BY any accounts more students are enrolled in Bangladesh’s education systems in 2014 than at any other point in history. We have more students, more teachers and more educational institutions like colleges, schools and universities than at any other point in our history. Our pre-primary, primary, and secondary enrolment rates are the highest ever recorded —although the percentage rates decrease as we move up the education system — but this is mostly due to poverty which keeps our adolescents from reaching the top of the educational chain.
So why is it that we are unable to produce international quality graduates who have enough technical and other knowledge to compete with students from other countries? The answer has its roots in our systems, lack of infrastructure and development. We are unable to recruit high quality teachers as we cannot afford to pay top wages in most public institutions. The status and pay of the jobs ensure that the best and the brightest don’t come to the field — thus third rate teachers can only produce third rate students. The problem is further compounded by the increased levels of corruption and politicization which permeate every aspect of the administration – if you need political connections and money to secure even a teaching job then you will not look upon that job as a vocation but as simply a way to make quick money by forcing the students to come to you for tuition.
A wise man once remarked that education is seldom of much efficacy except in those happy predispositions where it is almost superfluous. Nowhere is this more accurate except in Bangladesh — we have some graduates who, surmounting all odds, work for top companies like Google, Facebook, Intel, and Microsoft. But this is unfortunately not due to the efficacy of our educational system but simply due to their sheer diligence and hard work and an ability not to give up. In other words, those who ultimately become successful do not become so due to the inherent strength of the system but rather by surmounting the obstacles which surround it.
Unfortunately this trend will continue for as long as we can foresee — no matter which government is in power, as long as our administration is politicized and corrupt we will have mediocre teachers who will churn our mediocre students. For our budding citizens who are students this is a curse — to succeed they will have to overcome the apathy of their teachers and the entire system as a whole which fails to give them the quality education they need to bring forth the best in them.
Our students will have to be dependent on only their will power to succeed. We hope it would be otherwise but wish them the best. They will certainly need it.
