Changes As They Happen

Sixties were a wonderful time to be in Dhaka. The roads were quiet. Most areas had plenty of trees to make the air pleasantly scented. In spring the area around Ramna Park was ablaze with the red colour of Krishnachura. Gulistan was the city hub with a historic cannon on its lap. Varieties of restaurant adorned the area. The names Rex and Salimabad were music to ears in spite of not being far from the steaming tehari of Nawabpur Road. A little further down were the bookshops of Banglabazar and then Sadarghat on an unpolluted river. The young Dhaka has grown over time. The focal point Gulistan has moved to Farmgate awaiting further transition. Though the land area has gotten slightly bigger, the growth in the number of residents has been enormous. Yes, everyone wants to live in Dhaka, as this is where most of the things happen. The drivers are the offices, government as well as private, that fed one another reciprocally. Almost twenty per cent of the population of the country today live in Dhaka in a land area less than two per cent of total country. Dhaka has grown vertically defying all efforts to make it grow horizontally. Many master plans were drawn, some generously funded by donors, suggesting horizontal growth with suggested satellite towns linked via rail. No use as everyone wants to be close to Motijheel and the Secretariat. Dhaka grew vertically. Such growth has its accompanying requirement such as utility management. The groundwater table has depleted alarmingly to a non-replenishable level. This is the price of headlong development. However, Dhaka is not unique in this situation as global warming is even worse. This reminds us of the saying of Gandhi that the world has enough for human need, not the greed. The city of New York is said to be sinking due to the weight of buildings. Yet there are examples where the disaster has been averted such as the City of London and river Thames. While the population density has reduced the river water of once totally polluted Thames is even drinkable. Maybe, the same thing will happen one day to Buriganga water with the current effort as reported. Time will tell.
The city owes much gratitude to Dhaka University for helping to keep some sanity. Huge land area is occupied by this institution keeping the vertical growth at bay. This is supported by the large number of parks and some autonomous institutions like Atomic Energy Commission, Bangla Academy and BUET. Dhaka University stands distinctly among these places as it was also the midwife in the birth of this nation.
The sixties were a proud period of the university with many names that adorn our national history. Yet, academically, this was a quiet period. Most of the teaching at the university was done in traditional fashion, almost school like, where teachers would visibly use textbook or worn notebook as they lectured. Research, mostly theoretical, was limited. The course load for new faculty was so high that they almost struggled with the burden of teaching. Some lecture galleries would have over three hundred students as a young lecturer perspired. The job opportunities for graduates were limited. The main aspiration was the civil service or teaching at the university. The craze of migration that we see today did not exist apart from a very few seeking scholastic excellence.
The seventies were a difficult time as the nation fought for independence. The university played a salutary role and much sacrifices were made. As the decade rolled, the university grew as well as the nation. Much social and economic changes happened helping the nation get out of the 'basket case' image. The rise of women, microfinance, and overseas job markets were some instruments that made it happen. The newly-adopted process of privatization opened the door for new businesses to function alongside public sector and a new class of entrepreneurs was born. Compare that to the situation in the 'earlier' days when it was presumed that the eastern half of the country lacked the 'entrepreneurial trait'. These changes had enormous effect on the university that was, until then, internally driven following Euclidean philosophy that education itself is the reward of education. The job market got wider for the graduates and the faculty found newer areas of activity from consulting to training to experimental research. Earlier image of passive students changed to 'co-creators' of knowledge alongside their mentors. This was consequence of global changes through technology running into social norms. It was presumed that there were things beyond the textbook that the student could have better exposure. Hence, the teacher could at times be led. A much-quoted example is the creator of FedEx who had a very deviant idea of business as he studied. He was given a 'C' grade for his internship report on this idea. There were many such examples at both undergraduate and graduate levels of education. Gates created Microsoft as he voluntarily left Harvard University. Michael Dell was an undergraduate student when he developed a deviant approach to marketing computers. Compare these situations with the days of Mahabharata when 'Drona' chopped out the thumb of his pupil as he co-created.
Changes were happening fast. Research done by practitioners in the field entered the textbook. It was an almost upside-down situation. I was teaching some courses that did not exist in our days. Strategy is one such course. When much-celebrated Peter Drucker wrote a book, the publisher was not keen as 'strategy' was more related to warfare than business. Yet we now know that Businesses can engage in wars as bloody as conventional wars. The casualty in human terms can be as severe as through financial losses of various forms. Similarly, another subject area is Change. In those days change was a philosophical term, as per Heraclitus, that one cannot run into the same water twice in a flowing stream. Yet it is now a subject area under many disciplines. As the course is taught, it is not uncommon for a faculty to introduce the subject in a proactive fashion, where students would be asked about changes that they have experienced in their lives apart from political changes. All of them would have some experience to relate. Compare that to the days of Rip Van Winkle who woke up from sleep after twenty years and had no problem in continuing with daily chores. Today's Mr Winkle will have many problems beginning with the smart phone.
As we look back at the pace of changes over the years, there is an element of sadness as today has failed to meet the aspirations of yesterday. The overall quality of education in our universities has weakened, as per global ranking, compared to peers in the region. Unless this is improved, the broader goal of economic upliftment will remain unfulfilled as per World Economic Forum analysis that relates the driver of development with the stage of economy. The sooner this can be addressed the better it will be for the nation.

chowdhury.igc@gmail.com