�Give me an educated mother, I shall promise you the birth of a civilized, educated nation," said Napoleon Bonaparte. In many religious documents from the Holy Quran to the Holy Bible, the importance and value of proper education have been stressed continuously throughout the history of modern civilization. From the first industrial revolution to today's so called Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is spreading its spider-net like network around the globe in an inexplicable speed, the value of proper education has always been the most important aspect in any country.
Education has shaped how we as a community, society--be it global or local--accretes towards prosperity, peace, and stability throughout the history of modern society. Education is so important that there is a proverb which claims it is better to have an educated enemy than to have an illiterate friend.
In the Budget of FY2019-2020, as part of developing the human resources, Education has again come into focus, and the honourable finance minister has shown absolute positive direction for enriching the education system-- to be specific--the primary and secondary education system of Bangladesh in terms of allocation of fund. His assertion that we have enough students, but not enough teachers in the country, however, should raise a question given there are currently 5,225,268 students enrolled in MPO listed 15,284 primary and secondary schools across the country whereas the number of teachers are 19,2,773.
It results in 1:27 ratio for teacher to pupil in the country. It is totally sound to imagine a classroom with 27 students and one teacher. But, questioning the quality of the teachers and subject expertise are absolutely normal which has been uttered in the education portion of the budget. However, it is a bit hysterical to compare Bangladesh's teacher's skills with western teacher's skills, and interestingly when many Bangladeshi holds top position such as the 'Dean of Graduate School' in the western countries.
The need of 'Importing' western teachers also is contradictory in nature with the current flow of development of the world. In this era of connectivity when, the world is more connected than it was ever before in its history by optical fibres, by satellites, by internets, there seems to be no need to physically import western teacher into the country by wasting from the money allocated for the education sector of Bangladesh.
Since, fourth industrial revolution and automation which is considered to be a subset of the total Industrial Revolution, and when virtually quality education materials are available in sites such as EDX, Khan Academy etc, how logical is it to usher the countrymen to the idea of bringing in physical western teachers like the Japanese did during Emperor Meji? It is guaranteed that there was no internet or 'Digital Revolution' platform during the time of Emperor Meji.
Now, from the 27.4 per cent of 523,190 crore taka, 24,040 crore taka has been allocated for the primary education sector while 9,000 crore taka for the 'development projects of secondary and higher education sector'. Indeed, number doesn't lie and the hike of fund allocation towards ameliorating the education system of the country is highly promising. However, how the money will be spent and its positive effects seem rather convoluted given the importance of importing newer and newer ICT technology has been repeatedly uttered in this sector as well.
It is confusing through how many different pipelines money needs to pour in the ICT sector while those poor children, the ones living in extreme poverty at the mesmerizing sea-beach of Cox's Bazar are still being sold for pennies. Yes, their talents are being sold to the tourists by singing when, they should rather be spending their time at school or at home learning which, will give birth to educated souls besides the artistic souls those children already have.
Connecting the extremely poor children of Cox's Bazar to the uncountable number of children living on the slums spread queerly across the capital city of Dhaka, it is clearly visible that there exist a good chunk of children who are living in extreme poverty. Now, while drawing comparison to developed nations and pasting the word 'ICT' in everything for allocating fund will never be a strategically sound approach since these children are being deprived of the light of so-called fourth generational education system currently being planned.
Recently, a notice from the Ministry of Education was sent regarding the merit-based stipend and special stipend for children from extremely poor condition. Even if the Government's projected data of 11.3 per cent extremely poor people were to be taken as absolutely 'Ideal', there are significant portion of population whose future isn't being echoed in anyone's voice.
The stipends are merely Tk 500-600 only for these children in addition to providing free education for JSC scholarship winners. While surveying how some of the MPO listed schools were fulfilling the direction of the Ministry, MES Aerospace consultancy was shocked to find many of the MPO listed schools are not only charging tuition fees to the students but also not providing the 500-600 taka which is merely the prize of 1 kg beef on the market today.
As so much talks are going on about teaching the teachers, importing foreign trainers, changing the dynamic of the education system, has the most complicated authority thought of how 500 or 600 taka scholarship out of the budget allocation of 24,040 crore taka sounds? If the living standards of the children, of the students, of the learners aren't up to par, what development will 'teaching the teachers' earn? It will earn nothing but waste of capital, waste of money which has happened in the past, is happening today and will continue to happen unless questioned from stakeholders.
It isn't a task for one person to maintain and control the transparency of the money outflow through different pipelines pumping into the country and not reaching the proper destination. Let us not forget teachers like Dr Mahbub Mazumder and Dr Jafar Iqbal are still alive in this country, even though the country can and will 'import' teachers which is probably necessary to keep up with the growth rate of the rest of the world.
But, Let the budget allocation waves flow to the shores where it is needed the post, the poverty ridden, blindly driven, creative but poor children who need proper transparency in getting their stipend. And there should be a hike in the amount of stipend they receive which sounds logical with the requirement of basic living standard of children, of a young learner, and of a keen observer.
The writer is aerospace engineering consultant, founder & owner, Midwest Engineering Solution Limited Company LLC, based out of Wichita, KS, USA
