Since her emergence, Bangladesh has been taking ITS education system forward as rapidly as possible, keeping pace with time.
Besides making a headway in traditional education, there has also been accomplishments in modern education. Timely steps taken in running education programmes under the Open University system have ensured progress.
Bangladesh Open University was founded with a noble objective of diffusing education among the poorest in the country who can’t access learning in the institutions on because of privation and an economic barrier in that phase of life best suited for acquiring knowledge. A close look at the past levels of education among the poor would demonstrate this.
A substantial portion of the rural population is subject to the deprivation of education for many reasons. The problem of drop outs has taken a serious turn. Multiple programmes of the Open University aim at dispelling the darkness of ignorance from such people. There’s no denying that this institute has been keeping up its onward march since its initiation.
It has introduced the SSC, HSC and degree programmes across the country. Not only at the main campus, but a good many campuses at the divisional and district level are operating along with the other traditional universities and educational boards. Learners at upazila levels as well as at the remotest areas are now the beneficiaries of the programmes.
Everybody is aware that certificates awarded by this university are no less evaluated than the much popular board and university certificates. In matters of new employment, promotion and social practicality, the former’s acceptability plus effectiveness are at par with the latter. This is logical as the certificates issued by all these institutions indicate the same quality of knowledge and learning among recipients.
The reverse argument upholds that there is a yawning gap between the two categories of certificate winners. Open University education has declined for some reasons which are as follows.
As per the old system Open University is committed to providing its learners with the text books for the related classes. It follows the system but timely delivery of books is a problem that impacts the students’ learning. Delivery of books before or at the start is regrettably a rare phenomenon. Better not to denigrate the subject and theme contained in the pages of these books. So far as the modern pedagogy is concerned teaching aids viz map, projector, sound system, cassette etc are a must for fruitful teaching and learning procedure. Every study center faces an awful shortage of teaching aids, a major impediment to quality education.
Two types of assessment method, formative assessment and summative assessment, are used in academic institutions. Formative assessment implies an assessment for learning. Hence it has much to do with the learners’ step by step development through rectification. But Open University education is based merely on the summative assessment which does not present the learners with the scope for perfection through mistakes.
Every program is carried out through a rigidly determined number of classes which are poorly matched with the syllabus. Only 10 classes for a paper of a subject don't verily suffice to the assimilation of the learners. More often than not the handling of the syllabus by the teachers remains partial.
It is true that teaching learning is an interactive process whose prerequisites at the dedication of the learners and the teachers. And remuneration is a key-factor for sincere service for the latter. But delays in payment in most cases make service perfunctory.
Educational institutes at primary level traditionally hold extra-curricular events of varied interest namely discussion, debate recitation, acting, literary completion and cultural performance which contribute much to the students’ attitudinal changes toward its optimum level. Though this part of learning inevitably acts as supplementary to fundamental education, Open University study centers don't have any provision for this special genre of learning. Pessimism arises in our mind when this handicap keeps Open University learners behind students of the traditional education.
Researchers maintain that education brings about the harmonious development of body, mind and soul so that these can co-exist in a balanced way. Any education without physical learning is imperfect and imbalanced. But no games and sports by way of physical education take place in Open University institutes. As a consequence of it, the certificates obtained there form are no testimony to the physical knowledge or development of the certification holders.
Flaws in the Open University exam system beggar belief. Aberrations here are a by-product of moral depravity of the officials and teachers tasked with the enforcement of law and rigidity which are a must for the fairness as well as credibility of the exam. Very usually the examines in the SSC and the HSC exams blatantly adopt malpractices like using incriminating papers, benching, views sharing, urinal using tendencies etc. We cannot but criticise the teachers concerned with the conduction of exam, for these evils are perpetrated in connivance with them.
The examiners’ liberal attitude and casual tendency in examining the answer scripts must not be discounted as over marking always triggers a degeneration of education.
It is quite natural that the educational machinery of a country is certainly results in the convergence of its diverse types. Ours is an education which corresponds to the situation. But all its modalities should have a uniformity. Injustice, disaffection and abhorrence towards meritocracy have been added to discrimination and anomaly in our Open University education. The government should take a prompt initiative to upgrade the substandard education of this university to bridge the chasm between it and the traditional learning.
The writer is a lecturer of English in Moheshpur Government College, Jhenidah.