Quest for quality education

There goes a most familiar maxim that 'Education is the backbone of a nation'. Education makes an individual enlightened, enables to justify right and wrong and finally develops one's spiritual capability. Education brings perfection in life. Educated people can change their fate. They are torch bearer for the whole nation. They are self sufficient and lead the nation to the way of prosperity and success. So education is a must to bring positive change in the society. But question is what type of education it is. Merely is it education? Simply answer is 'no'. Only quality education with moral lesson deserves all credit of changes. Parroting education or hybrid education can do nothing for the individual as well as the nation. Quality of education is stronger than quantity of educated people. So we should put emphasis on quality education to get ultimate fruit of the education. Our present education system is not up to the mark. Our existing public examination system is yet to be fully acceptable.               
Every year the number of educated people is increasing positively in our country. Pass rate in the public examination is getting new record than that of previous years. This year the pass rate of SSC is over 91 percent which is about 2 percent higher than that of the last year. But this most successful result does not make us happy. Moreover, it can be assumed that the pass rate of HSC examination this year will be higher than the result of the last year. A few days ago, I read a reader's opinion in a daily where a person mentioned that he knows a school and college where students are coming from low income families. Only four girls out of sixty one students managed to obtain pass mark in all subjects in their test examination last year. He heard from a teacher who played role as an examiner under the concerned board that he was directed by the head examiner to give excessive marks. If someone failed, he had to make them pass even though they originally had acquired marks like 19, 20, 21 etc. If a dull headed student gets same marks as a brilliant student by the grace of such scrutiny, injustice is done to the meritorious student. We do not know why the government is trying hard to flood the country with such results. Does it earn something valuable for our nation? It does a serious harm to the overall educational system of the country as well as discourages brilliant students while making the dull headed averse to study. It is perhaps the common scenario of most of the educational institute across the country.
The SSC results came out this year with the message of significantly higher pass rates and higher grades. This has become a common picture for the last six years which definitely makes us jubilant as it shows that we are rightly keeping pace with the global jump. It makes us undoubtedly happy to see the increasing trend of our results. In 2007, the SSC pass rate was 58.36% while the percentage rose to 91.34 this year. A total of 142,276 students have got GPA 5 this year compared to 25,732 in 2007. On the other hand, pass rates in national exams used to stand below 50 percent about two decades ago in 1990; the SSC pass rate was only 22.82% in the humanities group while it was 43.63% in the science group according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Education Information and Statistics. We have increased the pass rate successfully. But time has come to think very seriously about the quality as well. Does the present trend tell us that the quality of education has improved? If not, we must find out the causes without being self-complacent.
This year's SSC and equivalent examinations results evoked a mixed reaction from all corners. Whatever the type of reaction is, the young learners, who passed and all those who contributed to the national achievement directly or indirectly, deserve thanks. But the public perception about the results is unpalatable. People bitterly raise questions about the credibility of the results because of some factors that lead them to think that the improved results of a good number of students are not the full reflection of their merit and hard work. The factors such as question leaks, solving problems in the exam halls with the help of invigilators or fellow examinees, examiners' generosity in giving marks and so on give rise to doubt about genuineness of the high level of success of students in public examinations.
There is a question mark on the high pass rate and the large number of GPA-5 holders, but the better results are not unexpected. It happens, when a nation improves in the area of education. A gradual improvement in results is natural. The improved results seem unusual when there is a public perception that primary and secondary educational institutions are not functioning well and as a result, guardians have to buy education for their children from coaching centres and individual tutors to satisfy their children's needs, which could not be met by the educational institutions. Above all, there are rumours of leaks of question papers that cast a shadow on the brilliance of the students who genuinely did well in the exams. The administration can take the allegations into cognizance or just ignore them by saying that there is no evidence that the questions were leaked out. If the authorities take the second view, it will in future bring more disgrace to those who will pass the examinations and those who will be in charge of holding the examinations.
It is easy to check the anomalies in an examination hall. But it is difficult to fight the question paper leaks because of the deep-rooted corruption at all levels-- from the top to the bottom. Still there are people who are honest enough. Sometimes they remain honest even at the risk of their lives. The leaks take place when the questions are set. They can also be leaked out by moderators, composers, printers, distributors or packers. I am sure that it is not difficult to find out who are involved in the process. They must be identified and punished for the sake of ensuring quality education and for the sake of building a better nation.
As we know, the purpose of education is to humanise all the systems. But knowingly or unknowingly we are leaving dehumanizing effects on our new generation involving them in stealing, cheating, fraudulent practices, corruption and many other unethical activities. Sometimes we, the guardians and the teachers, create pressure on or encourage the learners to have a look at leaked questions or to adopt unfair means in examinations. Thus every day we are weakening the moral base of the younger generation, these practices make some offences quite normal to the children. Those who work in the arena of education holding high or low positions cannot avoid their responsibility. If they fail to solve this problem, the future generation will not forgive us. It is time to rethink ourselves to come out from bad practice. Are the corrupt people more powerful than the ministry of education or the government? Of course, not. They must abide by the law of the land. They are destroying our nation ultimately. But they have no right to destroy our sound education system as well as the nation.  we see the same scenario in the recruitment tests in government organisations including the BCS examinations where question leakage, corruption, nepotism, bribing and oiling are common phenomena.  
We can assume that if this ill tread in the examination system continues, our whole education system will be jeopardized in near future. We will lose our ethical values, morality and spirit of our soul and ultimately our nation will fall in a grave danger. I am optimistic still now in overcoming this problem, if we work together, we keep our hands on others hands and genuinely love our next generation as well as our beloved Bangladesh. The government's role is very important here. By ignoring a trifling political gain, the government should check all anomalies with an iron hand for the greater interest of the nation. All conscious people irrespective of caste, creed and ideology will appreciate the government.
Those of us who want to see a change, like to do good for society and want to build a prosperous county can not avoid our responsibility in this respect. We should come forward from our stand and keep role in resisting all kinds of irregularities. Morality, ethical practices, social values, religious teaching and innate humanistic behavior should be nourished and practiced more and more to ensure quality education which may play significant role in developing our body, mind and soul.      
The writer is a columnist and works as a banker, email: [email protected]