January 6, 2010

Inside

 

Good dwarfs bad--Shakhawat Liton

No letup in price spike--Rejaul Karim Byron

High on plans, low on implementation
--
Sharier Khan

One hurrah from upazila polls --Shakhawat Liton & Hasan Jahid Tusher

Promises not kept--Shariful Islam

Health sector gets out of sickbed--Mahbuba Zannat

Terror being tackled with 'iron hand’--Julfikar Ali Manik & Shariful Islam

Govt smartly pursuing thaw in thorny ties
--Rezaul Karim

Steps left a lot to be desired -- Tawfique Ali
One year on, Government in spotlight
Manpower stays out in the cold-- Porimol Palma
Anti-graft body hamstrung--Emran Hossain

Economy survives recession scare-- Rejaul Karim Byron


More said than done
-
-MD Hasan

Judiciary separated but not free yet
--Ashutosh Sarkar


Worst averted, politically
--Julfikar Ali Manik

Farmers make govt smile--Reaz Ahmad

Save river vow awaits result--Pinaki Roy

Education with vision--Wasim Bin Habib




 

 

Education with vision
New national policy, free textbooks distribution in time earn heap of praises

Wasim Bin Habib

Jubilant children run in the hallway of Chittagong Municipal Primary School on December 31 with their new textbooks guarded close to their chests. The government on December 30 started distributing free textbooks to students for this academic year. Photo: Zobaer Hossain Sikder

The Awami League-led grand alliance in the first year of rule has taken some major steps with an aim to improve the country's overall education situation, showing its commitment to implementing the electoral pledges of ensuring modern and quality education.

The most significant achievement in this regard sector is the successful distribution of free textbooks among about 2.76 crore primary and secondary students by the first week of January for the first time.

Previously, the same task used to take up to the first quarter of an academic session.

Nahid...the outstanding achiever

About 18.68 crore textbooks were printed for free distribution. Of the books, 7.8 crore copies were for primary, 7.47 crore for secondary, 1.74 crore for ibtedai, 1.5 crore for dakhil and 16.4 lakh for technical students.

The students started their first day of school in the academic year with the free government-distributed textbooks in their hands.

Besides this, the government won acclaim for aggressively taking a number of significant steps like formulating the draft national education policy with a progressive look and modernising madrasa and technical education.

However, completing these huge tasks remains a big challenge for the government. To execute the plans, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid was seen active in making his ministry more vibrant throughout the year.

But at the same time some educational institutions witnessed instability as clashes and gunfights occurred between two factions of the ruling party's associate body and between the associate bodies of the ruling and opposition parties soon after the government assumed office.

Among the institutions, clashes erupted at Jahangirnagar University, Rajshahi University, Dhaka Medical College, Comilla University, Jagannath University and Khulna Polytechnic Institute that left hundreds injured.

The campus unrest apparently showed the failure of the ruling alliance to control its associate bodies.

DISTRIBUTING FREE TEXTBOOKS
Distributing the books and in time was a major challenge for the government as every year a state of disorder usually prevails in this regard.

In earlier years, students and their parents had to pass anxious times even for three to four months just to get the books, which eventually hampered their studies. The previous governments only distributed free textbooks for primary students. But this year the government decided to distribute books for the students of primary, secondary, ibtedai, dakhil and technical levels.

Moreover, the devastating fire at a warehouse created a sense of uncertainty over timely publishing as a huge amount of papers and some primary level books was reduced to ashes.

But overcoming the odds, the education ministry made it possible to send the books to the students on their very first day in school in 2010. The government considers the initiative a step to decrease dropout rate.

Students, parents and teachers praised the government's initiative saying this will bring a real change in the education system and help the students obtain better results.

The education ministry also uploaded soft copies of the textbooks on the website of NCTB [nctb.gov.bd] for additional help of the students studying under Bangladesh curriculum both at home and abroad.

NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY
As per its election manifesto to frame a modern education policy meeting the needs of the time, the government formed a committee to formulate a time-befitting, modern and progressive National Education Policy.

The committee reviewed all the reports of the previous commissions and committees and prepared the final draft which is now awaiting final approval. The committee gave special importance on the reports of the Qudrat-e-Khuda Education Commission, 1974 and Shamsul Haque Education Committee as the government considered the Khuda Commission's report more acceptable and timely in the context of the country's socioeconomic condition.

The main features of the draft, which has been put on the education ministry's website for eliciting public opinions, are unified curriculum in primary and secondary levels for all mediums, extension of free primary education up to class VIII and secondary education up to class XII, and imparting basic knowledge on every religion.

According to the draft, unified curriculum would make some subjects -- Bangla, English, mathematics, moral education, Bangladesh studies, paribesh parichiti, information technology and science -- compulsory in all mediums so that the students irrespective of education types may have better understanding about some certain aspects of the country.

It also says the children will have the chance to have basic knowledge on four main religions so that a sense of non-communalism grows in them. Besides, incorporating moral education for the first time in the policy is another thing to check moral degradation of the society.

The policy emphasises technical education as it suggests making pre-vocational education mandatory for all students from class VI to class VIII.

Seven education commissions and committees have been formed since independence but not a single recommendation of them has ever been implemented because of a lack of political will.

This time, the education minister said they want to come out of the culture of frequent shift in policies which leaves the guidelines unimplemented. The government wants to implement the policy in phases during its tenure so that they can take the responsibilities, the minister said on several occasions.

PRIMARY TERMINAL EXAMINATION
The government, in place of the existing scholarship examination, has introduced a public exam titled Primary Education Terminal Examination for the class V students.

The newly introduced examination, the largest public exam in the country, is another major step taken by the government. The primary and mass education ministry arranged the exam for the first time in the country with the view to minimising discrimination.

In the previous system, only 40 percent selected students used to sit for the scholarship exam and the teachers had to remain busy with them, neglecting the majority.

With this new system the teachers now have to give importance to all students as they need to pass the terminal exam to be promoted to class VI.
The exam of 2009 saw a pass percentage of 88.84.

MODERNISING MADRASA EDUCATION
The government primarily took several steps to modernise madrasa education in light of the suggestions of the draft education policy.

It would modernise the madrasa curriculum and incorporate several subjects like Bangla, English, mathematics, information technology and science so that madrasa learners become more competent and can use acquired knowledge in practical life.

Besides, it has decided to introduce some vocational courses in 100 madrasas.

In order to facilitate people involved in madrasas, a separate directorate for madrasa education would be set up. Transforming 30 such institutions into model madrasas with modern facilities is another major step of the government.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION
The government plans to set up one technical school in every upazila across the country in phases to build skilled manpower. It will start working soon to this effect.

OTHER STEPS
With a view to enlisting teachers and staffs of the non-government institutions on the monthly pay order (MPO) list, the government formed a committee to formulate a concrete policy analysing the existing one.

The MPO listing has been suspended for over five years which put many private educational institutions into a financial crisis. The committee submitted its report to the Prime Minister and education minister suggesting immediate resumption of MPO listing.

The government also took steps to establish universities in different places to expand higher education.

In the wake of widespread allegation that a section of private universities has been involved in malpractices like sales of certificates and imparting substandard education cashing in on loopholes of the existing law, the government amended the Private University Act which has been approved by the cabinet.

It has also taken initiatives to incorporate the real history of the Liberation War in textbooks at primary and secondary levels. Introduction of creative question method in phases instead of existing questioning system is one of the steps taken by the government to bring a qualitative change.

The government also plans to set up primary schools in around 2,000 remote villages having no education institutions to meet its electoral pledge to remove illiteracy by 2014.

© thedailystar.net, 2009. All Rights Reserved