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The creation of national wealth at a fast rate commensurate with the country's need for altering its global status as a least developed one will require laying greater emphasis on human resource development. It has to be recognised that competitiveness, productivity, innovativeness, capability in management, ethical and moral values and a commitment to excellence -- all that contribute to the making of a great nation -- depend entirely on the quality of its education. It has to be done so in terms of policies and programmes that relate directly to standardisation of eduction. An increase in budgetary allocation, which has been made, could be a necessity, but that is not the only thing needed to continually upgrade and standardise education.
The current approach to poverty alleviation has been rudimentary and largely mindless as alongside other activities, successive governments have failed to give the due emphasis on standardisation of education -- the most effective tool for a decisive assault to drive away poverty on a permanent basis. If the country's micro-credit programme is world famous, why not its education? The nation must convince itself that it cannot cross the ocean of poverty with rafts made of fallen plantains. Poverty will surely revisit the country and torment its people and the succeeding generations, even if the nation succeeds in removing it now unless today's childeren are equipped with competitive education to rise up to the challenges of sharpening global competition in trade and investment, which evidently threatens to knock all non-competitive nations down.
Three things are essential to create a strong base in education: conducive environment, good teaching and standard syllabi. Congenial academic environment free of noise and choas will have to be built through concerted efforts to upgrade education. Otherwise, all endeavours for quality education will go largely in vain. Education is a valuable commodity and this should be clearly recognised as such within the ambit of a law conferring the right to a legal guardian or an affected student to sue the higher authorities like vice-chancellor, pro-vice-chancellor and members of the academic council of varrious departments of an university, for improper delivery of that comodity. The law should provide for a big amount in compensation for damage as individual liability. Perhaps, this single proposed law will be enough to exert a lot of corrective influences upon the academic scene. It will dismantle many of the man-made problems which have so far adversely impacted upon education. Quite a hard choice, but it is one that has potentials to amend a lot of wrongs that bedevil education in this country. It will also demonstrate the governmnet's commitment to ensure quality education to the children, on whom hinges the future of this nation.
It may be decided to adopt the best known world standard in education as the model. For an example, the syllabi for British O-level and A-level educaion which are treated as equivalent to the Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary Certificate respectively may be adopted at these stages in this country. Similar arrangements may be made for all courses offered by the local colleges and universities. It should be so provided that there would be inter-university exchange of answer-scripts of all final examinations for scrutiny. Quality teaching may be a problem at the lower level, but it will not be so at college and university levels. The current policy of the government for creating a pool for recruitment of teachers will help gradually overcome the problem. And the law that has been proposed will help prevent politicisation in selecting prospective teachers for being in the pool.
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