Feature

US Ambassador meets Madrassah students

Mahdin Mahboob & Sarah Z H

The American Center known to many of us for its library and student counseling facilities had come up with a very noble program of providing micro-scholarships to madrassah students for learning English language. The Access program was launched in Fall 2004 and since then the US State Department has funded English Language Training programs for 215 students in four batches aged between 14 to 18 years. Language Proficiency Center (LPC) along with the local partner PA is giving the best there can be to these access students for learning English. The students are divided into small groups and are expected to meet three times a week for a period of 18 months at the LPC.

On the occasion of the first two batches graduating from the program the American Center had arranged for a little ceremony, which was presided over by the US Ambassador to Bangladesh HE James F Moriarty himself. The newly appointed Director of the American Center, Amy Hart Vrampas spoke a few words on the occasion and congratulated the students who successfully graduated from the program. The ambassador arrived shortly after the commencement and exchanged greetings with the proud students. He said learning a language is a beautiful experience. It is a sign of wanting to communicate and wanting to know about other people who are very different from us. Moriarty also stressed the fact that young people of today will determine the future of the country and thus the access students were given a fair idea about the significance of their achievements.

One of the Madrassa Access Students Towfiq Ahmad Khan from the first batch was selected for the Student Leaders Institute (SLI) program, an undergraduate leadership program through which Bangladeshi students visit the US. Towfiq talked about his experiences as part of an exchange program and expressed his gratitude to the organizers for enabling him to explore his abilities at a higher level. Afterwards, there was a question answer session for the students and they did make absolute good use of the opportunity. Many important issues like poverty and illiteracy were raised in the session. One student wanted to know what could be done to make Bangladesh a better country in terms of poverty alleviation reducing the sufferings of the mass. In reply, the ambassador dragged the examples of Taiwan and China and how they developed enormously in a short span of time. He believed Bangladesh could learn a lot from these real life examples. The constitution of Taiwan says education is must for everyone. As a result, the literacy rate of the country is effectively high. China on the other hand tied into the Global economy and used their exports to the world for rising against poverty. Plugging into global economy would be the answer to overall development said the ambassador. The exports of Bangladesh are increasing which is sign of hope for its people. Garment workers, particularly women are trying to make their lives better.

A young female student from the current batch of the access program wanted to know about scholarships to the US. And there were issues like global warming and climate change that were discussed in the session. Another student asked the ambassador about the American education system. American education he said has a lot to offer. There are community colleges that go on for two years for people who face interruptions in their studies and hence cannot attend regular colleges and universities. One student drew the attention of the audience by proposing to have similar programs on the development of the IT sector. He also pointed out that other organizations should initiate such programs for the advancement of neglected students.

Sabreen Rahman, program development advisor of the American center, assured the students that necessary assistance will be made available to them but they have to the embrace the chances and ask for help. Harvey W. Sernovitj, Deputy Director of the center gave the last words and the ceremony ended as the graduate students took a group photograph with the ambassador.

“Brain Drain”

Samantha Saberin

First of all, I would like to thank the writer for bringing up the subject of the “Huge GPA 5 Crowd” into the limelight through her article. It's really amazing how this huge amount of people secured not only GPA 5 But 'Golden' A+. Though it occurs a bit mysterious to me, I completely agree with the writer on the point that a student securing 99% mark is getting the same appreciation as a student who obtains 80% mark. GPA 5 seems to be very easy to achieve now as the optional subject is giving the students the option to get it!! It's very misleading to see this amount of students securing GPA 5 with a golden label. Now the question is what happened to our students all of a sudden? All of them suddenly became 'the best'? That's wonderful but hard to believe. I know many people who sat for the S.S.C exam this year, and were not worthy or capable of securing a GPA 5,especially not a golden A+! This is actually making me a little doubtful about the (new) method of checking the scripts.

Getting back to the feature, I think that the parent group in Bangladesh does feel that the students who fail to qualify in the admission tests of a public university are rotten apples. It is really very sad. The private Universities (though not all of them) have proven themselves worthy and capable enough. Such mindset of the guardians is actually leading the students towards frustration resulting into lower self-esteem.

But I am sorry to say that I strongly disagree with some of the points noted by the writer in the last part of her article. As it was written “In Bangladesh, even in education system there is no transparency, doesn't matter what your score is, doesn't matter if you have sufficient amount of grey matter to study the subject- all that matters is 'Connection' and the height or the level of it.” I really couldn't understand what she meant by the term 'Connection'.

Well, as I am from a public university, I will not try to prove my point here; I just want to share some experiences and views that are my own. I don't remember going to anyone or employing any sort of 'connection' to get into this university. But it doesn't mean that my fellow classmates got the chance without any ability. It can be said that the seats are limited. Not all the capable persons get their chances- but it doesn't mean those who get it are unworthy of it or it was a mere stroke of luck on their part!

And about the conclusion of the feature, I would like to say that this year's S.S.C result was (according to me) not the real picture at all. GPA cannot measure talent. It's a quality within. And now the situation of our education system has come to such a standard, it barely gives the picture of any student's individual ability. The talented people (taking in both Public and private University students) are draining their brains but the Government and the system are inefficient in providing them with opportunitities to be valued and appreciated.

Lastly, these are very personal opinions. If anyone is hurt- I apologize.