Feature
Md Badiuzzaman Tamal
Cannot education and national development be synonymous? It is obvious that nothing but a proper education is required to build a nation properly. Many of us will think the same way about the education system of our country, filled with flaws over the past few years. What I am trying to imply is that we need to focus on the typical education system, which, with its flaws is letting us down in many ways.
Let me mention some of the major factors that are weakening our education.
As we know, teaching is one of the most dignified professions but unfortunately, even the leading schools in Dhaka lack qualified teachers. Owing mainly to financial reasons, those who are qualified switch over from teaching to other professions, and those who remain do lack proficiency. They teach their students in a conventional manner. In the developed countries, there are monthly and yearly courses for teachers that include practical tests where they take classes of the students under observation of authorities concerned. These children are taught by well-informed and qualified mentors. There are very few teachers in Bangladesh who have attained such degrees (i.e. B.Ed and M.Ed). The authorities concerned in our country should take the matter into consideration. Apart from this, students are also in great remorse as their curriculum textbooks are flooded with flaws!
The English question paper of this year's SSC examinations was also full of errors. While reviewing my cousin's question paper, I noted with great surprise that the question paper for English First Paper contains serious errors with regard to punctuation, misspelled words, improper capitalization of initials, and wrong use of articles. The most serious mistake was the wrong punctuation of the last sentence in the first paragraph of the reading test, which made it an ambiguous sentence. Most young examinees would be confused by these questions. Some of these mistakes could have been corrected at the examination hall, but I do not know whether this was done. These mistakes have probably occurred due to the negligence during proofreading the script. I would appreciate if the examination authorities review the undesirable lapses and prevent such incidents in the future. Some other important factors are the lack of focused, practical and market-oriented training. Languages, including English for example, is taught in an inefficient manner in our system, with very little focus on applicability.
It is therefore imperative that we ensure good quality and error-free education at all levels. The authorities concerned must take the responsibility and appropriate measures to free education from all kinds of flaws.
(Student, Jahangirnagar University)
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