QUALITY EDUCATION: HOW TO ENSURE IT IN BD

Quality education has become the most talked-about topic in the field of
education in our country and in the global arena as well. Is there any
concrete answer to the question ‘what is quality education’? Though
different educationists define it in different ways, they indicate some
particular but common things which together talk about quality education.
Quality education means teaching not just facts, but how to determine
those facts. It involves critical thinking, learning to work with others and
work independently, a broad range of subjects. Quality education does not
necessarily mean just to score higher grades in public examinations. When
a student fails to acquire the social skills but obtains a high grade in the
examination it does not talk about quality education.
Quality education talks of a set of skills necessary in our individual,
academic and social life and academic attainment is only a portion of that
set of skills. Quality education ensures how to face the realities of life
applying the things learners learn in their academic life. The values that the
school passes on to students, both boys and girls, are as important as the
official curriculum. This learning helps equip students to exercise their
rights and overcome obstacles on their path to living the lives they choose.

Most governments act to protect consumers in the education market by

ensuring that institutions are properly accredited and the qualifications they
award are valid and are recognized as of being of ‘quality.’ However, the
manner in which institutions and degrees are accredited varies a great
deal. In the USA, accreditation and quality assurance is effectively self-
regulated by the educational institutions and faculty through their control of
accreditation agencies, although the government does have some
‘weapons of enforcement’, mainly through the withdrawal of student
financial aid for students at any institution that the U.S. Department of
Education deems to be failing to meet standards. In many other countries,
government has the ultimate authority to accredit institutions and approve
degrees, although in countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom,

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this is often exercised by arm’s length agencies appointed by government,
but consisting mainly of representatives from the various institutions within
the system. These bodies have a variety of names, but Degree Quality
Assurance Board is a typical title. In recent years, some regulatory
agencies such as the United Kingdom’s Quality Assurance Agency for
Higher Education have adopted formal quality assurance processes.
Higher education providers assure themselves that everyone involved in
teaching or supporting student learning is appropriately qualified, supported
and developed.
In Bangladesh perspective what we actually mean by ‘quality education’?
Does it mean studying in a cadet college, or Rajuk College or
Viqarunnessa School or Ideal School or Notre Dame College and getting
an A+ or golden A+ in the public examinaiton? Next question comes do
these institutions impart quality education?’ These institutions actually don’t
help bloom the sleeping talents of the learners. They just choose some
students among thousands through their set academic and examination
oriented tests which test mainly the memory of the students. The students
of these institutions could be made creative and be given quality education
in the real sense of the term. But they are taught particular type of things
from their curriculum following the syllabus. Students are not made
habituated to answer the questions beyond the established tradition. Any
deviation of developing questions or any change in any item bring about
serious disaster to the students’ results.
Quality education will teach them the way of doing things, solving problems
of the similar kind they meet in the classroom. On the basis of the things
they learn in the classroom will help them solve and address the similar
kind of problems. But most students cannot do it. When thing is like this, it
means they have not received quality education. If we consider their
linguistic ability, we see they neither can write good Bengali nor can they
speak and write good English even after getting very good grades in public
examinations. Their listening ability in English is awfully poor and in terms
of reading, they hardly understand anything beyond their textual items
which they practice umpteen times. If they could answer and do well in the
examination facing the questions beyond the tradition, we could tell that
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they have received quality education. And learning some absolutely
necessary social skills is an integral part of quality education. A student
with good grades often does not know how to speak before the public, how
to speak with the elders, how to behave with a stranger. When they learn
these basic skills, we can say he/she has got quality education. If we ask
our students ‘what is the name of the capital of Bangladesh’ and the
answer is ‘Dhaka’.
Does it show any creativity of our students? We just give them full marks
and certify that he/she is a brilliant student. If we could ask them why
Dhaka has been made the capital of Bangladesh instead of Chittagong, this
question must employ students thoughts and they will strive to find the
answer of their own which will be different from each other. In the same
way, if ask them which year Bangladesh achieved independence, the
answer is in 1971.If we ask why we achieved independence would
necessitate the critical thinking of our students. Again, what is the other
name of Dhaka, the answer is ‘Jahangirnagar’. If we can ask them why the
alternative name of Dhaka is Jahangirnar you think, it will call for working
their brain. Interesting enough, we never set these kind of questions in our
public examinations even in the name of ‘creative questions’. Quality
education will certainly make the students creative and develop their
thinking process.
Then the known and famous (?) institutions prepare the already selected
students to obtain ‘high grades’ in the public examinations. They obtain
good grades facing mostly the questions type mentioned in the previous
para. These students get enrolled in medical colleges, engineering
universities, agricultural and general universities and people believe that
the schools and colleges they belonged to offered them ‘quality education’.
These selected students become doctors, engineers, agriculturalists and
take masers’ degree.

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They again have to undergo a ‘civil service test’ which is also not analytical.
When they work as doctors, they know how to diagnose diseases and
make prescriptions. To become a doctor, giving mental support to the
patients, talking to them sympathetically are the pre-conditions to give
medicinal treatment. Our doctors never learn these things.
Engineers know how to make roads, buildings, machineries but they never
get the education that ‘taking bribes’ is a dishonest task. It harms the
society and country. When engineers and other professionals fail to ensure
these things, we can say they have not got ‘quality education’. Many
uneducated people who have never been to educational institutions can
acquire some skills through practice, getting involved and being
apprentices to others.
If they commit crime like taking bribes or cheating customers, we may not
have many questions about their dealings as they never attended higher
educational intuitions. But the students who enjoyed state help and favour
for many years to become doctors, engineers or other professionals, refuse
to give help to the poor countrymen and the state and some do it in
exchange of hush money. Obviously we can say these students have not
got ‘quality education’. Attaining high academic grades without learning the
social skills and developing human qualities does not talk about ‘quality
education’.

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