The performances of the colleges in Rajshahi Board is appallingly bad and much to our dismay and embarrassment, the performances of the non-government colleges far away from the metropolis continue to show a worsening trend. This has made us ponder and reflect on the future of the country, its politics, its economy and prosperity. Ironically, most of these colleges showing such disgraceful performances were built to project the image of the political parties in power and appointment of teachers were made on the recommendations of the political stalwarts and not on merit. These teachers often were not in attendance. Those who were on the job were rarely teaching. On the student front, absenteeism was chronic. Students were busy with politics that would help boosting image and ideology of the party he belonged to. And their political masters have employed them whole time in the college campus to serve their interests at the expense of studies.

Our analysis has further revealed that students, mostly from the rural areas of Bangladesh, are coming for higher education in colleges with a very poor background at the primary and secondary level of schooling. They haven't learnt the basics and the worst situation is they have hardly any proficiency in English. There has been an alarming liquidation of old schools both at the primary and secondary stages that once produced a talented pool of students. These institutions with a rich legacy and tradition had catered education to hundreds of students born of poor parents. Faced with the resource crunch some of these schools and colleges are struggling for survival. But these institutions do no longer have committed teachers and bright students on the roll. Leaving aside the hundreds of schools which are too many to be named here, the most reputed colleges like Comilla Victoria College, Sylhet MM College, Barisal BM College, BL College, Khulna; AM College, Mymensingh; Edward College, Pabna; Carmichael College, Rangpur and SN College, Dinajpur -- all now exist with faded glory.

Coming back to school level education, there is no denying the fact that unless a student has his basics built at the school just before completing SSC, he can never fare well at the higher level. But these school level teaching, infrastructural deficiencies like dilapidated buildings or absence of any building and classroom in most schools of rural Bangladesh are indications of the rot that has affected the growth of education or, to speak more bluntly, has eaten into the vitals of the nation. In most non-government schools and colleges qualified teachers or teachers with initiative, dedication and commitment hardly get a job. Rather they are often replaced by politicians' friends, cronies and family members whose only interest is collecting their salaries and looking after family business or remaining engaged in other income generating missions. In recent times another sinister move is in the offing. Local politicians and high-ups in the school and college governing bodies are allegedly taking money from the job seekers without any consideration of the eligibility, merit and competence of the candidate.

Reports have it that a landowner-turned shrimp factory owner at Satkhira had built a school on their parental land close to their residence to perpetuate the memory of his late mother. Reportedly, his late father amassed vast properties in Satkhira mostly by questionable means. Now one of the sons has started what they say 'school business.' That he has started recruiting teachers in the school not on merit but on down payment! Well, this is not the only case. More school and college governing bodies in collusion with local leaders have switched over to 'business'. Not surprisingly, if a person struggling with poverty has to procure a job with kickbacks mostly by borrowing from other sources, he must be on the lookout for recovering it by means fair or foul. The ongoing scenario of corruption at the educational institutions and educational administration calls for an in-depth probe and analysis. While the country is agog with lofty schemes of building infrastructure for development and leaders are making great fuss about image boosting, national identity, economic emancipation and development, the educational structure in the country is crumbling down.

John Ruskin, the great social thinker believed that education was "not teaching the youth the shapes of letters and the tricks of numbers and leaving them to turn their arithmetic to roguery and their literature to lust but giving them training which make them happiest in themselves". Because we have failed in orienting the students and giving them a sense of direction in the pursuit of learning and character development, the nation now is mired in crisis of overwhelming proportions. Because of our monumental failure to guide them and motivate them with the spirit of learning, sacrifice and commitment, our youth population in the country are highly disillusioned. It is because of our failings as teachers as well as leaders that they could neither discover their innate faculty nor prepare themselves to face life's challenges with equanimity and inevitably they are sliding into a realm of frustration and penury.

Neither at home nor at the institution a youth is enrolled, has he been told that he is living in a period of tremendous confusion of values both in public life and at home. Gone is the laid back image of colleges as places of fun and freedom. It has been replaced by a frightening competitive battle where even securing 90 percent marks is no big deal. It is quite natural that against the backdrop of the appalling performances of 915 colleges, whatever may be the reason, students will not feel inclined to get admitted to these colleges either at the HSC or degree level of studies. Parents are disillusioned and worried about the future of their children as most of the schools and colleges outside Dhaka are in a shambles due to one or more reasons. As an instance, the plight of the 150 year old Satkhira PN High School points to an invisible liquidation and abysmal neglect of the academic institutions, the very baseline from where action programmes relating to poverty alleviation works of the country could have started.

Most people are trying to rush to Dhaka to get their wards admitted into English medium schools, hot favourite for all classes of people whether one can afford it or not. Undeniably true, almost 90 percent of the people in Bangladesh can't afford their exorbitant tuition fees. Our experience suggests that such English medium schools with offer of bright prospect and dazzling future have already sprouted in the nook and corner of Bangladesh with or without approval from the government. This has put the conventional schools in the sideline. In a situation when we plan and talk about bringing about reforms and strengthening our educational base, two streams of education, one for the poor and most neglected and the other for the affluent can hardly meet the national goal and objective. Pathetically true, in such a situation the future of education in the country appears to be grim as funds crunch, low salary structure compounded by the non availability of competent teachers and enthusiastic students have hit the rural schools hard lowering quality of education.

According to BANBEIS (Bangladesh Bureau of Educational and Information Statistics) there are 10 Public Universities, 150 Honours Colleges, 13 Medical Colleges and 4 Institutes turned Technological Universities in the country with the capacity of accommodating 2 lakh 65 thousand students. But with 1,92,713 students coming out successful this year, many institutions will be crying for students and most of the seats will remain unfilled. Most appallingly, many colleges outside Dhaka will not have a single student to admit.

Shockingly it is only in our country that education remains so much ignored and so much neglected, when everything else is moving up in speed. But no entrepreneur either at the private level or government-sponsored appears to be willing to invest in meaningful education in the countryside. Undeniably true, for Bangladesh to forge ahead, the thrust has to come from the less privileged sectors of our society spread in the countryside. If schools and colleges outside Dhaka do not function, the vast majority of our youth forces in the rural Bangladesh will remain mired in abysmal depth of ignorance, poverty and indignity. Understandably the rest 12 crore people living outside Dhaka can't make their way to Dhaka for education, for job and livelihood and if they are doing so the capital city will simply crash.

Reports have it that the education ministry will be issuing two years' notice to these non-performing and non-functioning colleges with subsequent withdrawal of MPO unless these colleges show any spectacular improvement in their performances in the public examinations. But this measure will not be enough to stem the drift or slide. The ministry concerned must constitute a fact finding committee comprising principals, committed and experienced teachers of reputed colleges entrusting them with the task of making an on-the-spot survey regarding functioning of these colleges, their lapses, deficiencies, eligibility of the teachers, available infrastructural facilities, teachers' attendance, student absenteeism and last but most important of all, political meddling in the college administration. The ministry should take corrective or punitive measures on the basis of this report. This might inflame those involved but at the same time spur others to do better. With potent combination of patience, sheer determination and enforcement of strict discipline, a principal of a college or a headmaster of a school can bring back glory to an institution. But one thing must be ensured that "the political masters must keep their hands off the academic institutions".

Md. Asadullah Khan, formerly a teacher of Physics, is Controller of Examinations, BUET.