Double standard impedes education

Popular writer and distinguished teacher Jafar Iqbal has rightly made his feeling known about the general apathy towards the leakage of question papers. He is disappointed that the issue has not received due attention even from the media. As a man of principle, this celebrated writer-cum-teacher is disillusioned about the education ministry which has failed to take the matter seriously. A strategy of denial of the truth like the proverbial ostrich, as adopted by the ministry, is what seems to have pained him most. Jafar Iqbal is highly convinced that leakage of question papers of almost all public examinations has now become endemic. The educationist has, therefore, every reason to be concerned about the quality of education because a faulty examination system makes a mockery of students' merit evaluation.
How conducting public examination has been made farcical, courtesy of the leakage of question papers, can be realised from the fact that the leaked question papers can be obtained for Tk 2,000 to Tk 5,000. On the eve of the exam schedule, the amount of money comes down proportionate to the time gap. With every passing hour, the money charged for a set of question paper continues to plummet. How obnoxious it is that parents hand over money to their sons and daughters for procuring a copy or they themselves collect the leaked question papers to help the examinees take the undue advantage. The young ones are given a lesson in crime. Teachers who assist in solving the problems or selecting the correct answer are equally a party to the crime. Jafar Iqbal's complaint is that society in general seems to have accepted this crime as something quite normal. Yes, this general acceptance of the crime as something normal is most troubling.
It was this children's idol who along with a few other highly respected educationists enthused over the introduction of structured question papers. Their reason was that the question papers would never be the same again and therefore students would be required to thoroughly go through their text books. Now the idea seems to have backfired with question papers set from a particular guidebook. At least such was the case for one of the papers of a subject in the recently held higher secondary certificate (HSC) exam. Jafar Iqbal has lamented parents' moral turpitude and the education ministry's ostrich-like indifference to the development, but there is more to the general decadence.
The entire system is faulty and far from ideal for imparting quality education. What about the double standard manifestly eating into the very vital of the system? Guide books are legally banned but they flood the market and students who can afford procure more than one guide book for each subject. About coaching the rules are even more ambiguous.
In cities and towns, coaching has become a big business with a turnover of hundreds of millions of Takas. Business is booming with every passing day. Here is an area where the money earned goes unaccounted for and therefore it is tax-free. The fact is, instead of developing their own appreciation students are becoming ever more dependent on coaching and guide books. One is not sure if education is on a higher trajectory or going downhill.