Roadblocks to achieving MDG

strategic points to destabilize the country, rise of extremist group like JMB with a call for jihad to establish their agenda of radical faith. Away from politics, economic expectation turned into economic disappointment as price hike of fuel and essential commodities took a very strong hold on all business. Precisely speaking, the world outside Bangladesh has changed so much with economic liberalization jumpstarting the economies of these countries. But there is a disturbing corollary here in this country: scam, stunning apathy on part of the administration to calamities, rapidly deteriorating national infrastructure of schools, healthcare, road, power, railways and civic amenities with consequent shrinking of investment climate.

One might suspect that there are men in the policy making cell of the coalition government who are aping the distinguished scientist Sir Issac Newton. Newton found that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The coalition political scientists seem to believe that, "if you do nothing, nothing will happen to you." .The past years have seen a pathetic lack of leadership and clumsy attempts to plug the breaches with whatever one can lay one's hands upon -- bricks, wood, cloth or with high promises.

But rhetoric can not fill the stomach. What the average people does care about is governance, the sort of governance that would make a real difference to his life. Precisely true, successive governments were unable to provide this.

In rural areas of the country there is desperate poverty and it's mainly because of bad politics and uncaring governments. Persons in authority in the political spectrum often say that they have to spread their party links at the grassroots level forgetting or even ignoring the fact that those at the bottom of the layer have failed to eke out a living or manage any type of work to stay afloat. Political philosophy, ideology or party slogan seems hollow outburst to them. Allow me an example. Just a week before I was riding a rickshaw to cover a small distance from my residence and the rickshaw puller I came across immediately after stepping down from the house was a boy, barely 14 years old. My wife was reluctant to take a ride on his rickshaw considering him too young and weak to have a grip on the road. But on my insistence, she agreed. Frankly speaking, I had chosen him to have a conversation with him as to why he had taken up such a gruelling job at such a tender age. The boy came from Gaibandha. Battered by poverty and deserted by his father after his second marriage, this young boy Fazal along with his sick mother and younger sister moved to Dhaka to eke out a living. The question looms large in the mind of sensible citizenry as to why Fazal and his likes should be engaged in such a gruelling job at so young an age when he should be in a school learning at least the Three R's and should have at least a square meal a day?

As someone who believes that Bangladesh will be a developed country someday if we could manage to make every Bangladeshi literate, I seize any opportunity to bring up the subject. Unhappily, the governments since the post-liberation days, leaving aside the Pakistan dominated period, treated education, especially primary education with such contempt and neglect that has made us one of the most illiterate countries of the world. That's the reason why Fazal and their ilk are pulling rickshaws, grinding stones and bricks, picking food residues and plastics from road side garbage dumps. Nowhere in the world you will see children of Fazal's age engaged in such gruelling jobs to eke out a living. In most of the districts of north and south western part of Bangladesh children of poor parents are not going to school, not because they don't like to go but their poor parents won't let them and utilize them to supplement the family budget.

In light of such a horrifying situation, the Prime Minister addressed the U.N. Summit attended by more than 170 heads of state and government to project the country's position in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Unhappily, Bangladesh has fallen far behind the UN summit declaration in 2003 on MDG on eight strategic aspects and it has prepared a wish list to achieve the target by 2015.The wish list includes bringing down the percentage of people earning less than a dollar per day to half the present number, increasing enrolment in primary education to hundred per cent, reducing gender gap and gender discrimination, empowering women in a bid to reduce infant mortality within the age range 0-5 by a two- third of the present number, controlling HIV/AIDS and preventing death from Malarial fever and reverse environmental degradation and ensuring supply of safe and clean drinking water and develop global partnership in the overall development programme of the country. Despite the fact the report card about enrolment in primary schooling is quite reassuring at least on paper: enrolment has scaled up from 73% to 82% in recent time and literacy rate up to class V climbed to 80%, the actual picture is still very depressing , especially the male/female schooling ratio remains abysmally disproportionate at 64:36.

On the other hand, in the mad rush for statistics the country has lost sight of the importance of the quality of education imparted at the primary stage. To travel through the northern and south- western districts of Bangladesh is to understand in all its horror the extent of our population problem. In village after village you see that it is the poorest, most illiterate women who have the most children. The conditions in which these children and women live are often worse than those in which animals live. This in a country in which many are basking in the glow of riches, driving pajeros in the streets and spending lavishly in weddings and birth day party.

There is something sickening about Bangladesh going into the 21st century with ambitious projects to achieve MDG, but also with the largest number of hungry and illiterate people. Isn't it possible to shame our political leaders, especially those now holding the reins of administration into doing something? With child malnutrition still remaining the highest in the global perspective and 35 lakh children in the age group 05-06, not going to school as one research finding by UNNAYAN ANNESHAN, a NGO says, Bangladesh will face a daunting task to achieve the second target of the MDG. If it's so that the government is patriotic and committed to protect the lives of the poorest of the poor, then why shouldn't it be possible to intervene and reverse the worsening trend when government agencies entrusted with the job could not rise up to people's expectation.

Precisely speaking, there can be no empowerment without literacy. The visible scenario in the primary schooling is: dilapidated schools, demotivated teachers, irresponsible management and powerless parents. A vicious cycle where hopelessness breeds further hopelessness. In a word, the performance in the primary level of schooling is quite dismal. But it has to be said ad nauseam that literacy is the key to development, healthcare and jobs. Government statistics say that there is an increase in literacy rates- but it is so slow and nonvisible that the absolute numbers of illiterates keeps rising every year. Even Sri Lanka, battered by ethnic conflict for more than a decade has done a better job of educating its people. As for female literacy, sub-Saharan Africa fares better. If the numbers are distressing, even worse is an all-round deterioration in the quality of education offered at the primary stage of schooling In fact, the quality of our rural schools does not inspire much hope. In most of the schools, the Headmaster is not watchful about what the teachers are doing, moreover in most cases the Headmaster and teachers don't have the knowledge, skill, motivation, personality, and zeal to inspire a student towards acquiring a spirit to learn. Coupled with these, the ludicrous content of the textbooks that are most unappealing and uninspiring has made the whole primary schooling a messy and futile exercise Even after discounting the drop-outs, those entering the secondary stage of schooling can not assimilate the subject matter because of the weak background he brings with him. As an experienced and dedicated Headmaster said, "along with quantity and spread of education, quality has not kept pace. On the contrary, there has been a shocking decline of standards."

As far as the government is concerned it is statistics about the spread of literacy that count. But if education is a means to learn skills and transform lives then a substandard education is of little use. If 90 percent of the children in the country have read up to class v and then 60 per cent are lost in the wilderness as dropouts, then what purpose the investment and exercise will serve? With such smattering of knowledge either in Bangla, English or Arithmetic , which organization either government or private will recruit them for their knowledge-based work? That is why good schools are now considered the best incentive for spreading education. A poor family even will not send its children to school to give a bureaucrat the satisfaction of adding them to a literacy statistic. They will do so only if there are some benefits in that education.

The real problem is the government's lack of priorities, in terms of supervision, monitoring and involvement in elementary education where it should be focusing all its energies and too much experimentation with higher education starting from the secondary stage. The result has been disastrous in the sense that we have brought about changes through administrative orders without thinking about the need for qualified teachers, standard textbooks and adequate infrastructural facilities.

From teacher appointment to textbook selection there should be no scope for the politicians and bureaucrats to interfere. All educationists agree that political influence peddling in teacher appointment and politicization of teachers are largely responsible for the rot in our education system starting from the primary to the university level of education.

The best news at the beginning of the millennium is that even the poorest of the country's poor want to educate their children. We can't be blind to the changes occurring outside the borders of Bangladesh. Several innovative education schemes like DPEP (District Primary Education Scheme) setting new benchmarks which are partially financed by the World Bank now extend to 176 districts in 15 states in India. In Karnaataka where the scheme covers 16 of the 28 districts, one lakh vacancies for school teachers have been filled in five years

Our failure to delve deep into this core problem and grapple with it properly might explode into a catastrophic situation. This will mean turning the country into a snow-capped volcano, pretty and calm on top but serious problems seething within. A silent revolution, nay an explosive situation resulting from simmering discontent that is brewing up may in no time throw us all in the web of danger. To explain it more clearly, socialism may have failed but yearning for social justice rings true in every heart. Political leaders and people belonging to all shades of opinion must wake up to the fact that the time for reckoning has arrived. With 35 lakh children wandering the countryside and another four lakh floating on the streets of Dhaka city without proper food, clothing and schooling facilities, the goal of bringing the number of people earning less than a dollar per day to 29 per cent by 2015 will remain a far cry.

Drug addiction and drug trafficking among youths are eating into the vitals of the nation. Many of these disgruntled youngsters are going to resort to unethical and illegal means of earning a living, sometimes as hired killers even, as recent reports suggest, because of lack of opportunities of doing any thing else. How unfortunate the situation is that the saddest casualties are children in this trade. We have a whole generation of human beings in the country who could be so productive and helpful but are being lost The way the whole country is plunging into chaos because of the apathy and neglect shown towards the vital segment of the society, the cream of the whole population signals a potential calamity for the nation. The government must wake up to the stark reality that this vulnerable group of population needs care and sustenance to ward off the disasters stalking the nation.

Md. Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET.