‘Rich people should be encouraged to donate in education’ ’

‘Rich people should be encouraged
to donate in education’ ’

Educationist Professor Serajul Islam Choudhury talks to Mushfique Wadud on the new education policy, the challenges in implementing it and the state of the education system in the country

photo by Prito Reza

The present AL-led government had formed a committee to formulate the national education policy who submitted the draft copy of the education policy 2009 on September 7. Since independence, seven such education commissions and committees had been formed, however, none of the policies ever saw the light of day. What do you think are the main challenges to implementing the new education policy?

Unfortunately, politics and bureaucracy are the two main obstacles to implementing these policies. One government prepares a policy and after its tenure ends, the new government brings new ideas into its policy. They even change history. Moreover, some foreign bodies suggest experimental modifications as conditions for providing loans. The bureaucracy collaborates with all of these.

Failing the lingua franca

photo by Prito Reza

Failing the lingua franca

by Mushfique Wadud

This is a letter from the examination script of a class nine student of Bangladesh Bank Model High School. His teacher reveals that he wrote this after memorising it beforehand. Despite memorising, he still succumbs to such mistakes. ‘If he wrote the letter on the script without memorising, there would be even more mistakes,’ the teacher says, sighing. Like him, many students write incorrect and meaningless sentences in their scripts which are humorous to readers.

While this is funny to read, it is just another unsavoury instance of the nation’s sorry state of English language efficiency. This plague is not only confined to schools, but in every level of education, job applications, invitation cards, texts and even on social networking sites such as Facebook establishing the fact that the whole nation lacks knowledge of the English language. As important books in any subject are in English, students struggle to acquire proper knowledge in science, business studies and other important subject matter affecting the overall education system.

This deficiency is especially unfortunate because people of this region had long been known for their remarkable efficiency in the English language. It is in fact, a widely known truth that before the liberation war, people had a strong command of English. However, after the emergence of Bangladesh, the policymakers adopted education policies which emphasised greatly on Bengali while defocusing on the English curriculum.

A high price to pay

A high price to pay

Mushfique Wadud digs deep into what led to the recent protest by the students of North South University and finds out why the fees of private universities are going up while the quality of education is under question

photo by Ma Raquib Khan

On May 10, the premises of North South University, the country’s first private university, were hounded by several hundred of its students as they staged daylong demonstrations through the course of which, a number of offices on the campus including the vice chancellor’s was vandalised.

Education inflation

Education inflation

Sharmin Chowdhury and Mushfique Wadud investigate the allegations against education institutions charging over-the-top admission fees in the name of development despite a government declaration regulating such, their defiance of the country’s education laws, and reveal where the excess amount is actually spent

photo by Prito Reza

‘I have to spend Tk 9800 for my daughter’s admission. She began school for the first time this year.

Read more at http://www.newagebd.com/2009/mar/13/mar13/xtra_inner2.html