A choice between learning and earning

Learning has always been the light in the long tunnel of socio-economic emancipation of a nation. History of Japan, Korea and some other countries is indicative of the way education, especially rising literacy rate, could contribute to growth and development. There are many layers of education and learning, and the importance of each stage depends on the tiers of development.
Last week, BRAC and the Institute of Informatics and Development (IID) organised a national seminar on 'Quality Education for Next Generation'.  There could perhaps be little disagreement that the title of the seminar was timely as Bangladesh has been striving hard to ensure quality education after decades of emphasis on quantity. With our success in enrolment and pass rates, now it is more important to ensure the distribution of resources among strategic education goals of access, quality and equity. Available information revealed by the organisations show that currently resources are directed mostly to quality improvement. For example, between FY 2009 and FY 2013-14, about half of the development budget in education went to quality improvement projects.
However, keynote submissions by Asif Saleh (Senior Director, BRAC) and Syeed Ahamed (CEO, IID) were followed by discussions. One of the pamphlets circulated by the organisers showed the shining part of the progress that Bangladesh has made over time such as enrolment in primary and secondary levels of girls outpacing boys. The drop-out rate has dropped from 47 per cent in 2005 to 21 per cent in 2014. The survival rate has increased from 54 per cent in 2005 to 81 per cent in 2014.
And very less publicised but praise-worthy performance is that enrolment of disabled children has gone up from about 46 thousands to about 77 thousands during the same period of time. The distribution of free books to all students of all primary schools, scholarships for poor students, use of multi-media in classrooms and the spread of education in technology etc. have also contributed to the progress. Most importantly, two-thirds of the primary teachers are now females - an epoch- making progress that Bangladesh can boast of. Needless to mention perhaps that these improvements were geared up by the government but at the same time they were supported by NGOs and private sector.
Research carried out by BRAC and IID shows the factors affecting children's basic learning competencies. Some interesting observations need mention. Performance of children improves with rising per capita monthly income and if the household has electricity connection. Some children help their parents in their livelihood activities thus lagging behind others. One of the pamphlets shows a graphic picture of negative correlation between political turmoil and students' performance indicating that students have performed worse in years of political crisis. This possibly leads to the conclusion that a consensus is urgently called for keeping educational institutions out of pernicious political programmes.
The challenges to access, equity and quality are multi-dimensional and can be categorised into four sub-heads: (a) infrastructural - construction of an adequate number of school buildings and classrooms along with introduction of shifts, provisions of library and entertainment facilities;   (b) teachers - raising numbers and quickening recruitments. More important are curtailing corruption and politicisation in recruitment, setting minimum salary of teachers at Tk.8000, training of teachers and looking for ways for stopping coaching etc.; (c) management; and (d) standard of education - enabling students to lean on learning from practical observations rather than memorising and formulation of syllabus tuned to time. The last one is hotly debated issue. It has drawn most students to books but has given rise to private tutoring and guide books. By and large, the system would work well subject to decentralisation of the process, addressing the negative sides.
There is also a surprise from the generated data. While almost everything has been going well in primary and secondary education, the share of education of the total national budget has been declining from about 16 per cent in 2006-07 to about 11 per cent in 2015-16. Growth in allocation has also gone down from 28 per cent in 2010-11 to only 8 per cent in 2015-16. It needs to be reminded that education budget is estimated to be Tk. 316.05 billion during 2015-16 fiscal which is seven times of what it was in 2004-05 period.  While higher allocation is important, equally vital is the implementation capacity.
The seminar could hardly cover tertiary education excepting the education minister's annoyance with happenings in some public universities that allegedly go against good education. In this writer's view, it would not perhaps be an exaggeration to argue that while remarkable progress could be in evidence in cases of primary and secondary education, a big slide has occurred in the case of university education. It has long been alleged that public universities have turned out to be mini-cantonments with students wielding arms rather than books, teachers involved in party politics rather than lecturing in classrooms or carrying out research activities.
The private universities, on the other hand, excepting very few, indulge in making money out of higher education. Some of them are selling certificates only.
By and large, Bangladeshi universities have apparently moved away from the age-old adage of 'learning is light' to 'earning is light'. Maximisation of personal gains rather than maximisation of social gains seems to become the motto of the majority teachers. But politicians should bear the responsibility of the sad erosion of values. They directly patronise students and teachers to follow their suit. Lucrative posts in government or corporations await those extreme supporters who regularly knock at their doors or attend functions only to be presided over by them.
The seminar raised a number of issues regarding the journey onward. The foremost is monitoring by experts in the field, completion of ADP projects in due time, and development of a participatory education management above political likings.
At least in primary and secondary education, Bangladesh has come a long way. We should increase investment through both private and public sectors, ensure proper utilisation of funds through close monitoring, increase allocation in education research and training, and increase spending in remote regions. A bright future is within reach of Bangladesh but this is not necessarily assured.

The writer is a Professor of Economics at Jahangirangar University.  [email protected]