Education in Argentina
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Nehal Adil
Though the Portuguese were the first Europeans to come to our country, the two centuries of British rule has left us with an Anglo-file education system. But with globalisation the dimension has changed. Our students have been moving mostly to the English speaking countries since the beginning of the colonial era. The nineeleven (911) ten years ago has completely changed that scenario. Our children are considered potential terrorists in white Anglo-Saxon countries. Australia, which had been considered less racist in comparison to Britain or United States, faced racist violence to resist what they felt Asian invasion. Global phobia against terrorism created terrorism itself. No other person than Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, drew attention of Australian authorities but to no avail. Then the South Asian students in recent years have been moving to New Zealand and that country too is closing its door. With restrictive immigration policy our young people are wondering where they could move. To Korea, to Japan, to Turkey, to Cyprus? Anywhere in the planet. This is creating new vistas to Latin America. I found a number of language institutes in Dhaka which are teaching Spanish. I was told they aim at higher education in Latin America specially Argentina. Rajiv, the convenor of Che Club, told me that there are immense interests among the young about Argentina, the land that gave birth to Ernesto Che Guevara. Last year some young people observed the 42nd death anniversary of Earnesto Che Guevara. Rajiv was one of its organisers. That was attended by Bhasha Matin, the immortal hero of our language movement. Bhasha Matin said, our education and language policy should shake off the old colonial bondage and seek new vistas to the lands of Simon Boliver and Ernesto Che Guevara. Our young people who live in the United States and face day-to-day racist attack and even assassination find good friends among American Arabs and Latinos since Muslims and Catholics are equally discriminated. It is not the same in Argentina, a vast expanse of land with one million square miles and only forty million people. Argentina has been settled not only by Europeans but also by Arabs, Japanese and Koreans. Argentina had very recently an Arab origin President Menem whose ancestors were Muslims. The Sikhs from India settled in the Pampas in the 18th century. I met some of their descendents in Stockholm. Argentina, the land of Tango, is very well-known for its cultural education. Monira, a drama activist who is a friend of Rajiv, told me there could be great rush of Bangladeshis, if opportunities could be provided. But Argentina has no embassy in Dhaka and no educational advisory service. Rajiv and Monira want to open one such. They would concentrate on cultural education - dance and drama. But Argentina has other outlets of education like medicine and engineering too. Students from Argentina could come here too, if they found an outlet to that. Major hindrance is that people have to travel to Delhi for visa and they are not sure what kind of reception they could receive. There is very little government to government contact about student exchange. I was told under the present government Bangladesh is not only pursuing a Look East foreign policy but Look South as well. Look South foreign policy gives greater emphasis to South America and Latin America. Pakistan's first Ambassador to South America Ambassador Morshed was a nephew of Sher-e-Bangla Fazlul Huq. That was the story of the 1950s. Yet it is a pity that sixty years after the decolonisation of the British Empire, we have not made any fruitful cooperation outside its orbit. Rajiv felt both ministry of culture and education should come forward in this regard. Rajiv thinks to build a network of Che clubs to foster relation with Argentina and Latin America. But Che Club's major aim would be to promote travel between Argentina and Bangladesh. They said, they would like to stage a Bangla drama in Spanish like Rakta Karabi in Argentina. The spirit of rebellion in Rakta Karabi resembles the spirit of rebellion and sacrifice of Che. Obviously Che Club alone cannot develop relations between Argentina and Bangladesh or send students. There should be standard education criteria and the ministry of education and culture, now headed by two activist ministers, can play a great role in this regard. First there should be scholarships from the government but we should encourage also private initiatives to promote studies in Argentina. There is a folklore tale in southern Bangladesh. Ful Mati, Radha Rani and Kuber Majhi drifted to the south sea. They reached white snow. The blue crow led them westward. And they reached Ushuta. Ushuta, the land of fire, is the pre-colonial name of Argentina. Usta, which is popular vegetable in Bangladesh, could have come from there. Usta, when ripe, gets red like fire. Ushuta was called the land of fire. May be our students of anthropology and folklore could be interested in that.
Though the Portuguese were the first Europeans to come to our country, the two centuries of British rule has left us with an Anglo-file education system. But with globalisation the dimension has changed. Our students have been moving mostly to the English speaking countries since the beginning of the colonial era. The nineeleven (911) ten years ago has completely changed that scenario. Our children are considered potential terrorists in white Anglo-Saxon countries. Australia, which had been considered less racist in comparison to Britain or United States, faced racist violence to resist what they felt Asian invasion. Global phobia against terrorism created terrorism itself. No other person than Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, drew attention of Australian authorities but to no avail. Then the South Asian students in recent years have been moving to New Zealand and that country too is closing its door. With restrictive immigration policy our young people are wondering where they could move. To Korea, to Japan, to Turkey, to Cyprus? Anywhere in the planet. This is creating new vistas to Latin America. I found a number of language institutes in Dhaka which are teaching Spanish. I was told they aim at higher education in Latin America specially Argentina. Rajiv, the convenor of Che Club, told me that there are immense interests among the young about Argentina, the land that gave birth to Ernesto Che Guevara. Last year some young people observed the 42nd death anniversary of Earnesto Che Guevara. Rajiv was one of its organisers. That was attended by Bhasha Matin, the immortal hero of our language movement. Bhasha Matin said, our education and language policy should shake off the old colonial bondage and seek new vistas to the lands of Simon Boliver and Ernesto Che Guevara. Our young people who live in the United States and face day-to-day racist attack and even assassination find good friends among American Arabs and Latinos since Muslims and Catholics are equally discriminated. It is not the same in Argentina, a vast expanse of land with one million square miles and only forty million people. Argentina has been settled not only by Europeans but also by Arabs, Japanese and Koreans. Argentina had very recently an Arab origin President Menem whose ancestors were Muslims. The Sikhs from India settled in the Pampas in the 18th century. I met some of their descendents in Stockholm. Argentina, the land of Tango, is very well-known for its cultural education. Monira, a drama activist who is a friend of Rajiv, told me there could be great rush of Bangladeshis, if opportunities could be provided. But Argentina has no embassy in Dhaka and no educational advisory service. Rajiv and Monira want to open one such. They would concentrate on cultural education - dance and drama. But Argentina has other outlets of education like medicine and engineering too. Students from Argentina could come here too, if they found an outlet to that. Major hindrance is that people have to travel to Delhi for visa and they are not sure what kind of reception they could receive. There is very little government to government contact about student exchange. I was told under the present government Bangladesh is not only pursuing a Look East foreign policy but Look South as well. Look South foreign policy gives greater emphasis to South America and Latin America. Pakistan's first Ambassador to South America Ambassador Morshed was a nephew of Sher-e-Bangla Fazlul Huq. That was the story of the 1950s. Yet it is a pity that sixty years after the decolonisation of the British Empire, we have not made any fruitful cooperation outside its orbit. Rajiv felt both ministry of culture and education should come forward in this regard. Rajiv thinks to build a network of Che clubs to foster relation with Argentina and Latin America. But Che Club's major aim would be to promote travel between Argentina and Bangladesh. They said, they would like to stage a Bangla drama in Spanish like Rakta Karabi in Argentina. The spirit of rebellion in Rakta Karabi resembles the spirit of rebellion and sacrifice of Che. Obviously Che Club alone cannot develop relations between Argentina and Bangladesh or send students. There should be standard education criteria and the ministry of education and culture, now headed by two activist ministers, can play a great role in this regard. First there should be scholarships from the government but we should encourage also private initiatives to promote studies in Argentina. There is a folklore tale in southern Bangladesh. Ful Mati, Radha Rani and Kuber Majhi drifted to the south sea. They reached white snow. The blue crow led them westward. And they reached Ushuta. Ushuta, the land of fire, is the pre-colonial name of Argentina. Usta, which is popular vegetable in Bangladesh, could have come from there. Usta, when ripe, gets red like fire. Ushuta was called the land of fire. May be our students of anthropology and folklore could be interested in that.