& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Quality of education

Mawdudur Rahman
The draft policy has addressed many important issues but its merits are bound by the traditional virtues. I am afraid that it will be hard to succeed in developing a sustainable, responsive, and responsible education system within the constraints of traditional values and structures.***
THE education level of a country is the primary determinant of its economic welfare (UNDR 2007). The lack of high quality education perpetuates poverty (Perry et al, 2006; Hanushek andWoessmann. 2007).
The government of Bangladesh needs to be congratulated for taking education reform as a priority. Within a short time, a draft education policy has been prepared.
Instead or exploring in detail. 1 have focused on the aspects which may contribute towards making the policy more proactive to align it with global education paradigms, and may help in realising longterm national education goals.
I haw outlined my brief comments is six sections:
• Committee tasks,
• Structural issues,
• Corruption issues,
• Technological imperatives,
• Research goals, and
• Incentives system focusing on evaluation. opportunities, and competition.
The above factors have been included in the model below to show the relationships.
Committee tasks
A policy is a 'formal set of statements," a
statement of principles and values which signifies long-term commitments. It appears that the committee, along with developing policy statements, spent much time on the implementation plans. Developing curricula or suggesting flnan -cial plans is not usually the task of a policy formulating committee. The people who deal with curriculum development or budget preparation will do this job better, based on the policy statements adopted by the Committee. Moreover, a financial plan should not be a part of the policy statement. Financial constraints are separate issues.
I now focus on other issues needing attention. In spite of its robustness in contents and considerations the draft education policy has missed some major areas, which need to be addressed before the report is ready for implementation.
Structural issues
The system and structure are the vehicles through which the mission, goals and polices are implemented. Hanushek and Woessmann (2007) found that institutional structure was the main reason for the poor quality of education in developing countries. The best plan will surely fail in an inefficient and ineffective structure. The committee did not consider the
system and structural issues in its report.
Everyone will agree that the education system and structure in Bangladesh is inefficient and archaic. We inherited a bureaucratic culture in our education. It has been proved time and again that trained Bangladeshi people can deliver. Our failure is not because of our people; it is the system, which is the biggest draw back.
The structure of the University Grants Commission (UGC). school and college boards, government departments and university tnistees, are layers of fossils in their composition and character. We need a major reshuffle in the structure of each of these. What does the Committee expect to get out of these fossils? These systems and structures need to be completely recast and reorganised before a serious national policy is implemented.
Corruption issues
The education system in Bangladesh is plagued with corruption. Except a small and silent minority, most people who develop, manage, ahd deliver education are intellectually incompetent and financially insatiable. The education system has been turned into a money- making machine. The Committee remained silent on this issue except for its comments on notebook publishing. The Committee needs help from Bangladeshi experts (not non- Bangladeshis who have no idea of the history or culture of Bangladesh) with long and active experience with quality education in the developed countries.
Technology
The committee did not put enough emphasis on the importance and application of technology in the development and delivery of education. This is where we need another major structural change. We need a comprehensive policy statement stressing that all education initiatives should be technology based to harmonise with the global education system and deliver a forward-looking education. Digital education is the future. A major investment of the education sector should be in educational technology. Technology areas should include: • Class-room technology.
• Digital textbook,
• Ancillary educational materials,
• Research technology,
• Online education tools and programs; • Web enabled education, and
• Digital knowledge banks.
Research goals
Emphasis should be placed on academic research at all levels. The future of higher education in Bangladesh is uncertain due to the vested interests that are driven by goals other than quality of education. The importance of basic research and publication has been relegated to the back seat.
The policy should clearly state that adequate resources should made available for research at PhD and postdoctoral level to create the opportunity for access to a world-class research community. Developing high quality research universities should be one of the priorities of the nation. Private philanthropists and the government should join together to promote such universities.
Incentives: evaluation, opportunities, and competition
What is needed is a culture change in the education system. A proactive education system is built on incentives, evaluations, opportunities, and competition as a part of the paradigm guiding the education system and policies. The Committee was silent about all of these, including evaluation at the institutional and individual levels. The Committee discussed the examination of the students, which is the tradition of the archaic system.
The Committee also briefly mentioned the accreditation of universities. The quality issues are much broader than these. Many research studies, especially from developing countries, are available, which can provide guidelines for creating a responsive and responsible education system for Bangladesh.
The draft policy has addressed many important issues but its merits are bound by the traditional virtues. 1 am afraid that it will be hard to succeed in developing a sustainable, responsive, and responsible education system within the constraints of traditional values and structures.
Mawdudur Rahman, PhD, is Professor. Suffolk University, Boston. Massachusetts
E-mail, mrahman@suffolk.edu