Teacher-crisis needs addressing

The Ministry of Education is said to have identified about five hundred tertiary and secondary level teachers in Dhaka who could be transferred to the most crisis-ridden institutions in the country. This came as an effort to be seen doing something at short notice to mitigate teacher shortage outside the capital. Most of those listed have reportedly been adopting various strategies to avoid moving from the capital, including even the status of 'Officer on Special Duty' on the pretext of higher studies, or other such excuses. It was reported that against the existing fourteen thousand posts for teachers in the 253 government colleges countrywide, only about ten and a half thousand have been filled, while the rest are vacant for one reason or the other. Considering the fact that the number of 'educated unemployed' in Bangladesh is by no means small, this is hardly acceptable. The Public Service Commission, which is said to have been given a 'requirement' letter in this regard, will hopefully do everything that needs to be done, keeping in mind that both the number and quality of recruits have to be addressed. Reforms in the education sector, with respect to upgrading content and teaching methodologies as well as teacher-quality, at all levels, have been on-going for a long time, but compared to the effort and money spent, the results have not been up to the mark. There is no doubt than an IT- savvy, sufficiently knowledge-based human resource, would be better equipped to meet global challenges. But this must be tied to the fundamental principle of education, which is to help pupils 'learn to think and think to learn', first and foremost. Rote learning --- that can rightly be said to lie at the root of mass mediocrity ---- must be condemned, for it yields mostly unthinking drifters who pursue empty 'certificates' rather than knowledge. The 1990 'education for all' idea called for universal quality education ---- focused on improved dissemination of the knowledge and the skills and values required for better living and sustainable development. It was a vision that included gender equality and equity, health and nutrition and also parental and community involvement in the management of the education system itself. In other words, a really perceptive curricula is called for, which, together with high-quality teacher-input, could transform the very process of learning into a preparation for life. Many Asian countries, with their focus on human resource development, have achieved globally recognised standards and are moving ahead in a fast changing 21st century, which is marked by incredible advances in all spheres of human knowledge. Bangladesh can learn from their experiences. Needless to say, the teachers themselves must be subjected to rigorous education, with provisions for further training so that their capacities remain up to date. Keeping the 'market' in focus, education in Bangladesh must of course be rationalized but rubbishing the 'humanities' in the process would be a bad mistake if the brain cells are to be honed properly according to the aptitudes of the young, to enable them to take on the globalised world with confidence. If a really time-worthy quality education is pursued consistently and earnestly from the very basic level, there is no reason why Bangladesh's overwhelmingly young population cannot be turned into a competitive force in the near future.