Feature

Change Needed in the Quality of Basic
Education in Bangladesh
Halimur Rashid Khan

ON March 2, 2008 the Chief Adviser of the former CTG, Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, provided some guidelines for educational priorities in Bangladesh during a conference on Governance in Education. These were important policy statements on key educational issues. For the newly elected government, these guidelines can provide a roadmap for establishing improved quality of education and prepare our younger generations to compete in the world of 21st century.

While Bangladesh achieved 100% gross enrollments in its primary schools for age appropriate children already in 2004, the quality of learning remains questionable. “Quality” of learning achievement refers to the levels of student achievement that meet defined minimum standards. Low quality of learning achievement remains an important and major challenge in the nation's basic education system. This has dire implications for the educational system, as well as for the economic, social and political potentials of Bangladesh.

Since becoming independent in 1971, Bangladesh has made impressive gains in economic growth and educational opportunities. And, in less than thirty-five years, Bangladesh has become one of the most successful developing countries in creating educational opportunities for schoolage children. Despite these achievements, much remains to be done, especially in the area of quality of education children receive.

Quality of Learning: Quality of education has not only lagged behind in Bangladesh compared to its achievements in access to education, but it has actually deteriorated.

After five years of primary education, primary school students master only about two to three years of the content. In a study conducted in 1992 among 2100 children age 11-12 years, UNICEF found that children who have completed five years of basic education, have mastered the minimum basic elements of 73% of reading, 28% of writing, 63% of oral arithmetic and 44% of written arithmetic, while the minimum level in all four areas were achieved only by 22% of the children. When these skills were tested among the children who had finished the five grades and continued to secondary school, the results were somewhat improved: reading was at 85%, writing at 50%, oral mathematics46%, and written mathematics stood at 60%, while 35% of students have achieved minimum levels in all four areas. In another study, researchers found that by 1998 the quality of learning achievements has actually dropped. Only one in three has mastered the basic skills, with an achievement of 58% in reading, 13% in writing and 37% oral arithmetic. The quality of learning achievements was found to be much lower for girls and in rural areas. Girls in rural Bangladesh, performed poorly in all four tests, and were at 10 percentage points or below the boys. Having achieved parity in enrollments, Bangladesh now must confront the new challenge.

Importance of Quality of Learning Achievement: Unlike access to education, a problem of quality at the basic level, such as one in Bangladesh, will remain at all levels of educational system and beyond. Unable to read and write at the level they are, children will not be able to learn increasingly more complex material that builds upon prior skills and will have to eventually drop out. Soon, there will be a shortage of qualified students to attend upper level education, and the country will lack a qualified and skilled workforce, and more importantly, an educated citizenry.

Education is a basic human right. EFA Global Monitoring Report (2000) further proposes that education is for personal development and fulfillment as well as for the development of cognitive and functional skills, and that education is vital for building democratic citizenship.

Fernando Reimers--a Harvard university Professor and a specialist in primary education--suggests that education plays a vital role in establishing an understanding of democracy and democratic institutions. He has also argued that the poorly educated people become more vulnerable to extreme ideologies, and that in the interest of safety and security, it is imperative that a nation educates its citizens to protect them from such vulnerabilities.

Poor quality learning creates barriers for education's contribution towards a nation's economic growth and development. The current global economy offers unprecedented opportunities for countries with growth potential, and to take advantage, it is crucial to have a workforce capable of competing and participating in this global economy. Bangladesh is a natural-resource poor country, and poverty is an increasingly serious problem in large parts of the developing world; yet, unlike in the developed nations, improving quality of education in developing countries can spur rapid economic growth.

A World Bank study in Bangladesh has found that the likelihood of a household being below the poverty line declines by 37% when the head of that household has had only one to four years of primary education. A better quality education would do much more than just lift a nation out of poverty. While increasing literacy rates have been proven to reduce infant mortality rates and fertility among women, increase health and nutrition conditions of the population and farmer productivity, improved quality of learning achievements may also positively influence all of these outcomes.

In the end, economic progress and social development for Bangladesh in the twenty-first century will be defined by whether or not the nation can take a quantum leap in its educational experience. It will be a challenge for the nation to prepare its human capital with good quality education. And, good quality education must, in turn, begin with establishing higher quality of learning achievements at the very basic levels. There is now a tremendous opportunity for the newly elected government to make this most fundamental contribution to our nation: Step up to this challenge, improve the quality of primary education, and establish Bangladesh on a path to prosperity. This would be one of the most profound contributions to our nation, and the nation would certainly remember this as one of the major achievements of the incoming government.

(Writer is a graduate of Harvard School of Education and is an Assistant Professor of Russian at the US Air Force Academy. Dr. Khan's research involves International Education Policy and Education in Bangladesh)

Weird News

Dragons do exist

THE Komodo dragon is the world's largest flesh-eating lizard and living reptile. This amazing creature is only found in the wild on four small Indonesian islands, where they are vulnerable to disease, volcanic activity, and competition with feral dogs and man. It lives on the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Padar, and Flores. The Komodo is an endangered species and there are only about 5,000 of them in existence around the world, including a small number kept and bred in zoos.

This giant lizard can grow to 3 meters (10 feet) long, and has an average weight of 70 kg (155 pounds). Komodo dragons are dangerous predators with sharp serrated teeth more like a shark's than a reptile's. Swift runners, they can swim and climb trees, and they can use their tail as a weapon and swing it like a club. They find most of their food by smell. Like shakes they 'taste' the air with their tongues, which are deeply forked and collect scent molecules from the air. They have an acute sense of smell and can detect the scent of decaying remains from up to 5km (3 miles). While Komodos like to eat dead things, they also prey on wild pigs, water buffalo and deer. They have a huge capacity for food, often eating up to half of their body weight in one meal. They are also cannibalistic, sometimes eating their own kind. They eat almost all of a carcass, consuming flesh, skin and even bones. A large Komodo can swallow a whole wild pig; their jaws expand like a snake's.

Their bite is often lethal because the bacteria in their mouths is so poisonous that wounds often do not heal, and their victim, if it manages to escape, dies in a day or two. Although often regarded as pests, Komodos are not a serious danger to humans. In order to protect the dragon, the Indonesian government has made the islands of Padar and Rinca into nature reserves for both the lizard and its prey.