Is our education sector ready for the future challenges?

[Homo Sapiens]

http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/society/our-education-sector-ready-the-future-challenges-1486282
12:00 AM, November 05, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:35 AM, November 05, 2017
Is our education sector ready for the future challenges?

Selim Raihan

The Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is about quality education. The difference between the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and SDGs in terms of education is that, while MDGs talked about ensuring enrolment and completion of primary education of all children, Goal 4 of the SDGs emphasises ensuring of inclusive and quality education for all and promoting of lifelong learning. The targets of Goal 4 include ensuring completely free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education for all girls and boys; access to quality early childhood development; ensuring equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education; increasing the number of youth and adults with relevant skills substantially; eliminating gender disparities in education; and ensuring equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable. They also include ensuring all youth and a substantial proportion of adults achieve literacy and numeracy; that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development; building and upgrading education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive; and increasing substantially the supply of qualified teachers.

Education is critically important for economic growth and overall development of society. Education directly enhances human capital and contributes to economic growth. The 7th Five Year Plan of Bangladesh envisages to achieve 8 percent GDP growth rate by 2020. At the same time, the government's other vision documents project for a 9-10 percent growth rate in GDP by 2030. In particular, Goal 9 of the SDGs aims to double the share of manufacturing in the GDP for the LDCs by 2030. If not doubling the share, even if Bangladesh wants to increase the manufacturing share substantially from its current level of around 18 percent, the country needs to invest quite a lot in developing its human capital so that it can meet the demands of the industries. Other goals of the SDGs highlight the importance of quality education for a better quality of life too. However, there are genuine concerns that the current education system in Bangladesh is unable to meet most of the targets mentioned above.

Despite the fact that Bangladesh made considerable progress in gross-enrolment in primary education for both genders, the country is seriously lagging behind in ensuring quality education for all. Because data for many of the targets related to Goal 4 are not available, we have studied a few available indicators which are consistent with the goal 4.


If we consider the average years of schooling as an indication of the status of education of any country, during the years between 2010-2015, this number for Bangladesh was only 5.1 which was higher than Pakistan (4.9) but lower than India (5.8). However, Bangladesh was far behind Sri Lanka (10.9) and some of leading Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia (10.1), Thailand (7.7) and Vietnam (7.8).

Two important indicators related to the quality of educational infrastructure are "percent share of trained teachers in total teachers in primary education" and "pupil-teacher ratio in primary education". During the years between 2010-2015, in the case of trained teachers, Bangladesh (53 percent) performed very poorly compared to India (77.2 percent), Pakistan (83.7 percent), Sri Lanka (79.1 percent), Malaysia (97.2 percent), Thailand (100 percent) and Vietnam (100 percent). In the case of pupil-teacher ratio, though Bangladesh (39.8) performed better than Pakistan (42.8), it performed worse than India (32.5), Sri Lanka (23.8), Malaysia (11.9), Thailand (16.1) and Vietnam (19.4).


Regrettably, Bangladesh is among the bottom in the list of countries in the world with the lowest ratio of public expenditure on education to GDP, which is only 2.1 percent. This ratio is 3.7 percent in India, 5.4 percent in Malaysia, 4.3 percent in Thailand, and 5.3 percent in Vietnam. This is one of the reasons why the private spending on education as a share of household monthly expenditure is much higher in Bangladesh compared to those of other South Asian countries. According to the latest available Household Income and Expenditure Surveys of five South Asian countries, the share of private expenditure on education in the average monthly household expenditure in Bangladesh is around 5.5 percent, 2.6 percent in India, 4.8 percent in Nepal, 2.5 percent in Pakistan, and 1.9 percent in Sri Lanka. This suggests that the responsibility of education expenditure heavily falls on households in Bangladesh, and the government's role is yet to be ideal.

It is important to mention here that Bangladesh's education sector also suffers from huge disparities. The disparities are observed between regions and between rich and poor. There is a high degree of inequality with respect to access to quality education as poorer people and people in remote rural areas have limited access to higher education and quality educational institutions. The existing education system is also not very conducive to developing a strong base in the education sector, as quality, access and opportunities vary considerably across the English medium, Bangla medium, and Madrasa systems, as well as between public and private educational institutions.

What needs to be done? Some major reforms in the education sector are much warranted, which should include improvements in the quality of institutional mechanism in the education sector, modernisation of curriculum, substantial increase in the supply of trained teachers, harmonisation among different educational systems, reduction in disparities and unequal access to education by improving and expanding educational infrastructure across regions, and putting due emphasis on secondary and tertiary education, vocational training, and skill development. For this, there is a need for a substantial increase of the ratio of public spending on education to GDP from its current level of 2 percent to at least 4 percent in the coming years, and making such spending more efficient.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Main culprit is the very poor tax to GDP ratio.This poor tax collection is responsible for poor performance in quality education as well as weak infrastructure development so far.

 

[bd_4_ever]

From my personal POV, its an usual rant I have read earlier too. He missed a bunch of very important issues. While all the targets on raising maximum enrollment, increasing number of teachers, % of GDP spending are good, it does not shed any light into our highest form of education at tertiary level. The problems are the following:

1. Our public and private institutions have extremely shameful level of research activities, to say the very least. Our teachers are busy in politics while their job is to not only teach for the sake of it, but also contribute in their field of expertise with new knowledge.

2. Most of our teachers/professors do have rich degrees from abroad but that is mainly done on the purpose attaining promotion and extending their title. Not to mention to hog the benefits they receive for these posts.

3. Piss poor local scientific journals allows a channel for lot of these professors to increase their number of publications without any amount of substantial value and use. It is done to either get selected for a PhD/Post-Doc position abroad or possibly become an editor of it or for the sake of promotions.

4. If you talk about meeting future challenges, what is extremely important is you perform a design-thinking on the exact problems you wish to solve. Define future challenges. The 5W is a good start (what, why, who, when, where) and then through ideation, make necessary changes in the education system. This extends from ensuring high enrollment to implementing independent and de-politicized research environment at highest level.

5. My understanding of the article only brings me to a position where I perceive the vision to be only having more engineers, doctors, specialists in the long run working in the industry or doing business. That is fine but if you seek to become developed someday and transform into a Knowledge Society, you need to learn to create knowledge or to have the proper foundation to at least facilitate that. Just ensuring a % of GDP is spent behind education would not suffice.

I can keep going but I guess I made the point. We need to hit the areas which matters most, of course alongside, take care of the basic issues such as low dropout, quality secondary/primary education etc. Above all, we need to usher in a Creation Culture where the benefits, incentives, salary etc. would depend on research contribution in respective fields. But right now, this looks very shabby and unproductive.

 

[Russell]

I'll keep this short and sweet - we need less people with useless MBA's and more people with vocational training and skills.

We need to get it through the head of the next generation - not everyone has to go to university and get a 4 year degree to succeed in life. Not only will this help internally (reduce unemployment and poverty), but also help us when we look to export manpower - 99% of the manpower we send overseas is unskilled.

 

[Bilal9]

I'll keep this short and sweet - we need less people with useless MBA's and more people with vocational training and skills.

We need to get it through the head of the next generation - not everyone has to go to university and get a 4 year degree to succeed in life. Not only will this help internally (reduce unemployment and poverty), but also help us when we look to export manpower - 99% of the manpower we send overseas is unskilled.

You echoed my thoughts.

We need trained managers with vocational engineering skills (like people who know how to operate CNC as well as non-computerized forges, metallurgical machines, lathes, machining centers and milling machines) rather than philosophy teachers.

This is what brought Taiwan and Korea to be world leaders in producing value-added engineering products and items at prices people will be attracted to purchase. At one point Taiwan became the number one lathe maker in the world, prior to China's rise to that position. Yes - a little Island the size of maybe Dhaka Upazilla.

Coming back to academic shortcuts, plagiarism and fraud - I will present one example and that is related to an incident in Pakistan. Bruce Schneier (noted Crypt-analyst as well as Internet pioneer) was the victim of academic plagiarism a decade ago, which he wrote about.

Mind you - this is simply a representative example of academic fraud happening in the subcontinent, the country could be India or Bangladesh as well (and has little to do with the country that is Pakistan)...but it shows how far we have to go in the subcontinent to really achieve strict academic standards.

As far as I know the perpetrators who committed this fraud are still professors at the International Islamic University (which is not one of the top Pakistani Universities). But the end-result can be seen from the shocked reactions of the readers of the article, mostly from Pakistan. I have renewed faith in Pakistani academic circle now....

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/08/plagiarism_and.html

 

[EastBengalPro]

I'll keep this short and sweet - we need less people with useless MBA's and more people with vocational training and skills.

We need to get it through the head of the next generation - not everyone has to go to university and get a 4 year degree to succeed in life. Not only will this help internally (reduce unemployment and poverty), but also help us when we look to export manpower - 99% of the manpower we send overseas is unskilled.

Spot on .....

 

[riasat]

One of the worst decision made by the government is by recognizing the Kaumi Madrassah degree. The material taught in those system is devoid of any lesson that touches upon our Bengali culture and heritage. Also note, that there are four different boards under Kaumi madrassah themselves, and that is because none of them can agree with one another.

 

[idune]

Is our education sector ready for the future challenges?
is an worthless question because we already know the answer; NO.

In last 10 years, with question leak at every level sent education systems down the toilet. Ruling awami league even polluted the highest education institution in a such way that awami league party favored teachers attained their designation with plagiarism and Awami league appointed VC approved that. What can one expect from their students?????

Five DU teachers accused of plagiarism
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/education/2017/09/28/five-du-teachers-accused-plagiarism/

And to gauge the worth of education system and (perceived mentality) in Bangladesh, here are few clues. Besides education, way of thinking (mentality) is crucial.
1) More than $6 billion taken out of Bangladesh each year because there is not enough skill work force in Bangladesh to manage garments and textile sector.
2) There is no established brand or design house in garments sector even after 30 years in export business.
3) Even having great technical skill in Jinjira to be most promising engineering hub, all these famous BUET graduates and successive government could not come up plan to make it one such place.

These are just few. Then there is also reality of "book smart" (a.ka. GPA 5/star mak etc.) vs "real smart" - who can "think" first of all and then take ideas into real product and successful. Otherwise known as entrepreneur. Not many found in a country of 160 million people.

There is typical awami noise that Bangladesh became "outsource destination". These people making few thousands here and there, are mere code pusher, virtually no ability to think and come up with a product or solution. I have talked to (supposed to be) top notch programmer and company in Bangladesh but still lacks broader vision of E2E solution, product or project centric acumen. With this low level of skill and acumen, Bangladesh IT sector will limp just like garments industry being world known stitches; never will able to reach the next level. Country like Korea, China and other did in front of our eyes.

One of the worst decision made by the government is by recognizing the Kaumi Madrassah degree. The material taught in those system is devoid of any lesson that touches upon our Bengali culture and heritage. Also note, that there are four different boards under Kaumi madrassah themselves, and that is because none of them can agree with one another.

With awami league producing terrorist, drug paddlers and extortionist, Madrassa students remain hopeful segment of society; who could make difference. Proof - in recent DU entrance exam these Madrassa students done overwhelmingly well. Now a days, material taught in Madrassa systems are close to what being taught in general education board. But secular extremest class (which represented by awami cheerleading group in this forum) is extremely nervous and spewing lie to cover up aftermath of mutated "Bengali culture and heritage" value they represent.

Note: awami troll alert! Instead of admitting failures, awami troll brigade will come up with "anti Bangladeshi" label soon. Brace for it.

 

[idune]

The bias against Madrasa students

Md. Mijanur Rahman
Dhaka University, the premier public university of Bangladesh, reportedly does not admit madrasa students in selected departments like English, Bengali, Mass Communication and Journalism, International Relations, Women and Gender Studies, and Linguistics, no matter what grades students obtain in their admission tests. However, this discrimination goes beyond the admission procedures in universities; it continues during job recruitments as well.

There are thousands of madrasas all over the country that run under the Madrasah Board of Education, a legal institution created under the Madrasa Education Ordinance in 1978. The board functions like any other education board in the country. Furthermore, the government spends crores of takas each year in salaries and infrastructure developments in these madrasas. In doing so, they seem to encourage students to study there. So legally, and in terms of the government's stance, we cannot, at any level, question an individual's choice of education in a madrasa.

At least three factors motivate parents to choose madrasas as the preferred institute of education for their children. Firstly, they consider madrasahs as the seat for learning Islam, the idea being that students become aware of their duties and responsibilities as Muslims. The second factor is a matter of convenience, especially funding. Most madrasas do not charge high fees as charged by regular schools and colleges. Often, everything, including food and accommodation is provided for free to students. Thus, families with modest or low incomes often send their children to madrasas. Finally, madrasa certificates are considered to be equivalent to those earned in other education boards and so parents can still decide the type of higher education their children should go for when they pass Dakhil and/or Alim. In short, madrasas provide an opportunity for parents who expect their children to grow up with an Islamic education at an affordable cost, while having the general higher education choice still open for them.

For many madrasa students, getting into a well reputed public university, which has very limited seats, is a difficult prospect just as it is for students from other institutions. The problem is further complicated by the fact that the types of questions set in the admission tests align more closely with the syllabus taught in mainstream schools and colleges. To ace these admission tests, madrasa students interested in higher education have an added pressure to deal with; they study their own syllabus as part of the madrasa curriculum and also take the pains to study the syllabus contents of schools and colleges not covered in madrasas. The fact that they are able to do this is an indication of how serious they are about their education. It definitely requires some skills to simultaneously master both types of content. Students who qualify for admission in top public universities, despite the discriminatory admission tests, do deserve accolades from university administrators and education policy makers. Instead of this, they are denied admission in selected subjects.

Again, admission tests are designed, arguably, to test students' understanding of 12 years of education in different areas. Anyone qualifying in these tests can be said to have displayed their success in achieving those objectives or outcomes. It does not matter whether they received full marks in Bangla and English or any other subjects; it does not matter whether they studied a particular subject in their secondary or higher secondary schools. What matters is the outcome of their education, something that these admission tests are supposed to test. Denying admission to those who have proved their ability cannot be called anything but an anomaly. Reports of madrasa students topping the ranking lists in different units and facing the same fate is all the more unfair and worth looking into.

Furthermore, these qualifying students are just a few of the hundreds and thousands who either do not choose liberal higher education or do not have the ability and/or intention to go through the process. Students enrolling in such a university are those who have expressed their intention to be part of the liberal education programme provided by these universities. Denying them admission in departments like English and Bangla is denying them the right to study these subjects.

Blanket judgments that all madrasa students are radicalised do not make much sense. While madrasa students are denied admission in a few subjects, they still can choose other subjects and find a place in the university with their supposed 'radicalised' attitude and possibly attend classes in the same room and/or building where these departments are housed. Thus, the only objective this discrimination serves is leaving students from a madrasa backround with a permanent sense of deprivation and prejudice.


It gives rise to the question: what sort of liberal education system is this that does not dare to reverse the 'radicalism' for some segments of students?' Isn't denying liberal education to a segment of population a new form of radicalism practiced by the so-called liberal education advocates of universities? It makes one wonder about the sort of liberal education being provided in the nation's highest seats of learning.

While I am saying this, I am not blaming all universities. The vast majority of public and private universities do not promote such discrimination. It is only a few departments, and those mostly in Dhaka University, that make this distinction in a way that amounts to a serious act of discrimination. Madrasa students have done exceedingly well in medical colleges, in engineering universities like BUET, in top ranking universities in Europe and North America. What if they also succeed in a few chosen departments of universities like Dhaka Univerisity? The nation can only benefit from this.

One may argue that madrasa students develop a particular type of political orientation that the stakeholders of these few departments do not want to promote. We should keep in mind that political orientations are created and developed in a society as a whole. Madrasas have never been reported as a hotspot of political activity as opposed to the 'liberal' universities which segregate people in different political lines of Chhatra League, Chhatra Dal, Chhatra Shibir and Chhatra Union. People study in madrasas without being particularly aware of their political identities which, as my personal experience shows, are by no means a uniform monolithic practice. Madrasas are a miniature of the larger society and closely reflect the national political cross-section.



Once, at a job interview in a technical university, I seemed to be doing quite well in terms of impressing the members of the interview board, until one member asked me, “Why did you study in a madrasa?” I could not be impressed with the query as it seemed to decide my fate, and a candidate with inferior academic credentials ended up being selected.

Luckily, the universities outside Bangladesh, especially those in the US do not care for which stream of education you choose or your parents chose for you. My brief experience here shows what they really care about is your knowledge and skills in your intended areas of specialisation. Diversity is aggressively promoted in US universities with no harmful impacts on the liberal atmosphere of the academia. I wish the few departments of our universities knew this and realise the significance of having people who may potentially have different opinions on the same liberal and pluralistic platform. What is the value of a university if it does not show universality in attitude and practice?

The writer was formerly an assistant professor of English at Northern University Bangladesh. He studied in a madrasah from class 1 to 12, and completed his BA (Hons) and MA in English from Rajshahi University. He is currently doing his PhD in English Studies at Illinois State University in the US.

http://www.thedailystar.net/op-ed/the-bias-against-madrasa-students-191032

 

[riasat]

There is a big difference between Alia Madrassa (a Government accepted and prescribed study) and Kaumi Madrassa (owned and operated to spread Wahabi ideology).

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, November 08, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 01:03 PM, November 08, 2017
EDITORIAL
Clash amongst DU teachers
Most unbecoming of their calling

The recent incident of assault that took place at a meeting of a group of teachers at Dhaka University does not befit their profession. As this daily has reported, two factions of pro-Awami League teachers of Dhaka University were involved in a row at a meeting of the Blue Panel teachers at TSC on November 2.
At one point, one of the feuding teachers allegedly fell upon another and left him with minor injuries. Regrettably, the predictable mutual blaming does very little to salvage the sullied image of the teachers' community.

While Dhaka University has created some of the brightest people of this country and teachers of this institution have always led the nation in all its glorious democratic movements in the past, the present degradation of its political culture is shocking. Some teachers, unfortunately, have become actively involved in party politics for petty interests: promotions, positions in various university organisations, financial benefits, etc. The latest incident is the worst example of teachers' involvement in party politics.

By assaulting each other, what example have these teachers set for the students? When some teachers of the best public university of the country engage in political feuds, the overall educational environment of the university is hampered.

We would like to believe that what we have witnessed in the last several days is not the actual representation of the larger teachers' fraternity of DU. It's our hope that political differences would not manifest in violence in our highest seat of learning and vitiate its atmosphere.
http://www.thedailystar.net/editorial/clash-amongst-du-teachers-1487755

 

[Banglar Bir]

Why did Brac University emerge as number one?
Myat Moe Khaing
Published at 08:57 PM November 10, 2017
Last updated at 11:21 PM November 10, 2017

Brac University campus at MohakhaliMehedi Hasan
The university outranked others in several key indicators
Brac University (BRACU) has emerged as the number one private university in Bangladesh in the first rankings of their kind to be published in the country.

The Dhaka Tribune-Bangla Tribune Private University Rankings 2017 published yesterday included the names and scores of the 20 top private universities based on two criteria: the Factual Score and the Perpetual Score.

The Factual Score depended on four broad variables – the faculty, student service, research, and the learning resources. All of this data was collected from the information universities are required to send to the University Grants Commission every year.

The Perceptual Score was given based on two different sets of indicators. One was for the academics including quality of faculty, graduates and the overall reputation of the university. The other was for the Employer’s assessment of the graduates’ ability to take initiative, communicate or work in a team. It also included the academic reputation of the university. 60% Perceptual score and 40% Factual score summed up to provide an overall score for the universities under the survey.

Brac University secured its place at the top of the rankings with a dominating performance in the Factual indicators category, scoring 80.3 out of 100. The next best performer in this category was Independent University, Bangladesh with a score of 62.84. IUB came third in the overall rankings.
See where the other universities stand
Across both categories, Brac scored 78.95 points to finish ahead of North South University in second on 71.13.

However, North South University scored the highest number of Perceptual points with a total of 79.57 out of the same 100-point scale, with BRACU coming second with 77.27 points.

The Perceptual data was collected from two sources: academics including university deans, department heads, registrars and senior teachers; and employers who mainly included the human resource managers of organisations that employ university graduates. North South University scored the highest on both academics and the employers ranks, with 82.65 and 76.50 points respectively.

The Factual scores depended on the data obtained from the University Grants Commission (UGC) for the year 2014.

Brac University stood out through its student-faculty ratio. With one teacher for every 11 students, it easily gained points over other universities, including NSU, as the latter has one teacher for every 18 students.

Brac also ranks number one in terms of spending money on research. With a sum-total of Tk39.02cr allocated for research in 2014, the university outspent the next university, IUB, by almost five times.
Read the detailed methodology of the study
Aside from these two best ranking universities, the other universities to rank in the top 10 are: Independent University, Bangladesh (3), Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (4), American International University Bangladesh (5), University of Liberal Arts (6), East West University (7), The University of Asia Pacific (8), United International University (UIU) and Daffodil International University (DIU) (10).

The university ranking project was carried out under the supervision of an advisory committee with committee members including Dr. Syed Manzoorul Islam, Professor of English (retired), Dhaka University; Monzurul Haque, Chairman and Managing Director, Orq-quest; and Zulfiqer Russell, Editor, Bangla Tribune.

The ranking was published to help students make their choices easier during university admissions, as they can now access a concise array of information without having to face any overwhelming barrage of information.

“This recognition stems from the tireless efforts of the entire BRACU family – the policy framers -leadership team, academic council, syndicate, and the board of trustees – the faculty, students and management, by striving for higher standards on multiple fronts,” said Professor Syed Saad Andaleeb, the vice-chancellor of Brac University.

“While it is a wonderful recognition to be ranked as the leading private university, we shouldn’t be overtaken by the ranking game. Instead, we should focus on student engagement, building quality programs, and adding value to the students, faculty and management and thereby enable them to strive for knowledge leadership in an era of the fourth industrial revolution,” he added.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/education/2017/11/10/brac-university-emerge-number-one/

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, November 13, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:46 PM, November 13, 2017
Teacher politics: Plaguing our public universities

Over the years, teacher politics in public universities has taken a turn for the worse. PHOTO: STAR
Naznin Tithi
One of my teachers at college would often say, “Even if you take a walk through a (public) university campus, you will learn many things about life.”
The recent feud between teachers of University of Dhaka reminded me of her and the countless stories she would share with us about her university life—stories that were set in the backdrop of the glory days of the university.
I wonder what she would think now about the highest seat of learning in the country.

Going by the reports published in this daily, on November 2, two factions of the pro-Awami League Blue Panel teachers got into a row at a meeting at TSC.
At one point, the proctor of the university allegedly assaulted a professor of the sociology department, Jamal Uddin.

Afterwards, both the factions blamed each other for the incident. The faction loyal to former vice chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique demanded immediate removal of Proctor AKM Golam Rabbani, while the teachers of the other faction, loyalists of incumbent VC Prof Akhtaruzzaman, have protested the alleged assault of the proctor by Prof Jamal Uddin. The division between the two factions started a few months ago over the senate polls and the appointment of the vice chancellor. With the recent incident, this division has widened.

The convener of the Blue Panel, Abdul Aziz said, “We will not hold any meetings of the Blue Panel with teachers who assaulted Prof Jamal and will wage a tough movement if he [the VC] does not punish the perpetrators.” Given the circumstances, there is little hope that this division will end anytime soon.

The incident has drawn widespread criticism from all quarters. Teachers and students of the university have vented their frustration on social media. Some senior and former DU teachers commented on the incident but most of them did not want to be named in the newspapers. While a few teachers said they didn't want to be named because they were ashamed of the incident, needless to say, there were a few who did not want to be named because of the consequences they might face if their names were revealed. And a large number of teachers, who are not involved in teachers' politics, have chosen to remain silent.

"When teachers are appointed upon political consideration and engage in politics for personal interests, can we expect anything better from them? It seems as if these teachers are playing the role of party thugs—often engaging in scuffles with students and even with their fellow colleagues over petty issues.

Over the years, teachers' politics in public universities has taken a turn for the worse. In the past we had teachers who gave us hope in times of need and led us in all our democratic movements. Back then teachers used to engage in politics because of idealism, for the greater good of our society, while today they engage in party politics for petty interests—mostly to get promotions and important positions in various organisations which give them power and financial benefits.

The process starts with the appointment of teachers. There are allegations against almost all major public universities of the country of appointing teachers based on political consideration. It seems the university administrations don't care to follow the due procedure of appointment. Only a few days ago, a leading Bangla daily published a report on this "appointment trade." The report revealed how the VCs of two public universities allegedly appointed a large number of teachers in exchange for money. When the report of their gross corruption was revealed in the media, the education ministry intervened and directed both the universities to halt the appointment process.

When teachers are appointed upon political consideration and engage in politics for personal interests, can we expect anything better from them? It seems as if these teachers are playing the role of party thugs—often engaging in scuffles with students and even with their fellow colleagues over petty issues.

In July this year, a group of DU teachers got into a scuffle with students when the students demanded the long-pending DUCSU election and were protesting the absence of student representatives in the senate. Earlier this year, at Rajshahi University two groups of pro-Awami League teachers got into a row over holding of a press conference to reveal "irregularities of the administration" in buying a guesthouse for the university (The Daily Star, February 28, 2017). However, the latest clash amongst teachers at DU is the worst example of teachers' involvement in party politics.

And while these teachers are busy in political squabbling, our public universities are plagued by a myriad of problems which remain unsolved. Question paper leaks of university entry exams have become a regular phenomenon, session jam is eating away precious time of students' academic life, quality of higher education is deteriorating due to lack of research activities, violent student politics is ruining the educational environment of the campuses, and so on.

Last month, when allegations were made that the question papers of DU's “Gha” unit entry exams were leaked, DU authorities outright denied the allegations, without even investigating the incident. While research activities are an integral part of higher education, our public universities have failed miserably to produce quality research works in recent years. Sadly, DU's yearly budget for research activities is too little to support the kind of research expected of such an institution.

For the fiscal year 2017–18, only two percent of its budget was allocated for research activities. Moreover, clashes among the various factions of pro-ruling party student organisations on university campuses make news headlines almost on a regular basis, but we never hear about any pragmatic steps being taken by the authorities to stop such violence. At a time when university administration and teachers' communities ought to concentrate on resolving these problems prevailing in their respective institutions, their involvement in petty political disputes and violence is a huge disappointment to the nation.

When I went to Jahangirnagar University campus earlier this year, I was surprised to see a banner hung over a street in which general students of the university urged the teachers to come to classes instead of engaging in party politics.

Who would have thought that a time would come when students would have to remind teachers of their responsibilities?
We hope the teachers who prefer politics to taking classes (we hope they are only a few in number) will come to their senses. We would prefer to see the names of our teachers in the news for their academic excellence and achievements, not for their involvement in unhealthy party politics and violence.
Naznin Tithi is a member of the editorial team at The Daily Star.
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion...tics-plaguing-our-public-universities-1490188

 

[Banglar Bir]

2:00 AM, November 16, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:22 AM, November 16, 2017
One man show
Lone teacher Selina Akter runs Kangalichheo Dakkhinpara Government Primary School

Selina Akter, lone assistant teacher of Kangalichheo Dakkhinpara Government Primary School in Tangail's Sakhipur upazila, is seen with some of her students of the institution. Photo: Star
Mirza Shakil
The students of Kangalichheo Dakkhinpara Government Primary School in Sakhipur upazila have been deprived of proper education as Selina Akter, the lone assistant teacher of the institution, has been conducting classes of all six classes for the last three months.
The institution has no peon or bell man, and besides taking classes and conducting office works, Selina has been performing other duties like cleaning the classrooms and ringing the bell.

According to upazila primary education office, the school was established in 1973 and nationalised in 2013 and it has a total of 70 students in all six classes from pre-primary to Class V.

Since the retirement of the headmaster of the school in 2015, it was running with two assistant teachers.

After one of the two assistant teachers retired on February 13 this year, Selina was transferred to the school from adjacent Akandapara Government Primary School on deputation the same day.

Since the other senior assistant teacher went on retirement on August 13, Selina has been running the school single-handedly.

Due to shortage of teachers, education of the school kids has been badly hampered, guardian Ananda Mondol, also a member of the school managing committee, said.

During a recent visit, this correspondent saw Selina taking three classes simultaneously moving from one class to another.

"Although our Primary Terminal Examination is knocking on the door, we could not take necessary preparations due to shortage of teachers," Urmi Mondol, a Class V student of the institution, said.

“I have already informed my higher authorities of the matter,” Sakhipur Upazila Education Officer Mohammad Aminul Haque said, adding that he will send two teachers on deputation as soon as possible.
http://www.thedailystar.net/country/one-man-show-1491877

 

[Banglar Bir]

Editorial
12:00 AM, November 16, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:18 PM, November 16, 2017
NCTB – a den of mismanagement
Heed TIB recommendations

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), the graft watchdog, has done a study on the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) and had some damning things to say about the board.
It is timely, principally because we find NCTB in the news on a regular basis these days, either because of factual errors in textbooks, or more worryingly, the direct omission or misrepresentation of important events related to our culture, tradition and history.

The study points out that 16 pieces have been left out of five textbooks (at primary and secondary levels) including poems, on the demand of certain pressure groups.
The publication and distribution of textbooks process is apparently laced with corruption and nepotism which ultimately result in substandard editing and printing.

The TIB is not off the mark when it says that it is necessary to make NCTB an independent commission, free of politicisation and incompetent elements. Until NCTB is able to function with freedom, we will see no end to the meddling by vested interest groups who are both morally and financially corrupt.

It has been also alleged that certain NCTB officials are in cahoots with specific organisations whenever a tender is called. Indeed, the list of anomalies extends to awarding contracts to paper mills that do not meet the appropriate standards to awarding of honorarium to members who have little to do with preparing textbooks.

All these point to systemic and entrenched graft at various levels of NCTB and perhaps it is time for the government anti-graft body to take a closer look at what is going on here.
http://www.thedailystar.net/editorial/ntcb-den-mismanagement-1492030