So, at last a voice was raised in parliament for resignation of the education minister. Here is a minister in whom faith was reposed that he would be able to pull the country's education sector out of the morass. Indeed, he has been instrumental in introducing a number of modern methods to the secondary and higher secondary education. Some of them have yielded discernible positive results. But at the same time, it must be admitted that a few of these good moves have backfired mostly because the cart was put before the horse. What simply is lacking is a comprehensive plan of actions to reform the education system. A few of the experts on the reform committee have expressed their surprise and disappointment at the omission and commission by the bureaucracy that retains the right to endorse or reject suggestions. For example, the public examination now held for class VIII was nowhere suggested by the expert committee.
Now why has the demand for the education minister's resignation been made? It is over the unstoppable question paper leaks. The minister's much vaunted claim that stringent action would be taken against anyone found involved in leaking question papers of the on-going Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations has proved ludicrous. Those involved have thrown an open challenge to the minister and every other authority concerned in the country. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) also has no answer to this problem. This is hard to believe that the country has become hostage to the leak mongers. This country has produced a good number of techno experts in the ICT sector. Have some of those been approached to come up with a remedy? Some passionate campaigners against question-paper leak have already been claiming that this pernicious problem can be fixed by fortifying question papers without much hassles. Why then are they not invited to do the job for the education ministry?
Much of the blame goes to the structured questions and the multiple choice questions (MCQ). The majority of teachers themselves cannot prepare such questions. This means their clarity about the subject they teach is next to nothing. When this is the case with teachers, some students and guardians will lose confidence in the system of education and be on the lookout to procure leaked papers for money. The cancerous growth has now spread to the lowest level of education. With the introduction of local versions of public examinations at primary level for class II to IV of all primary schools under an upazila on the same set of question papers, the malpractice made its inroad this year into primary education. It will become worse.
When secondary and higher secondary education in the country have been turned into a farce by rendering those nearly cent per cent dependent on coaching or self teaching instead of class teaching, this is bound to happen. Closure of coaching centres three days before the start of the public examination is no recipe. There is need for making commercially-run coaching centres redundant by ensuring quality class lessons. Sure enough, there may be laggards who may need special attention but this has to be within the system. Why should the best crop of students in class also run from one coaching centre to another or learn from one after another private tutor? The malady lies there. It needs to be cured first in order to bring discipline to examinations.