CA urges restoration of SAARC as academic, political coop platform

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus has criticised the decline of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and urged regional governments to revive it as a platform for academic and political cooperation.
It's "a shame", he said about the moribund state of the bloc, while also talking domestic political changes before an audience from home and abroad at a regional conference that began in Dhaka Tuesday.
Turning to the home front, Prof Yunus said he was confident some of the candidates of a newly formed political party launched by young people would secure seats in the upcoming national elections.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the regional higher-education conference, he notes that young people have floated a political party and would appear on the ballot in elections scheduled for 12 February. "I am confident that some of them will be elected," he said, without naming the party.
The three-day South Asian Regional Conference on State of Higher Education and Future Pathway (SARCHE 2026) is being held at a city hotel and attended by academics and policymakers from across South Asia, the UK and the World Bank.
Referring to the July 2024 uprising that led to the collapse of Bangladesh's previous government, Yunus said universities and academics must reflect on recent events to understand the aspirations of the youth. "They stood up, raised their voices and brought down an ugly fascist regime, knowingly risking their lives," the head of post-uprising government of Bangladesh told his audience.
The Nobel laureate urges educators to examine why students confronted state violence and what kind of education system could respond to such social and political realities. "It would be a missed opportunity if we do not try to understand what they did, what they expected and what they aspired to."
Yunus cited the letter written by a schoolchild, Shahriar Khan Anas, to his mother before he was killed during the protests, describing it as a powerful expression of moral responsibility and resistance to state repression.
The chief adviser argued that the uprising was not an isolated event, pointing to similar movements in Sri Lanka and Nepal, though he said the scale and intensity were greater in Dhaka.
Turning to education reform, Yunus said Bangladesh's system was overly focused on producing jobseekers rather than independent thinkers and entrepreneurs. He questioned whether the purpose of education should be to prepare students for employment alone, describing job dependency as a modern form of "slavery".
"Human beings are not born as slaves," he reminds. "Education should turn creative beings into job-creators, not obedient workers." He argues that entrepreneurship and imagination should be central to learning, reflecting the same spirit that drove young people to challenge the state.
Yunus also confirmed that a referendum will be held alongside the elections to determine the future direction of the country's constitution, which he describes as the root cause of many of Bangladesh's political problems.
The conference is being organised under the Higher Education Acceleration and Transformation (HEAT) project, funded by the Bangladesh government and the World Bank.
Delegates from the UK, the Maldives, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are taking part.
Education Adviser of the interim government Prof C R Abrar and senior officials from the University Grants Commission and the World Bank also addressed the opening session.