Gazi Md. Abdur Rashid :
Education is a process of teaching, training and learning especially in schools or colleges to improve knowledge and develop skills. Also it can be defined as it is an interesting experience that teaches you something. Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world and for self-enlightenment. This is so because quality education equips one with capability to interpret things rightly and applying the gathered information in real life scenarios. Quality education entails the following aspects; learning resources, technology, program enrolled, modules done, lecturing methodology, attachments, qualifications, co-curricular activities, performance based awards, students and teachers perspective in the institution operating management also their opinions and appraisal toward education. The purpose of education has been and always will be to empower and impart skill and knowledge in leaner’s, thus it is important that the education one gets has to be of certain quality.
Quality can be defined in terms of excellence, perfection, value for money, fitness to purpose. Quality in education is a multi-dimensional concept with different components. According to some researchers the definitions of quality are: Quality is fulfilling & exceeding customer’s needs, Quality is everyone’s job and quality is continuous improvement. Quality is recognition and reward. Quality is leadership, teamwork, measurement and systematic problem solving. Quality education is a necessity to a sustainable economy of any nation.
Education the act or process of imparting or acquiring particular knowledge or skills, as for a profession and quality as referring to character with respect to fineness or grade of excellence. The combination of these words however may mean different things depending on the perception of the one person to another. Quality education as equipping leaner’s with skill and knowledge that would help develop psychologically and benefit them in future, being able to employ the skills they learnt in the days to day lives to sustain themselves even after graduation. The quality of education provided by institutions however may vary based on multiple factors, the teaching system, programs provided, quality of lecturers and the learning environment under which the education is being provided. The lecturers in charge of imparting knowledge in students have to be of certain qualifications; therefore a selection procedure has to be followed separating expert lecturer from the ordinary ones living only the best lecturer’s to do the teaching. Also the teaching system that a particular institution employs has a harmful effect on the quality, the kind of system that encourages research, citation and a coping policy would prove more useful than one that does not in providing quality education. Furthermore considering the programs or courses the institution provides they should be of relevance to time and trend of the business world, avoiding the situation where graduates would roam on the streets straight after graduation due to lack of jobs. Furthermore whether the environment in which teaching is conducted, does it meet the standards in order to be termed as conducive for learning. Lastly how a particular institution caters for diversity in its students for example catering for those with visual impairment or any other disability and the fact that the students might be of different backgrounds and international cases of different origin. Facilities with the attributes mentioned earlier could be said as those that provide quality education to students who enroll with them.
Education plays an important role for the student and the society in which he lives. It represents the growth of the individual which allows him to lead a better life as there are more chances of getting a highly paid job; in turn the society is benefited as the ideal citizens are created who will keep the society peaceful. Provided quality education brings about a glittering future to individuals, society and whole world at large. Graduates who acquire quality skill and education from their respecting institutions are most likely to be employable. If not so the graduates may be able to use what they have learnt to start up their own business for example a graduate from an accountancy college may in the event that they do not find a job or if they so choose, start up their own accountancy consultancy agency offering accounting services and also by being able to employ their skills and start their own business, the graduates would be creating employment for other individuals in the society thus also helping in diversifying the economy of that particular nation investing in its private sector. Higher education also helps provide graduates with basics of understanding about economic activities that occur worldwide. A nation that possesses such people would be safe to be termed as a literate nation, a wise nation would in turn be able to prevent and run anti economic actions such as corruption. Quality education provided to the society inspires creativity and innovation, moreover improves the nation’s economy. Graduates and internship students do interact with the society to share knowledge, help the nation in making the decisions and coming up with new ideas of doing things better. That by its own increases the productivity of the nation thereby improving its economy. Example can be alumni from technical college during electricity down failure; they can apply knowledge acquired from their programs to make solar street lights with the help of community members. The idea of coming up with solar street lights is creativity, diversification and its amending ordinary ones to advance ones. The transition of skills and knowledge from one individual with expertise to another of less expertise would result in the increase in experts in that particular thus creating a pool of employees that organizations could recruit from. The graduates with expertise in certain fields would be in a better position to be leaders in their particular field of expertise, therefore good education produces ideal leaders.
Quality in education is important given the fact that what a person learns affects their philosophy “mind-set”. Thus saying that the education one gets affects their day to day lives depicting their lifestyle and the decisions they make on a daily basis. The great Nelson Mandela once said “education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.”Its importance is immeasurable because it is a self-enlighten up process for a life time. This is so because quality education equips one with capability to interpret things rightly and applying the gathered information in real life scenarios, therefore it wipes out the wrong beliefs from one’s mind and that makes one be civilized and innovative. In summary, quality education is important in anyone’s life, to have it, access to it by all means for sustainability.
(Gazi Md. Abdur Rashid, Research Officer, District Education Office, Secondary and Higher Education, Munshiganj)
