In the new semester that started in early July 2009, I have been given responsibilities to teach Communication Engineering and Data Communications to the students of B.Sc. Engineering in Computer Science and Engineering department in a private university in Dhaka city. The interesting thing is - the students are employed in organizations like the private firms, government, semi-government or non government organizations (NGOs). They have completed their four years diploma courses in relevant subjects from private or government polytechnic institutes. Their classes both theoretical and practical are held in the evening starting from six PM.
I am also responsible for teaching computing to the students of MBA who are employed at different responsible positions in government and non government offices. The job status are not similar in either discipline. Some work very hard in factories or some places where job situations or financial remunerations are not attractive. Many of them travel a long way by bus from their work places and they seem very tired when they enter the class room. As a senior professor with academic and industrial experience at home and abroad, I understand their psychology and their problems. Some are so tired that it is difficult to draw their attentions towards the topics I lecture on. This situation reminds me the conditions of thirty years ago when I used to work abroad in an electronic industry and attend classes in the evening. In those days technology was not that developed.
Though the students work hard and spend main part of their earnings for respective university degree, they are still very happy because they have got scopes of higher education. Just two decades ago there was no chance of higher education for the diploma holders from the polytechnic institutes in Bangladesh. They are more interested in a degree than anything else. The reason is - B.Sc. Engineering degree will enable them to get better job or promotion in the work place. The situation is also same for students of business administration.
It is a good sign that the rate of higher education at different disciplines are increasing day by day. But the capacity of the universities is not enough to accommodate them all. More than half million students are coming out every year passing higher education from the boards of general education, Madrasa and technical education. Every body has the right to get education including higher education. But in real practice, the rural students are seriously deprived from higher education. The reasons are very much related to distance, finance and time. Clearly speaking, the most universities are located in Dhaka city or some divisional towns where the guardians from rural communities cannot afford the expenses for their kids. Being engaged in some activities, many interested students cannot spare time for higher education from rural communities as well.
At the present age higher education is encouraged in most countries in the world. Even in the country like Thailand 50% students are getting scope of higher education and the number rises to 90% in Korea. What benefit will it bring for us if 100% students are given tertiary level education? The answer is - the world is moving towards a complex and unknown direction. We observe change almost each and every sector. Some changes are bringing welfare for the society but others are making unlimited problems that are very difficult to solve in traditional or local processes. High intellectuals of the global society predict that only highly skilled and well qualified scientists will be able to solve the global problems that are being created due to abnormal growth of technology. As such we need highly qualified and skilled man power for solving the unwanted problems. Now we need to find out how to reach the scope of higher education particularly science based technology education to all living in urban or rural including remote areas.
Technology has made things possible that were not possible even 100 years ago. We need to take initiative for which cooperation and assistance from the government is crucial. The developed countries have already taken the initiatives and recently African countries are trying to implement the program. The recent two events held in France at UNESCO headquarter and Maastricht in Netherlands has made things clear to the participants. My participation at the Maastricht event gave me an immense opportunity to learn how to start the project of enabling all for higher education from any where in the world. The event also gave me opportunities for connecting the world famous talents and experts who made the innovation effective for the whole world. The innovation is transforming the traditional university campus based education to home based education. If the project is started in Bangladesh, there will be only one university for administrative purposes like admission and examinations. As a senior citizen and an academic, I believe this project will be highly effective for Bangladesh for various reasons. The respective ministry and the concerned authorities are therefore suggested and requested to look into the matter as soon as possible.
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