BEF Conference
Political influence, govt policies affect quality of education
Politicisation of school management, government’s shift of focus to other sectors and formulation of policies without preparation are affecting the quality of education and country’s human development, said education experts and economists at a seminar on Sunday observed.
The seminar titled Human Development Strategies and Policies was organised by Bangladesh Economists Forum at a city hotel.
Speakers said the teacher-guardian committees in schools do not play any effective role because of political influence.
The government’s move to increase defence budget by lowering allocation for education also indicated the shift of focus, they said.
They said that the government has somewhat made access to basic education easy but failed to formulate policies to retain students in schools.
‘According to the constitution, the government must ensure education for all but despite many successes in the sector, education for all was not achieved,’ Palli Karma Shahayak Foundation chairman Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said in his presentation.
He said that school management committees could not function properly because of political meddling.
Power and Participation Research Centre chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman said partisan influence on school management committees is a barrier to smooth functioning of the schools.
‘Another problem is lack of technical education. We have foreign nationals working in local companies as technical experts and taking money back home,’ he said.
He said the government set up universities in the name of national universities in remote areas but don’t have the ability to provide the required facilities.
‘So the quality of education is falling,’ he said.
Campaign for Popular Education executive director Rasheda K. Choudhury said that it was unfortunate that the government was increasing defence budget and lowering education budget.
‘The government is buying weapons by spending huge fund while the allocation for education came down to 11 per cent to 14 per cent. But education will give us better protection,’ she said.
University of Asia Pacific vice-chancellor Jamilur Reza Choudhury said the government was formulating and implanting education policies without preparation.
‘The decision of mandatory class eight education was implemented hurriedly when the eco-system was not ready for it. As a result the quality of education fell,’ he said.
He also said that enrolment in private universities is increasing rapidly which is also a matter of concern.
‘The government don’t have proper control on private universities and except a few many other private universities are involved in certificate business rather providing education,’ he said.
-With New Age input
