Isolationist Education

FE Team | Published: March 29, 2010 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Mahmudur Rahman
As chancellor of universities in Bangladesh President Zillur Rahman has the unenviable role of being positive and moral boosting at the numerous convocation ceremonies that he has to attend. His speeches by and large have focused on the need for students to build character and acquire knowledge. For faculty and management the message was clear; create a learning environment and allow talent to flourish. But even he must know deep inside that the standards of teaching and management at most private and even public universities are today tottering precariously.
The euphoria on the shining faces of youngsters at a recent award ceremony for high performance in the A and O level examinations may have warmed the heart but the "what next" question looms disturbingly. It would be interesting to know how many of these high performers are today in the country, how many have come back from abroad after higher studies, how many of them go on to local private universities and indeed, how many are involved, post-studies in the mainstream activities relating to teaching, administration or specialized sectors in the country. The chances are that the word "few" would apply to all four questions. This in turn leads to the view that precious resources of this country and let there be no illusions that O and A level education involve not insignificant economic activity and transaction, may well be benefitting countries other than our own. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid was emphatic in suggesting that these fortunate few have roles that they must take on their young shoulders. Perhaps the emphasis needs to be shifted on the practical rather than the theory by creating the opportunities they crave for.
The minister may have ruffled quite a few feathers by suggesting recently that unless it comes to grips with a revamp of management and the realities of today's education needs he would not hesitate to shut down the National University. For the disgruntled perhaps that memorable punch line from an advertisement, "Tradition is the way it used to be", may be somewhat illuminating. The minister is a straight-talking individual willing to call a spade a spade and makes no secret of his desire to finalize an education policy that exists today and not in yesterday.
The warning signals have been strong that the current system is producing specialists who aren't as special as made out to be and generalists who aren't all that general. There is a real danger of the country's education system becoming isolated from society and life as a whole.
At a recent interview candidates from some of the renowned public and private universities frankly admitted that demands of their curriculum did not allow them the time or opportunity to be updated with what was happening in the country or the world. Out of 140 candidates almost 90% couldn't say how many parliamentarians there are in Jatiya Sangshad; 95% didn't know who Joe Biden is; 70% couldn't name the SAARC countries of their capitals correctly; 60% couldn't say who the Speaker of Jatiya Sansgshad is and apart from the Foreign Minister, very few knew the names of high profile ministers of the country. A few candidates were actually disgruntled at having been asked general knowledge questions. But no one really had any answers when they were asked why it was that they couldn't identify Jaintapur-the place where 15 Bangladeshi citizens were injured in Indian BSF firing or Bagaichara, where such tragic clashes took place in the hills between settlers and tribals. Searching queries revealed that public university common room televisions were invariably tuned to either mega sporting events or Hindi channels or Hindi songs.
Consideration for these factors, flimsy as the grounds may be is admissible in accepting a lack of exposure to. However, candidates' response was pretty blank when it came to the concept of newspapers as a source of information. Apparently, they listen but don't hear; they read but do not register.
What took the cake was the abject failure of students and even professionals among the candidates to dwell on their preferred academic subject. Students of English-even teachers among them, couldn't say or didn't know about William Shakespeare's birth place; economics students and professionals couldn't elaborate on what a budget, deficit budget or surplus budget is; no one appeared to know the definition of or difference between inflation, recession and stagflation and International Relations students by and large couldn't elaborate on the abbreviations SAARC or ASEAN.
Some of the rather amusing correlations made suggested that Serena Williams was a badminton player; Sri Lanka's capital is Kathmandu, Sonia Gandhi is Prime Minister of India, 7th March is when we recall the martyrs of the war of liberation, the name of our National Parliament in Bangla is Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban and Jonmasthmi is the birth celebration of Goddess Durga.
Smoking is a bad habit but perhaps the famous English expression "put that in your pipe and smoke it" isn't unwarranted for parents and policy planners alike. (The writer is a former Head of Corporate & Regulatory Affairs of British American Tobacco Bangladesh, former Chief Executive Officer of Bangladesh Cricket Board and specializes in corporate affairs, communications and corporate social responsibility. He may be reached at e-mail : mahmudrahman@gmail.com)