The New Nation - Internet Edition

M.T.Hussain

Of late we hear a lot of lamentations followed by urging relevant others even from the highest level to provide quality education from the lowest primary to the highest university classes. The lamentation and the suggestion put forward are not without good reason but very much obvious in view of the falling standards of learning attainments in Bangladesh at all levels having though some rare exceptions for a few reputed educational institutions. However, it is not only the critical problem of falling standards of education but also of conspicuous erosion of moral values among the new generation of 'educated' lot in affluent class.

Providing quality education and learning is easier said than done. Even in advanced affluent countries, they continue to work very hard for maintaining standards high in schools and colleges and yet standards vary from institution to institution. In poverty stricken society it remains more difficult to attain first, for intake physical quality of the pupils and students or for poor physical health condition in terms of nutrition level of the learners. School meals/milk is almost an unknown subject in economically poorer and backward countries like Bangladesh that is essentially considered very much a common requirement in school programs in advanced countries. Because, they are well aware that ill-fed human body and mind, much less empty stomach, can scarcely foster full learning. In Bangladesh extreme poverty of nearly 40% of the people/guardian pass lives so difficult that they can hardly afford to enroll their children to primary school classes not to speak of giving them full nutritional level food at least two square meals a day. The provision made during the last few years for girl students' scholarship/Upabritti in cash/kind payments has been known to have made some improvement in official enrolment figures but the reality remained dismally different not only in actual attendances in school classes but also in attainments in learning by pupils. The dropout rate in primary schools (One to Five), it is known, has risen from 35% in previous years to 46% in 2006, despite continuance of the Upabritti in even larger scale. The statistics, not unreliable one, clearly tell us that there are other missing issues that need to be addressed for one to expect quality in learning particularly at the primary level. However, the issue mentioned here is particular to the primary school quality learning attainment question having bearing on to other two levels, as well.

For Secondary and higher education, quality question, in addition, is dependent on other common issues like (1) quality of primary learning, (2) general teacher quality that is common to all levels, (3) content and quality of learning materials, (4) professional motivational levels first of teachers and of taught that is dependent primarily on teachers' motivational level and skill, (5) expertise of teachers dependent on their learning qualities they received before entering the teaching job, (6) quality of school infrastructure- labs, class room set up, etc and availability of learning materials (7) management quality and efficiency of the institution one to all, (8) efficiency of teachers dependent both on expertise and motivational level or commitment to teaching profession, and possibly some more like larger GDP allocation for education and on and on, one could go on expanding and adding to this list.

One could discuss problems relevant to all the above issues and others as one might identify for raising quality of education and learning in Bangladesh. Educators have unanimity on many of these issues. But I am afraid very few care to identify a critical major issue that I intend to point out here. Because, to me the issue remained in oblivion though it was certainly a critical and major one in my estimation not only contributing to falling standards of education but also in erosion of moral values.

The issue is obliviousness of imparting and internalizing the cardinal and essential human values in the psyche of each and every learner. Some would argue that it is not essential as it might come up automatically in the psyche from family level and informal learning outside school campus. Well, the argument would be acceptable for well-organized and advanced societies wherein school system is not isolated but fully integrated, which unfortunately, I am afraid, the system in Bangladesh is not that fully integrated. Because, the Western advanced countries developed their education for long time over centuries from within based on their own value system originating in Christianity nourished and practiced for hundreds of years. The early British schools like Eaton, Harrow, Winchester etc and the oldest Universities like Oxford, Cambridge etc well known to be imparting until these days the highest standards of teaching-learning had their bases in Christian value system. But Bangladesh very much amazingly having had her 'modern' education accepted from the British colonial rulers differed from their system in peculiar way based not only in somewhat vacuum of substantive value system but also in many ways inimical to our own morality and value system. Unfortunately, despite our independence from the foreign rule decades ago, we failed as yet to de-colonize or to make up the voids of values in the system, much less made it conform to our own life and belief system. Thus our learning through the borrowed system is mainly directed to vocation or at best for remunerative professions that provide, undoubtedly, some material incentive, but certainly divorced from spiritual domain of life and so nothing of any spiritual incentive integrated in our own value system in the teaching- learning process.

Education and learning should necessarily aim at release of full potential of each and every learner. And as because human being by nature is not only spiritual in craving but also psychological in attitude, release of full potential can not be achieved ignoring either of these two aspects. Educations curricula plan although have some bits and pieces to meet psychological needs but almost nothing to satisfy one's craving for spiritual needs to firm up individual human psyche and morality. This is a serious lapse so far as release of full potential is concerned for attaining high quality learning.

Incentive is a motivation for quality learning that material incentive can provide some. Had there been, in addition, spiritual incentive, quality level could have been further enhanced. This is true for both teachers and taught equally. That is what is needed to include and incorporate not only in our curricula but also in teaching -learning process at all levels of education system that remains, I may repeat, as a big lapse for the quality issue that the teachers with rare exceptions have so long been oblivious to reckon. In the absence of due care to concentrate on this issue along with all other listed needed efforts though would produce some result only for partial release of potentials but not fully that full release as is needed for high quality in education and learning in Bangladesh for meeting challenges of competition in the globalization context. I would feel that unless we seriously take care of the spiritual issue so long remained in oblivion in our so-called 'modern' education system, it would be nothing but possibly beating about the same bush so far as raising quality of education is concerned.

(Prof.) M.T.Hussain (Retired and Former Director, Institute of Education, Darul Ihsan University, Dhaka)