Mohammad Jashim Uddin :
17 September is the National Education Day and the nation celebrated the Day this year with befitting manner. The day has a long glorious historic past. The historic glorious moment still now causes to know the true steps of the activists of the contemporary age as for those steps we were saved then. If they failed then, what would be our present condition in education and identity? Have we ever asked ourselves? Why is the young generation ignored to know the history of the Education Movement of 1962? Who are the responsible for such ignorance? Have we fulfilled the goal of the Education Movement of 1962? Why couldn’t we make a framework of our permanent education policy yet?
The problem aroused in 1959 when East Pakistan people demanded an independent education policy for them as they were suppressed everywhere. In demands, the activists claimed that there must have Bengali culture, norm-values-faith-liking and disliking. At the same time, it was a question of mother-tongue- education in schools, colleges and universities.
After that president Ayub Khan formed a commission headed by education secretary SM Sharif (or Shareef) to make a framework of an education policy for East and West Pakistan. The commission is later called Sharif (or Shareef) Commission. SM Sharif (or Shareef) along with the other ten members published the report in 1962. In the report, the commission ignored East Pakistan’s demands and humiliated East Pakistan people, and gave some biased opinions in favour of West Pakistan. So, the report provoked a student’s agitation in former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). After a long agitation and sacrifices Ayub Khan suspended the policy.
But the historical truth is unknown to our young generation because of state policy and media’s whimsical carelessness. Even the teachers do not show their interest regarding this. Now here the commission’s biased and dark opinion will mention for the young ones so that they decide what education policy they need in future to keep the heritage and culture remain unchanged. In its report, the commissioners defined education as a productive activity and suggested other points: a) to make the Urdu language of whole Pakistan; b) education should not be at a minimum price; c) extension of bachelor degree course 2 to 3 years; d) a pass mark of degree course should be 50% where first division mark was 70%, and degree courses should a three years course; e) the concept of free compulsory education is Utopian; f) compulsory English course for secondary schools; and g) priority to residential school.
The points were suggested only for making us uneducated. As we know that 1948-1952 we fought for the rights of mother tongue and after a bloodshed movement of 1952 and because of continuous procession in 1956 Pakistan ruler accepted Bangla as state language of East Pakistan, such a proposal was a clear humiliation. How did the commission opine that education is an investment, people had to spend much more money?
Against the report, the degree students protested a lot first and knocked to each and every student of East Pakistan to be aware about their rights. Later students of other classes joined them and in August 1962 movement became noticeable with participation of common people. Agitators called a hartal on 17 September, 1962 and successfully observed with the unavoidable loss of life. On the day, Babul, school boy, Golam Mostafa, bus conductor, Waziullah, domestic worker sacrificed their lives in support of the movement of the students. As the situation was worse, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, a prominent Bengali politician played a conciliatory role among students and governments on condition of an immediate end to implementation of that report.
What lesson do the young generation now get form the historic incidence? Whether do they have any responsibility for them and for the upcoming generation? Obviously, they should do a lot of things for their own future as well as Bangladesh. First, they must learn the history and it should be discussed among them. Second, they should try to find out why we have failed to make an acceptable framework of education policy in Bangladesh.
Third, they should know what education policy is accepted in the developed countries like Japan, USA, UK, Canada and so on and how we can introduce such a policy when no one can raise any question about our quality. Fifth, they should work together against the commercial purpose of education. Sixth, they should suggest a policy to the government so that there will be no discrimination and deprivation in between the rich and the poor for getting education. Seventh, they should also find out why some students are involved in terrorist and violent activities. Because of weak education policy and unemployability, students are easily attracted by the terrorist groups. Moreover, political legitimacy causes the reason of campus violence nowadays in Bangladesh. So, the students can avoid such political activities but they can follow Bangabandhu Sheikh Majibur Rahman, father of nation, Taj Uddin Ahmed, first Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
Finally, we hope the young generation should design their future. They must think how to achieve the goals of Liberation War of 1971. Everything is possible when they can realize the true spirit of the Education Movement of 1969. The young generation has a lot of responsibilities to remove the class and social discrimination from Bangladesh.
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