Md Shahjahan Khandakar
To develop the Student Quality Control Circle (SQCC), Bangladesh Society for Total Quality Management (BSTQM) and Eastern University jointly organised the 10th National Annual Quality Convention on Education (NAQCE) at the campus of Eastern University, Dhaka on October 13. The theme of the convention was 'Unlocking imagination through SQCC'. Vice Chancellor of Eastern University Professor Aminul Hoque was present as the chief guest of the opening ceremony. The convention was lunched through welcome address by Md Nuruzzaman Talukder, convener of 10th NAQCE. Two keynote papers were presented on the occasion. First one was 'Personality traits and success in higher education: A teacher's perspective' by Professor Khandoker Mahmudur Rahman and the second one was 'TQM in higher education: A search for a new insight' by Professor Abu Saleh Md Sohel-Uz-Zaman, both from United International University (UIU).
Only with quality people quality products can be produced and quality services can be delivered. Quality people are those with good and smart characters. Educational institutes are character building organisations and students are the real products. Bangladesh Society for Total Quality Management (BSTQM) tries to materialise the new approach of introducing quality circles among young students to develop their leadership personality who can produce quality products and services when they enter the job fields. Since last decade, some educational institutes of Asian countries are conducting experiments to introduce Students' Quality Circles in class rooms with an intention of preparing total quality people. During the Students' Quality Circle exercise in schools, young students identify, analyse and solve their problems happening at school and at home in a QC tolls. The Students' Quality Circle exercise ultimately develops the personality of young students. The analysis of the secondary information compiled from the proceedings of the international conventions on students' quality circles depicts that students have developed several characters that can be termed as good and smart.
Practicing SQC activities in educational institutes creates the environment needed to deliver various benefits in the personality development of students. Teachers observe that students actively participating in SQC activities develop a number of leadership traits, skills and habits such as self-discipline, self-confidence, interpersonal and public relations, empathy, social responsibility, time management skills, scientific and analytical skills, communication skills, creativity and lateral thinking habits, working habits in a team etc.
The convention included special seminars on quality concepts and tools, case study competition, poster and slogan competition and collage competition. To compete these events 29 teams took part on SQCC, 24 teams on poster and slogan and eight teams on collage competition from different schools, colleges and universities.
Md Abdul Awal, managing director of The Structural Engineers Limited was present as chief guest in the closing ceremony. He said, 'This type of competition seems very successful. If applied by all educational institutes, there will be human resources in the future who will work as entrepreneurs, managers, or workers to produce quality products and deliver quality services'. Abul Basher Khan, registrar, Eastern University, Dr M R Kabir, vice president, BSTQM and pro-vice chancellor, University of Asia Pacific, A M M Khairul Bashar, president, BSTQM also spoke on the convention.
The closing ceremony was ended through prize giving among the winners by the chief guest Md Abdul Awal.
The writer is a student of Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business studies, University of Dhaka,
shahajahankhandakar@gmail.com