Creating opportunities for higher and diverse education
Sunday, 2 August 2009
THE news last week that the pass rate of over 70 per cent was maintained in the Higher Secondary Examination (HSC), was not an unmixed one. There is satisfaction and also anxiety, for even the star performers in these examinations, the scorers of GPA-5, were not confident as in other recent years about the surety of gaining a place in their preferred public institutions of higher studies or in the private ones. The number of seats available to qualified HSC examinees was projected to fall short of what are available at post secondary level academic institutions.
The crisis would be felt most acutely in the publicly run universities where the higher education seekers usually rush to get admitted. The other main attraction of the public universities is their much cheaper costs for the students. Many GPA-5 scorers would be in no position to pay for the high costs of tuition in private universities.
According to an estimate, the 25 public universities in the country have some 14,750 seats. But 20,136 students have scored GPA-5 in the HSC examinations. Thus, more than 5,000 GPA-5 scorers were counted as unlikely to get admission in their institutions of choice such as BUET and other public universities. However, a ray of hope was seen at a meeting between the education minister and the vice-chancellors of the public universities on Thursday when a decision was taken to create some 5,000 additional seats in these universities for accommodating all GPA-5 scorers who would aspire to get admitted in them. This is no doubt a timely and appreciable move. But the admission seekers and their guardians would only find solace after the decision is actually implemented. For frequently in this country official decisions or pledges remain unexecuted or unmet and their targeted beneficiaries continue to suffer.
However, even this decision will still mean that a significant number of the GPA-5 scorers will not find a berth in the public institutions of their choice from lack of seats . They will have to struggle to get admission even in the National University or other institutions under it which would be not as per their desire or ambition. The total number of examinees who did not score GPA-5 but passed the HS examination is 442,389. But out of them seats will not be available to some 250,000 students if they wish to get admission in the National University and colleges affiliated to it for graduate studies. In other words, the opportunity for higher education in what are perceived to be reasonably well run public institutions will continue to be denied to a large number in the student population looking for opportunities for higher education.
Thus, the government should aim to increase opportunities for higher education and diverse education in the country. The taxpayers are told that the education sector receives the greatest share of their taxed money. But this declaration needs to be reflected in real expansion of educational opportunities at the higher level and diverse areas. The government should aim to set up at least 10 more universities across the country at the fastest. At the same time it should try to establish at least another 15 institutions that would offer exclusive education in specialized areas such as agricultural science, biotechnology, leather technology, medical science, etc. The objective on the whole should be to attain a position to absorb all higher education aspirants or to pave the way for education in areas that have a direct bearing on helping the creation of trained manpower to feed the requirements of emerging sectors of the economy. The government should essentially look at the investments it would have to make to set up and run these additional institutions of higher learning as very useful longer term investments to be made in the interest of accelerating economic growth.
The crisis would be felt most acutely in the publicly run universities where the higher education seekers usually rush to get admitted. The other main attraction of the public universities is their much cheaper costs for the students. Many GPA-5 scorers would be in no position to pay for the high costs of tuition in private universities.
According to an estimate, the 25 public universities in the country have some 14,750 seats. But 20,136 students have scored GPA-5 in the HSC examinations. Thus, more than 5,000 GPA-5 scorers were counted as unlikely to get admission in their institutions of choice such as BUET and other public universities. However, a ray of hope was seen at a meeting between the education minister and the vice-chancellors of the public universities on Thursday when a decision was taken to create some 5,000 additional seats in these universities for accommodating all GPA-5 scorers who would aspire to get admitted in them. This is no doubt a timely and appreciable move. But the admission seekers and their guardians would only find solace after the decision is actually implemented. For frequently in this country official decisions or pledges remain unexecuted or unmet and their targeted beneficiaries continue to suffer.
However, even this decision will still mean that a significant number of the GPA-5 scorers will not find a berth in the public institutions of their choice from lack of seats . They will have to struggle to get admission even in the National University or other institutions under it which would be not as per their desire or ambition. The total number of examinees who did not score GPA-5 but passed the HS examination is 442,389. But out of them seats will not be available to some 250,000 students if they wish to get admission in the National University and colleges affiliated to it for graduate studies. In other words, the opportunity for higher education in what are perceived to be reasonably well run public institutions will continue to be denied to a large number in the student population looking for opportunities for higher education.
Thus, the government should aim to increase opportunities for higher education and diverse education in the country. The taxpayers are told that the education sector receives the greatest share of their taxed money. But this declaration needs to be reflected in real expansion of educational opportunities at the higher level and diverse areas. The government should aim to set up at least 10 more universities across the country at the fastest. At the same time it should try to establish at least another 15 institutions that would offer exclusive education in specialized areas such as agricultural science, biotechnology, leather technology, medical science, etc. The objective on the whole should be to attain a position to absorb all higher education aspirants or to pave the way for education in areas that have a direct bearing on helping the creation of trained manpower to feed the requirements of emerging sectors of the economy. The government should essentially look at the investments it would have to make to set up and run these additional institutions of higher learning as very useful longer term investments to be made in the interest of accelerating economic growth.