On Education Day 2015

Today, September 17, is Education Day. On this day in 1962, school student Babul, bus conductor Golam Mostafa and domestic worker Waziullah sacrificed their lives in support of the movement of students. I personally participated in the movement as an activist in the capacity of General Secretary of Dhaka College Students' Union. The movement was initiated by students without any outside help. The central student leaders could not foresee that such a huge movement based on academic issues and problems faced by the students was possible. The momentum of movement subsided when the then opposition leader H.S. Suhrawardy came to Dhaka from Karachi. He met East Pakistan Gavernor Golam Faruk and persuaded him to defer implementation of the Shareef Commission Report.
The recent agitation of the private university students is not comparable with that movement. But the straight-forwardness of the agitators has drawn the attention of many. Whether this will have long lasting impact or not is to be seen in future.
To me the major malaise in our existing education system lies in the lack of proper decision and timely action, absence of pre- and in-service training of teachers, regular updating of the syllabus in line with the global experience, mismanagement, to be more specific, politicisation of the educational institutions and malpractices in the recruitment of teachers and disparity in education.
The government, headed by the energetic and dynamic Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has a number of achievements to its credit in the education sector such as introduction of pre-primary class, development of the infrastructure of educational institutions, use of information technology in the publication of examination results, stipend for girls, gender party, etc.
The 1962 education movement, initiated by the students for the cause of education in the then East Pakistan was also a struggle against discrimination and deprivation in education and a series of onslaughts on Bengali language, songs (particularly Tagore songs), art and culture. The immediate cause of the students' agitation was the Shareef Commision Report on education imposed by the government.
The challenges which continue to remain unaddressed are also many in numbers. The very slow pace of literacy rate, continuous decrease in the allocation for education, delay in making an education law, inability to constitute a permanent education commission and the teachers` recruitment authority are some glaring lapses.
The week-long agitation of the private university students against the government decision to impose VAT on their institutions was against negative a phenomenon. It is really unfortunate that the veteran Finance Minister failed to take note of three crucial points: one, failure of the consecutive governments to establish required number of public universities as per market demand; two, 63 per cent of the university students belong to the private universities; three, families who bear the brunt of huge expenses of their wards in private universities, except a few, are not that rich and affluent.
However, the point which has come under frequent discussion for quite some time is that education, including higher education, is a right. But it demands cool and serious assessment on the basis of the constitutional provision and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our constitution has not explicitly mentioned education as a right, even not its elementary level. In regard to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, its better to quote its article  26:  "(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stage. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children''.
So, the proposition that higher education is a matter of right does not seem to have a strong argument in its favour. But the fact remains that neither the government nor the guardians are clear about the requirements in higher education, including its utility in relevance to the job market, at least. This is a vexed point where a very few dare to ponder. But I consider the statement made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on uselessness of admission test for the class 1 students and her urge for lessening the burden of books on the child learners as appropriate evaluation and positive guidance for those who have remained unconcerned on the subject despite the woes of the young boys and girls and suggestions from the guardians and the educationists.  
Prof. Quazi Faruque Ahmed, Chairman of the Initiative for Human Development ( IHD ),  was an organiser of the 1962 education movement. ihdbd@yahoo.com
principalqfahmed@yahoo.com