From 1962 to 2015

On September 17, 1962, school student Babul, bus conductor Golam Mostafa and domestic worker Waziullah sacrificed their lives in support of the movement of students. The movement initiated by students, for the cause of education in then East Pakistan in the early sixties, culminated on September 1963. Known as the 1962 Education Movement, this was also a struggle against discrimination and deprivation in education and a series of onslaughts on Bangla language, songs (particularly Tagore songs), art and culture. The immediate cause of the students' agitation was the Shareef Commision Report on education imposed by the government.

I personally participated in the movement as an activist in the capacity of General Secretary of Dhaka College Students' Union. The movement was initiated by students without any outside help. The central student leaders could not foresee that such a huge movement based on academic issues and problems faced by the students was possible. The momentum of the movement subsided when the then opposition leader H.S. Suhrawardy met East Pakistan Governor Golam Faruk and persuaded him to defer implementation of the Shareef Commission Report.

Education Day, which enters 52 years, is being observed today, in an atmosphere where private university students came out victorious in their protest against VAT. The proposal to impose 7.5 percent VAT on private universities is an unwanted and negative phenomenon. It is really unfortunate that our veteran finance minister could not take note of three crucial points: one, failure of the consecutive governments to establish the required number of public universities as per market demand; two, 63 percent of the university students belong to private universities; three, families who bear the brunt of huge expenses of their wards in private universities are not that affluent, save a few.

However, the point which has come under frequent discussion for quite some time, is that education including the higher education is a right. But it deserves serious assessment on the basis of the constitutional provision and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our constitution has not explicitly mentioned education as a right, even at the elementary level. Article 26 (1) of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 states that: "Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stage. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit". So, the proposition that higher education altogether is a matter of right does not gain smooth ground. But the fact remains that neither the government nor guardians are clear about the requirements in higher education, including its utility in relevance to the job market. However, I consider the statement made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the uselessness of admission tests for students of class 1 and her request to lessen the burden of books on young students, as appropriate evaluation and positive guidance for those who have remained unconcerned on the subject.

To me the major malaise in our existing education system lies in the lack of proper decision making and timely action, absence of pre-service and in-service training of teachers, regular updating of the syllabus in line with the global experience, mismanagement - to be more specific, politicisation of the educational institutions - and malpractices in the recruitment of teachers and disparity in education.

The challenges which continue to remain unaddressed are also many. The slow pace of growth in literacy rate, continuous decrease in the allocation for education, delay in passing the Education Law, inability to constitute a permanent Education Commission and Teachers` Recruitment Authority, are some glaring lapses. Let our authorities take stock of all this and go for remedial steps for redress. We should remember that 'a stitch in time saves nine'. 

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The writer was an organiser of the 1962 Education Movement. He is the Chairman of Initiative for Human Development ( IHD ). Email: ihdbd@yahoo.com