English medium students deserve a better deal at home

The anguish of a public university admission-seeker expressed in a passionate letter published in the issue of the FE last Friday raises this very pertinent question. What is the point of having an English medium education system up and running in the country along with the Bangla medium, if public universities remain a no-go zone for those who have passed out from the English medium schools? Most readers would agree that the English medium students are no less potential human resources of the nation than their Bangla medium counterparts, and should therefore be treated as assets rather than liabilities. With the sun having set on the colonial empire across the world, the erstwhile colonial rulers have devised novel ways of fleecing its former colonies of wealth, in the form of high tuition fees, and exorbitant living and lodging expenses. Even the educational institutions of these countries, in league with their local agents, organise occasional 'education fairs' in posh hotels in countries like ours to entice students to emigrate. And in the process ensure 'brain-drain' of meritorious students so that the country remains bereft of active minds. Even our education policy planners seem to be conniving with foreign agents and are actively encouraging human resource transfer from the country. No wonder, why the controversial GPA rating regime has been put in place. It raises the bar for the English medium students to be in the admission fray and compels them to seek admission in name-only institutions abroad paying hefty tuition fees, much to the economic hardship of many a middle-class family. This scribe, a former teacher of an English medium school and father of English medium educated children, has first-hand knowledge of the frustrations of these deprived students and the predicaments of parents trying to ensure their wards' higher studies either at home or abroad. Wealthy parents can sponsor their own children for admission to foreign universities. It is pathetic for students, who have fared well in the examination, but their parents are unable to provide requisite bank balance to sponsor them. Moreover, drying up of foreign scholarships and recent re-doubling of tuition fees in the western hemisphere have also caused worry to the most deserving candidates and their not-so-solvent parents. But once sent abroad these children integrate socially in no time, because of their proficiency in the English language. They also excel in their respective classes competing with multi-national students and come out successful in the examinations. Many of former students of this scribe, including his eldest daughter, who had failed to secure a berth in a public university in the country on the unjustified ground that their GPA ratings do not fulfill the university admission criteria, are now well established in foreign lands and doing fabulously well in their personal life after having completed their higher studies abroad. Apart from those engaged in the noble profession of teaching abroad, there are a number of students who are holding highly paid and responsible positions in large corporations in far off countries and leading teams comprising educated natives, as well. This scribe is certain given the same opportunity provided to the Bangla medium students, the English medium undergraduates would do equally well in the public universities at home. Isn't it time to give these children a fair chance to show their worth to the nation they belong to? shaheed_rahim@yahoo.com