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NOW-A-DAYS it is known to all that the present era is the era of globalisation and the business is becoming dynamic day by day. But in terms of trade and commerce, education, culture, mobility of labour, the exchange of views and so on, English knowledge is badly needed. It is needless to say that in spite of having huge manpower resources, the country is lagging behind the pace of globalisation due to lack of proficiency, particularly of its younger generation in English.
Living in one part of the world, we have to contact with other people for our own needs and, in that case, English is, no doubt, the most widely used means of communication among the people all over the world. That is why people, whose language is not English, have to learn English for their own benefits. But are we conscious of it? It is pointless to say that a very few among us did give much importance to English. Now coming in touch with globalisation, each and every one is trying his/her best to learn English so that the challenges of this century can effectively be met and also a better place in a competitive world can be ensured.
The main objectives of this scribe's writing are to depict the drawbacks as well as means of learning English in the context of Bangladesh. First of all, this writer would mention the problems of learning English:
All of us know that it is very well that a good many number of English language teaching centres or institutes have mushroomed in Bangladesh. But apparently these sorts of centres or institutes are not being able to carry out their endeavours properly because they are purely commercial.
Here it is worthwhile to mention that this writer is not taking a stand against the teaching centres and the institutes. On the other hand, the vulnerability of these English teaching centres is being pointed here. One should bear in mind that commercial attitude toward education is not good. The following are the negative aspects of such an attitude:
l Inappropriateness of the methods and approaches of teaching a foreign language;
l Lack of wider application of English in the Bengali medium educational institutions;
l The fact that this language has not been geared up in an effective way in our mainstream schools and colleges;
l Frequent experiments by the National Curriculum Board;
l Lack of skilled English teachers in schools and colleges;
l Lack of sufficient intensive training facilities for the English teachers;
l Finally, the unfortunate reality that brilliant students are not coming to this noble profession (teaching) due to poor salary and lack of social status.
As the English Language is a foreign language and is being used to some extent like a second language, so that it should be taught in such a way that it is made interesting using specific materials and teaching aids.
Surprisingly, English seems to be the most critical as well as problematic subject to the students.
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The writer is Finance Manager, Bangladesh Telecom Limited
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