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In the beginning of the article, I would like to dedicate a few lines of the poem 'Prayer’ (Prarthana) by the world poet Rabindranath Tagore – “Where the mind is without fear, Head held high for a vision clear, Of a world not fragmented, By parochial walls elated/ Where from the deepest truth the words fount, human toils for an excellence to mount, Wisdom serene not weary, in aimless search through desert dreary.” According to these lines, it should be noted that determining the nature and scope of education and knowledge is an urgent need of the present time. In the contemporary review, it can be seen that more or less discussion-observation about education is in progress in the conscious circles, but the creation of the ideals about cognitive issues is far behind.
According to Socrates, the father of philosophy, the legendary observer of modern civilization, he said the precious dress is only an outer covering. The true beauty of man is the wisdom rooted deep in the heart. He said, 'Knowledge is the best quality', 'Knowledge is power'. The explanation of the two lines remains incomplete unless the subtle division of education and knowledge is brought to proud realization. Knowledge in its true sense is the sophisticated-refined understanding of education. The education that does not make one's conscience and sense painful by the suffering of another or the bleeding of another's heart, that education is never transformed into knowledge. Since Socrates was essentially the true bearer of true knowledge, he thought it preferable to embrace death rather than succumb to falsehood. It was for this crime of spreading the truth that he had to sacrifice himself by drinking the poisonous sap of the hemlock tree.
Many of us may know that the great scholar Diogenes never rested in bed in his pursuit of knowledge. The great warrior Alexander the Great said about Aristotle, another great sage of knowledge, “Perhaps I owe my life to my birth father. What made me a real person to live in the world, my teacher Aristotle.” Raja Rammohan Roy, the hero of India's national ideology, took education as a life vow from childhood and was abandoned by his father to write a book decrying the traditional idol worship of Hinduism through research.
The father of medicine, Hippocrates, had the immortal quote - 'Life is short, but education is long. The good times are going on. Testing something is dangerous and judging is also a very difficult task. Yet we must be ready, not only for our own happiness, for others as well.' Education was the mystical path along the path of life of almost all the sages, including world-renowned intellectuals. The common proverb 'Education is the backbone of a nation' has always been an important part of civilization, not only in rhetorical terms but also in practical terms.
Education is a sound investment behind development in the developed world. The implementation of quality education without modern and up-to-date curriculum, rich research in knowledge creation, meritorious education administration and management without proper human evaluation is beyond imagination. Every level of the education system; the standard of quality education can be determined by the practice-based excellence of the wisdom and knowledge of the gifted people in primary-secondary-higher-secondary-graduate-post-graduate and higher education. Modern science-minded information-technology-thinking-creative knowledge exploration can play a fair role in the production of 'human capital' or rich human resources.
Despite not fulfilling the minimum conditions for the recruitment of teachers in higher education, the recruitment is only a name for creating its own force. In this way, the acquisition of appointment-position-medal will pave the way for the achievement of personal interests by engaging in more evil deeds of land robbers like grabbing land with evil power. The nature and scope of quality education has the potential to take on a nation-state character at some point if ongoing interaction is encouraged. In this case, the dedicated role of the honorable education minister-deputy minister-top official of the education administration is difficult, but it seems that the strategy of strict scrutiny has become very necessary. The nation will pay a heavy price in the future if there is a disruption in the creation and delivery of excellent knowledge to create a better human resource-rich environment for talented students and the state.
It is assumed that the time is fast approaching for those engaged in the trade of lobbying-lobbying, deceit, deception, fraud, unethical money-exchange, in identifying and showing the dark path, not only in the court of their own conscience, but also in the court of great anger-condemnation-hatred-indignation of the countrymen.
It is undoubtedly appreciated that a total of 34 thousand 722 crore taka has been allocated for the primary and mass education sector in the fiscal year 2023-24, giving maximum importance to primary education to eradicate illiteracy. For the successful implementation of 'Sustainable Development Goals' by 2030, i.e. "Inclusive and equitable quality education and ensuring lifelong learning for all", initiatives such as stipend scheme, Fourth Primary Education Development Program (PEDP-4), Reaching Out of School Children (ROSK) Project, implementation of many projects including school feeding program in poverty-stricken areas, demand-based government and newly nationalized primary school development centers (1st phase) and basic signature scheme in 64 districts must be commended. In 1991, the total number of primary schools in Bangladesh was 49,539. The introduction of 60 percent female teachers in government primary schools has increased the percentage of female teachers from 21.09 percent in 1991 to 64.52 percent in 2020.
As per 2020 data, this number was 1,33,002 (a total of 25 types of schools including BRAC Centres, Child Welfare and Madras/Mosque based Centres/Qaumi Madrasas). The number and rate of female enrollment in primary education has increased steadily. A comparative review shows that in 1991 the male-female enrollment ratio was 55:45 which has increased to 49:51 in 2020. The dropout rate also continued to decline to 18.8 pc in 2020 from 20.4 pc in 2015.
Meanwhile, about one and a half million people are below the poverty line, according to an analysis of unemployment, repatriation of expatriates, poverty and possible socio-economic cycles. It is necessary to scrutinize the impact of practical reflection on people's hopes for financial recovery, including health protection, in proportion to the rapid spread of the new variant of the Corona virus, the ongoing global recession, etc. In the meantime, the government has taken various measures to prevent Omicron and the educational program has been continued subject to the closure of schools and colleges considering the situation. The role of teachers-students is significant for accurate assessment of recent corona situation and more active and follow all health instructions as usual with the aim of creating public awareness.
Irrespective of every religion-caste-group-the informal source of education i.e. family-neighborhood-social environment and flowing culture-heritage-culture, practical-behavioral enrichment in generations, the fundamental truth and beautiful discovery of education is universally acknowledged. The first words of the Holy Qur'an 'read' or the inimitable words of the beloved Prophet 'Even if you go to distant China in search of knowledge', 'Lord grant knowledge' or in Sanskrit, the establishment of the great Gautama Buddha's 'sangha' are the ideals and morals of his teachings. To quote the Honorable General Secretary of Vidyasagar Society, Mohammad Abdul Hai, the ideal of the Buddha's Sangha was accepted by the great Jesus Christ as the 'Kingdom of God' as a social ideal.
Philosopher Hoffding in his English-language "Philosophy of Religion" comments on this ideal in Buddhism and Christianity, "Where Jesus inspired Europe to expand, what better comment could there be for Buddhism?" In this way, Buddhism is an epoch-making religion. In this way, through the ages, education and knowledge have become the worship of advanced civilization in the triumph of righteousness-humanity-secularism-humanity-truthfulness.
Writer: Educationist, Former Vice-Chancellor Chittagong University.
Messenger/Disha
