way the Open University can play a vital role to improving the skills of the people using their media and satellite transmission tools. Where state can be saved from the unnecessary load of unskilled manpower in the congested.
In fact we need a unique and multidimensional education system. This system can provide the secular unitary sense among the people; they should have that feeling of nationalism of their own and the others, a proud and the right on their own culture and heritage. In the era of globalization we need a versatile knowledge and skills. Presently the country is the agriculture based, but a huge load of population is the power and might be an enormous resource for the potent economic growth. So we need a precise industry to produce skilled farmers as well as skilled manpower for the industries on the globe in the digital century. To optimize the situation and for the proper output we have to design a sequential set-up of the essential parts of our industry with an adequate program holding our values of culture and heritage and most of all with the values of our independent war. Then only we can expect the above products for the nation for its progress and the future.
At the beginning it was mentioned about the fallacy in the society in every sector, and profession. What are the results?
1. Blind supporters of the unethical and antisocial movements of certain political groups in the name of so called democracy and religions are performing. Administrative machine with the so called democratic parts are driven by the illiterate or partially literate politicians and social leaders with the feudal thoughts. They are crying for democracy! Ask yourself, are you ready and fit for democracy? The trend in fact very feasible for the distorted products of born blind for fulfillment of the interest of the class of shrewd and selfish politicians. They usually baffled-efforts to turn out the wheel of progress with their feudal and back-dated philosophy.
2. Very few enlightened advanced literate citizens are either disdained or terrific panicky of the antisocial menacing. Sometimes they are persecuted by the state administration while it driven by the so called insolent politicians, and some time they are in the critical state of life even.
3. Generally people willingly avoid the common public rules and regulations and involve into the events creating public nuisance very common.
4. A blind so called religious sentiment grows on the people. They are nakedly and furiously used by the so called religious leaders. They intentionally pull back the people and the society to ward the regress. They want to bring the darken era of the middle age in the era of digital globe. Secular manner and women literacy program ought to be stopped in the name of so called religious issues. In fact the society will remain in dark and divided into communities. These groups of fundamentalists are also used by other political groups for so called democracy lead by the so called worthless, irresponsible and impersonal people. Already they were targeting the young innocent new generation to be the ferocious terror. Innocent people are unable to protect their child to be a terror most of the cases. Because whole program has been running with the layer of sensitive religious armor.
5. Young generations become hopeless due to the regressive nature of the society. Their scopes of involvement in creation and novelty remain nothing and become serious in terrorist activity due to the hopeless future compare to the others. The whole society and its moral values are destroyed or appear as worthless. Family and the social bonds become sluggish and the nation loss its unity and baffled.
6. People usually never think about the public property, they usually do not have any idea about their right on the property belongs to the state or on any private establishment or organization for public use. They are totally insentient.
7. Some of the people even some times forget about the country which in fact they belong to. That is why, a substantial amount of people apply for immigration visa to the countries, where they have no any practical idea about the country, but usually think as a place of peace and prosperity.
8. People do not have any idea about the right and process of use of each and every public places, the vehicles, restaurant, parks, foot-path, roads, gardens, offices, waste-bins, toilets and stations. Because, those who are the current care takers (or owners) of the property behave like a Zamindar (he means, only he has the right to protect, use and enjoyment. He seizes the rights of the general citizens). They acquire the table of the office to create the trouble to the clients not to solve it. These types of feudal activities are common to the chair holders among the nation. And the people are tenants to them not the part of the country and the government. Even they are not concern about their citizen laws and rights. They always doubtful about the human rights and property rights due to the ill governance of the administration of the country. On that context bribe is a common practice among the whole nation. That is why we find the people from working as a clerk or peon of a public booth to the prime minister of the country, are accused with same fault! How funny! Isn't it? These are arising from the lack of education and respective individuals are generally caring dam their self respect.
9. Such nationality could be found and identified easily with some common practices and issues: (a) They usually through spittle every where, (b) Always involve with some sorts of public nuisance activities, (c) Indiscipline in nature, (d) Overrule the traffic signals, (e) Usually cheat and having a nature to deceive the very next person. (f) Never bear an ego of nationalism and the values due to their ethnic tradition but, the personal ego is too strong. (g) Due to this cause they are characteristically vindictive in nature.
10. Each and every citizen should have their own responsibility to buildup their own family as a cultured and educated.
11. Presently we are experiencing with different unpleasant incidents frequently, which are outcomes of the backward social infrastructure. We need to recover the situation with the enlighten beauty of education and the policy.
12. With out proper education people usually loss their self respect and the ability of independent successful life. There is no any other alternative than education to meaningful change in the century. Recently we have been turning a loss of proud of our social, cultural and political grounds.
Let's we think about the way out to reestablish the fame and proud of the nation in this days of global digital advancement.