Education to become \\\'commoditised\\\', teachers fear

There is no alternative to cancelling both the hike in fees and the planned high-cost evening programmes at public universities, for the government to keep its default mandate of ensuring peoples' right to education, irrespective of their financial capacities, observed university teachers, reports UNB.
They also raised concerns that the public universities through the ever-increasing influence of the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh (UGC) have been derailed from their original role as centres of excellence for practicing all branches of knowledge.
Their role has been rather limited to only acting as 'factories' to meet the needs of the workforce as it is set by market economy.
The teachers cautioned against various market driven policies of the UGC, including the restriction of subjects of arts and humanities in favour of otherwise technical subjects and allowing private sector investment in research activities in public universities.
Renowned social thinker and Professor Emeritus of Dhaka University, Serajul Islam Chowdhury, told UNB that it is a totally wrong approach to govern education as per the needs of the market.
"Education is not a market commodity. Education is a human need. I'd rather call it a human right. In public education institutions, the student fee should not be different for any particular subject or programme," he said.