Ensuring the quality of education
Sunday, 2 December 2007
M Aminul Islam
GAUTAMA Buddha wisely said: "Vast learning, perfect learning, a highly-trained discipline and a pleasant speech. This is a supreme blessing."
Quality schooling is a pressing issue in Bangladesh to achieve the main target of attaining education. It is one of the core needs of a human being and is essential for any kind of development. The poor socio-economic condition of the country can be largely attributed to most people's inaccessibility to education. Education provides us with responsiveness about things and this awareness is the prerequisite for social development.
Education has been compared to light which eliminates the darkness of ignorance and helps us compare the right and the wrong. There is a broad agreement that education is a crucially important input into the development of a nation and the individuals and communities that comprise it.
Education is the locomotive that drives much of the economic development throughout the world. It is the vehicle for personal success used by generation after generation of people in highly developed nations of the world.
Schooling is the process by which our mind develops through formal learning at an institution like a school, college or university. It is mental and intellectual training which provides opportunities of growth and helps to meet challenges and overcome obstacles to progress. It is also the business of education to train individuals to make the right choices in life to go ahead. It also widens our outlook and helps us become aware of our rights and responsibilities.
But a bulk amount of people in the country live below the poverty line and cannot, therefore, afford to have access to education. Besides, we do not have adequate schools, colleges and universities to provide for the increasing number of students. Owing to financial and resource constraints, the government cannot fund the requisite number of educational institutions. Almost every educational institution is over-crowded and class size is unusually large. As facilities in these institutions are poor, students do not get standard education. Moreover, many educational institutions in the country are rife with politics and violence. Sometimes institutions are closed down to avoid clashes between rival groups of students. Such closures badly affect smooth academic progress.
Education, in all its shapes, seems to be the key to master conflict and to prevent intolerance. It is also meant for maintaining peace in the society. Research and experience prove that peaceful co-existence can be taught. Topics such as mediation, coping with conflict, peace education and tolerance should not be seen as secondary or as a luxury. In primary education, they should receive the same attention as reading, writing and arithmetic.
But corruption in education sector is corroding the vitals of our society. Corruption interferes with the delivery of educational services. Corruption includes the use of resources for means other than those related to education, such as embezzlement of funds by public officials. It is likely to occur in the procurement of non-wage related goods and services including the maintenance or building of schools, the design, manufacture and distribution of textbooks, procurement of equipment such as chairs and tables, but also in the form of, for example, ghost teachers.
Corruption in education systems thus distorts both the quality and availability of education services, and has a negative -- and, by affecting even the youngest citizens -- sustainable impact on the nation's socio-economic and political development not only.
Notwithstanding, the country has made noteworthy progress including in the areas of girls' education. It is time we ensured quality education for all.
GAUTAMA Buddha wisely said: "Vast learning, perfect learning, a highly-trained discipline and a pleasant speech. This is a supreme blessing."
Quality schooling is a pressing issue in Bangladesh to achieve the main target of attaining education. It is one of the core needs of a human being and is essential for any kind of development. The poor socio-economic condition of the country can be largely attributed to most people's inaccessibility to education. Education provides us with responsiveness about things and this awareness is the prerequisite for social development.
Education has been compared to light which eliminates the darkness of ignorance and helps us compare the right and the wrong. There is a broad agreement that education is a crucially important input into the development of a nation and the individuals and communities that comprise it.
Education is the locomotive that drives much of the economic development throughout the world. It is the vehicle for personal success used by generation after generation of people in highly developed nations of the world.
Schooling is the process by which our mind develops through formal learning at an institution like a school, college or university. It is mental and intellectual training which provides opportunities of growth and helps to meet challenges and overcome obstacles to progress. It is also the business of education to train individuals to make the right choices in life to go ahead. It also widens our outlook and helps us become aware of our rights and responsibilities.
But a bulk amount of people in the country live below the poverty line and cannot, therefore, afford to have access to education. Besides, we do not have adequate schools, colleges and universities to provide for the increasing number of students. Owing to financial and resource constraints, the government cannot fund the requisite number of educational institutions. Almost every educational institution is over-crowded and class size is unusually large. As facilities in these institutions are poor, students do not get standard education. Moreover, many educational institutions in the country are rife with politics and violence. Sometimes institutions are closed down to avoid clashes between rival groups of students. Such closures badly affect smooth academic progress.
Education, in all its shapes, seems to be the key to master conflict and to prevent intolerance. It is also meant for maintaining peace in the society. Research and experience prove that peaceful co-existence can be taught. Topics such as mediation, coping with conflict, peace education and tolerance should not be seen as secondary or as a luxury. In primary education, they should receive the same attention as reading, writing and arithmetic.
But corruption in education sector is corroding the vitals of our society. Corruption interferes with the delivery of educational services. Corruption includes the use of resources for means other than those related to education, such as embezzlement of funds by public officials. It is likely to occur in the procurement of non-wage related goods and services including the maintenance or building of schools, the design, manufacture and distribution of textbooks, procurement of equipment such as chairs and tables, but also in the form of, for example, ghost teachers.
Corruption in education systems thus distorts both the quality and availability of education services, and has a negative -- and, by affecting even the youngest citizens -- sustainable impact on the nation's socio-economic and political development not only.
Notwithstanding, the country has made noteworthy progress including in the areas of girls' education. It is time we ensured quality education for all.