Corruption in education sector

THERE is a clear lack of transparency and accountability in the country and so the corruption graph is not coming down. As media reports indicate and think tank observations suggest, corruption is rising alarmingly in almost all segments of society and the country remains as one of the most corrupt nations in the world. In spite of repeated assurances by successive governments, we saw very little progress in reining in corruption. Meanwhile there have been improvements in various sectors. The country has become near self-sufficient in food and its human development index has also risen - it is higher than India's and some other countries in the Third World. Bangladesh has already become a lower middle-income country.

However, these indices do not always tell us the whole truth about the states of governance, corruption, poverty, inequality, and most importantly, frequent violations of human rights across the country. Corruption in public sector is rampant, as we hear the Education Minister calling upon the school inspectors to take bribes at 'tolerable limits'.

Before every election, we see political parties committing to zero tolerance against corruption, but things change with their ascent to power. Leakage of question papers at all levels of education is another glaring example of corruption in the education sector. A syndicate of teachers and politically powerful people is involved in the crime. It is high time that widespread corruption in all sectors of society were eliminated if we want to achieve true freedom which is still eluding us. Reining in corruption is inseparably linked with justice and human rights.

Asma Ahmed

Basundhara, Dhaka