Education sector in chaos

Education remains a matter of paramount importance in every nation's life. It deepens the understanding of the surrounding environment and the world. It enriches people's minds, moral and ethical standards by broadening their experiences and outlook. It strengthens people's ability to contribute to knowledge, wisdom and to productivity by acquiring skills and dexterity. The nations that placed education and human resource development on top of their national agenda witnessed accelerated growth in all spheres of socio-economic development. Unfortunately, Bangladesh has failed to respond to these imperative objectives.
What we usually observe in Bangladesh these days is widespread defaming of education through the leakage of question papers of different public examinations including Public Service Commission (PSC).  This remains a matter of great concern for the conscious citizens of the country. The government has not been able to prevent such heinous acts. The criminals are repeatedly doing this at the cost of ruining the most vital sector of nation building. The government should come to terms with this reality, and take immediate steps to stop the recurrence of such criminal incidents. Since huge amount of taxpayer's money is spent every year for supposed augmentation of the education sector, the dignity and sanctity of this sector should be maintained at any cost.
To the surprise of the conscious citizens, this sector remains almost always turbulent for this or that reason caused, among others, by feuds among rival student groups, and also among teachers on account of their political allegiance. Recently, the sector has been witnessing turmoil following the unwise imposition of VAT on tuition fees of private universities. However the VAT on private universities was withdrawn later. But the demand for separate pay scale for the public university and government college teachers still continues. Lately, head masters of primary schools have joined the movement on their demand for higher status.
Moreover, the medical and dental admission seekers are agitating for cancellation of the admission test results. They allege that the question papers were leaked ahead of the admission test. It is apprehended that the current crisis in the education sector may affect the education environment as a whole if the government fails to justifiably solve the problem. The teachers' demand is genuine because their position has been downgraded.
But we should not hesitate to say that the monetary emoluments that are given to the teachers are not the only measure to weigh the dignity of the teachers. Their academic responsibility and performance are indeed important matters. Average Bangladeshi teachers are yet to be more responsible, skilled and honest to their duties to claim due respect of the country's citizens and stand up with their dignity. Money cannot buy such things.  
Besides the teachers' problem, the problem of the admission seeking students remains equally important and is likely to be intensified in the coming days. If the government fails to meet the genuine demand of the teachers and students, the situation will be more heated and may seriously disrupt normal academic activities.
The writer is a retired professor of Economics, BCS General Education Cadre.  
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