Good results in SSC exams: education system needs restructuring
Monday, 17 May 2010
The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) results have been impressive in all areas. Highest records have been set in the number of the examinees who passed as well as those who got the highest score of GPA-5. The number of institutions with a 100 per cent pass rate rose to 2,927 from 2,726 last year and those with a zero pass rate dropped to 49 from 72 last year. The highest-ever pass rate and the increased number of GPA-5 scorers should create an impression that resources being spent on education at the school level are being better utilised and producing progressively better results.
However, these successes ought not to detract attention from the fact that there is an urgent need to reform and improve education system to make it consistent with the national objectives. Education should be at the centre of national endeavours. But this awareness is not seen followed up with the hard and sweeping steps that are needed to lift up education from its current archaic state to one that is more suitable for the dynamic needs of a country which aspires to achieve economic growth at rates much higher than the current rate of about six per cent. There is no need to explain why appropriate education, as a catalytic factor, can help the attaining and sustaining of higher economic growth rate through creation of economically useful manpower which should be the paramount goal from education in the context of present-day Bangladesh.
But this supreme objective will continue to remain elusive as long as strivings in the education sector remain limited to only getting better performance from the existing setup although this is not without benefit. The greatest benefit from education can come only from restructuring the education system extensively with the thrust being put on technical and vocational education. When this structural transformation will be completed, then only education will be able to meet the needs of the economy. As it is, the present educational systems are not serving the purpose of the economy's expansion by creating technically or vocationally trained manpower adequately, both in terms of quality and quantity.
A recent report in the media stated that some 40 per cent posts of teachers are vacant in the government-run polytechnic institutions. There are cases where the teachers of such institutions are not even paid regularly and necessary equipment to impart proper training remain either disabled or not available at all. This is hardly the environment to produce well-trained manpower in support of the economy's expansion or for sending train manpower abroad to earn remittances. Adequate number of technical institutions are also not there covering the needs of the entire country. There is also a big dearth of publicly-run science and technology universities, institutions to impart training and education in selective fields such as leather technology, information technology, garments designing, etc.
However, these successes ought not to detract attention from the fact that there is an urgent need to reform and improve education system to make it consistent with the national objectives. Education should be at the centre of national endeavours. But this awareness is not seen followed up with the hard and sweeping steps that are needed to lift up education from its current archaic state to one that is more suitable for the dynamic needs of a country which aspires to achieve economic growth at rates much higher than the current rate of about six per cent. There is no need to explain why appropriate education, as a catalytic factor, can help the attaining and sustaining of higher economic growth rate through creation of economically useful manpower which should be the paramount goal from education in the context of present-day Bangladesh.
But this supreme objective will continue to remain elusive as long as strivings in the education sector remain limited to only getting better performance from the existing setup although this is not without benefit. The greatest benefit from education can come only from restructuring the education system extensively with the thrust being put on technical and vocational education. When this structural transformation will be completed, then only education will be able to meet the needs of the economy. As it is, the present educational systems are not serving the purpose of the economy's expansion by creating technically or vocationally trained manpower adequately, both in terms of quality and quantity.
A recent report in the media stated that some 40 per cent posts of teachers are vacant in the government-run polytechnic institutions. There are cases where the teachers of such institutions are not even paid regularly and necessary equipment to impart proper training remain either disabled or not available at all. This is hardly the environment to produce well-trained manpower in support of the economy's expansion or for sending train manpower abroad to earn remittances. Adequate number of technical institutions are also not there covering the needs of the entire country. There is also a big dearth of publicly-run science and technology universities, institutions to impart training and education in selective fields such as leather technology, information technology, garments designing, etc.