& 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

Uni-track education

S.M. Anwar Uddin
ALMOST a century ago. the famous American philosopher and educator John Dewey tied democracy and education together in his groundbreaking book Democracy and Education, written in 1916. The central message of the book, which revolutionised the educational discourse was that “a democratic society must provide equal educational opportunity not only by giving to all its children the same quantity of public education -- the same number of years in school -- but also by making sure to give to all of them, all with no exceptions, the same quality of education."
One can reasonably argue that the "equality' of quality" in education cannot be achieved by forcing all students to take exactly the same courses of study because such factors as students' socio-economic background, teachers' capacity to impart quality education, and the school administration's attitudes and ability are crucial. Granted the anticipated challenges. 1 will argue that an educational change is necessary1, not an option, to strengthen democracy and its associated institutions.
Educational policy change is not as straight-cut as it seems to be. It involves social, political, economic, theoretical, intellectual, ideological, and pedagogic factors. It is also very difficult to achieve the desired change in quantity and quality at the same time in any policy implementation. In a country like Bangladesh, where possibilities are often outnumbered by challenges, achieving both quantity and quality in education can be
compared with fighting a battle. However, we can win half of the battle -- the quantitative half — by introducing a uni-track education system for twelve years of basic schooling. Then, we can focus on the qualitative half.
Apparently, there are five types of basic education in Bangladesh. For this classification I use the popular names. They are (1) general education (some people call it Bangla medium education). (2) madrasa education (or Islamic education, administered by Bangladesh Madrasa Education Board). (3) English medium education (under a number of British educational and testing organisations and facilitated mostly by the British Council), (4) vocational education (under Bangladesh Technical Education Board), and (5) open education (offered by Bangladesh Open University).
The result of these five types of education in a small nation with a nearly homogeneous population is the creation of classes and division of skills, which have further implications in destabilising democracy and hindering the overall socio-economic development of the country’. One of the problems occurring at the intersection of mainstream Bangla medium education and English medium education is the question of language skills, which also implies social class stratification because students from affluent families generally get English medium education.
As a teacher at Brae University. 1 noticed a clear division between the students who came from English medium and those who came from Bangla medium. Both parties had a hard time getting along with each other in activities such as group work. As the medium of instruction at Brae is English, students less skilled in English are not willing to participate in classroom discussions. Even though they have brilliant and original ideas, they prefer not to share them with the class. Fluency in English is often regarded an indicator of brilliance.
Another problem is the difference in school curriculum. Students from English medium schools generally have less knowledge of Bangla language and history than those coming from Bangla medium. Let's add madrasa education to this spectrum. Students from madrasas are by and large far behind the English and Bangla medium students in terms of university admission and career opportunities. They also see themselves ideologically aloof, especially from the English medium students who. in the opinion of the former, are highly influenced by tire western cultures. This creates ideological divisions.
Moreover, due to less emphasis on the English language and technical skills, madrasa students lag behind in the
fiercely competitive job market. When madrasa students are alienated from the mainstream job market, some of them can easily be manipulated and used for acts of political segregation and even for terrorism.
I wo other groups, vocational and open education, are also getting isolated from the mainstream higher education and job market. Vocation education, although it has great potential for development, is not getting proper recognition in Bangladesh. It has been observed that most students choose vocational education after they have failed the mainstream SSC exam. This sends a message to those who are less confident about their academic success to prefer vocational education for an easy pass. Open education also suffers from similar problems. Students take up open education with a preconceived notion that it will not do them much good, except for the honour of havinga certificate or diploma.
It is not impossible to strengthen these five types of education and help the students. But it requires re-making of the curricula, training of teachers, and reorganisation of the educational administration. At present, our country seems to lack the financial capacity and skilled educators required for attaining.
Therefore, I propose that Bangladesh adopt a uni-track education system for twelve years of basic schooling. All students in Bangladesh will take exactly same courses of study. All schools across the country will follow a uniform curriculum. There should be two types of school for basic education: primary school (K-8th grade) and high school (9th 12th grade). There should not be any divisions such as humanities, science, or commerce. All students will learn all basic knowledge and skills for the first 12 years of education. They will have opportunity to specialise in a particular discipline at the tertiary level (college/university).
In the 12 years of basic schooling, there will be no electives except for the case of a third language. All students will study Bangla as the national language and English as a second language. Only the choice of a third language can be optional. The foreign language courses will be based on national interests regarding international business and diplomacy.
An important change must be made in religious studies. At the present time, students take courses on the religion they follow. When they finish their 12 years of education, they have very limited or no understanding of religions oilier than their own. The consequence is a narrow outlook and, sometimes, hatred for other religions. Therefore, the proposed new course should be called 'Religious Studies," which will address all major religions of the world.
In the ninth and tenth grades, there should be courses in developmental health education (otherwise known as physical education). It should also be noted that the 12 years of basic education should be government-funded. Students will pay minimal tuition fee, and deserving students should receive stipend based
on academic performance and their parents' income.
Some people may say that we need to entertain a variety of talents and the legitimate interests of our students. My response to this is that students will have absolute freedom to choose their course of study and specialisation when they enter college or university. Their choice can range from Islamic studies to molecular biology; from classics to gender studies. The main rationale for my proposal is that when thousands of students graduate from high schools across the country, they will graduate as a class with similar knowledge, skills, tolerance, and democratic zeal. 1 hey will also be better able to contribute to the social and political development of the country because the line between "we" and the "other" will be removed.
The basic education of the first twelve years is crucial for students to construct ideologies and individual worldviews. Hence, it realistically deserves such a reshuffle. Anothercriticism I anticipate is that all schools across the nation won t be able to maintain the same quality of education, even though they follow the exactly same curriculum. The reason is that the skills and capacity of teachers and attitudes of schools administrators differ.
Well, I began my proposal with this issue and labeled it the "qualitative half" of the battle. The solution to this problem is continuous teachers' training and regular monitoring. However, the question of this qualitative half will concern us after we have achieved the "quantitative hair of the battle. In sum, I propose that the government introduce a uni-track education for 12 years of basic schooling, which can serve as both the means and ends of a stable democracy. And after winning the first half of the battle, i.e., quantity of education, we can focus on the second half, which is ensuring the quality.
S M Anwar Uddin teaches English at Brae University.