Academic knowledge is not enough for getting a job

With the kind of education students are receiving from the educational institutions in Bangladesh, they are not achieving skills required for employment, a recent study has found this information.  

This survey was jointly run by private organizations such as BRAC, BIGD and BRAC University. This survey was conducted on more than 4000 young people aged between 15 and 35 years all over Bangladesh. The survey revealed that only 16% of these students are confident in computer and English language. Besides, only one-fifth of the participants think that their education will be helpful in getting a job.

Image Source

Nimmi Nusrat Hamid, one of the researchers of this survey, said, “One-third of Bangladesh’s population is young people, who will represent the country in the future.”

“So, to know the needs or problem areas of the young people and which areas they should work in to the best of their interest – this is quite a timely research to bring out these issues.

She told BBC Bangla, “It is important to know the opinions of the young people regarding what are the areas they are good at and what issues they are most concerned with.”

While conducting the research, it was seen that most of the young people are not aware of their own needs, for example, if someone wants to be an entrepreneur he/she does not know where to get the capital from, and it is same in jobs too, she revealed.

In that case, Miz Hamid raised a question about the prevailing education system of the country.

He said, “The education that the youth society of Bangladesh is receiving at schools and colleges is not preparing them well for their professional career.

“It is because our education system largely lacks in skills. And then, there are not enough jobs fitting the skills they are obtaining from education institutions.” 

“Then our youth society does not have that skills necessary to do well in the existing jobs”, said the researcher. Skills that are required include operating computers, English language skills, or vocational skills.

According to research report, only 14% of the young people have got vocational training. Considering this level of skill, only 24% youth are skilled- that means they are confident about their computing skills. But when it comes to women, only 10% are skilled. On the other hand, 21% young men are ahead in English skills while the rate of this linguistic skill for women is only 14%. That means, women are far behind in terms of skills.

This gap is more visible in villages than in cities. The main reason for this is said to be the under-developed quality of school education. Moreover, schools where standard education is given are out of reach for many.

The study has shown that young people who are still studying, their main goal is to go abroad after the end of the study. It is because they are not hopeful about their career prospect at home. The study has shown that those who are relatively less educated mostly want to migrate to UAE and Malaysia. And those who are skilled in English language and computer, they want to go to countries like Australia and USA.

Having no role models for the youth is at the center of their leaving the country. At least 54% of the students think so. Miz Hamid opines that the students need to be made more skilled with enhanced government networking. 

“Government job is everyone’s target. But outside government sector, the young people have many other potential career opportunities which they have to be given.”

“One of the reasons for young people becoming frustrated is that they think there is no one to listen to them. But these young people will lead us.”

Source- https://www.bbc.com/bengali/news-49107727?ocid=socialflow_facebook&fbclid=IwAR2FrNA3WxGcbknPWTWJJvOFiYEikYKWOTHNDF-whHA0b--w3i12OTy588E

Workplace is being shrunk because of the lack of English skill

Our policy-makers always talk about the importance of English but there is no initiative to start English medium education at the government level. Though some private English medium schools are providing standard education, less than 1% of the students are studying in these schools. The current English language teaching system fails to achieve expected result. As a result, we cannot develop large pool of workers who are skilled in English. It is also shrinking the job-opportunity of our youth and the number of unemployed youth with poor English skill increasing day by day. Multinational companies, freelance outsourcing, no where we are achieving our expected outcome. Failing in international arena, more and more youth are looking for jobs in the overcrowded domestic market thus creating huge pressure. Meanwhile the private English medium schools are charging exorbitant amount of tuition fees which is becoming unbearable for people with limited income. Despite their best wishes, families with limited income do not think of enrolling their children in these English medium schools.

Image Source

University-level admission examinations reveal the pitiful condition of English language proficiency of our students. Only 2 out of 40,565 students who sat for the arts department admission examination in the University of Dhaka in 2014 obtained adequate marks to become eligible to study in the English Department. In 2016, 90% students failed in English in the admission test in “Ga” unit. Educationists have said, “Proficiency in English is not being achieved even after the end of 17 years of education life in our education system. Though half a million young people finishes higher education, they are facing adversity in their workplace because of the lack of English skills. 47% graduates are not getting job. If there were English skill, workplace would have been expanded outside the country. If English medium could start in government schools then large population of the country would come under English education.” According to Education Ministry, there are almost four crores of students from pre-primary till higher secondary. In 146 registered private English medium schools, only 79,000 students are studying, which is 20% of the total students.

As per Bangladesh English Medium School Association, the number of such type of schools in our country is almost 350. The number of students is around 3 lakhs. If we take everything into consideration, the percentage of students studying in English medium (foreign and Bangladeshi curriculum) is 0.75%. Less than 1 percent of the students are getting opportunity to study in English medium giving high salary. But out of 1 crore and 73 lakh students in total, 1 crore and 30 lakh (75%) students are studying in government schools throughout the country. Hossain Zillur Rahman, education adviser of the former caretaker government, said to Bangladesh Pratidin, “English is not only a language; it is now seen as a technology. It is an acknowledged medium in international communication. But our policy makers have made the definition of one kind of patriotism by saying English foreign language. As if focusing on English will diminish the prestige of Bengali language. It is the trick of aspect. We will give priority to Bengali on our own responsibility.”

Because of the trick of the aspect, general people are being deprived. Elite class and policy makers are making their child fully proficient in English. General people are being deprived. Country is suffering. If English version was started beside Bengali medium in government schools gradually, meritorious students in poor family could study. But, in this case, only announcement will not be enough. Many new teachers will be required. They will have to be made efficient. For this, they will have to make plan and they will have to do all the things that are necessary. Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam, former teacher of the University of Dhaka, said, “Due to lack of English skills, we are sustaining loss in international court. It would be better if English version were started in government educational institutions. But good teachers will not be found with the present salary structure. And if we go to do it without any long-term plan, it will be reversal. There will be project, money will be spent, but it will be of no use. In the name of training, many people will travel to different countries. After returning from training, they will be transferred to another ministry. One percent of the allocation will not be spent in education. For this reason, we will have to do long-term plan with overall education sector. Primary till class eight, secondary till class twelve and higher education from after- we will have to do plan in this way. College education is an ineffective system. It should have withdrawn. I have edited and submitted a strategic paper about higher education. Now, it is possible to make radical change in the education system of the country if we can move forward coordinately, making primary and secondary strategy paper. But here educationists do not run education sector. That is the problem. For this reason, education policy making in 2010 is in cold storage for nine years.”

Source: https://www.bd-pratidin.com/last-page/2019/07/04/436800

The awful scenario of mathematics and language education in the primary schools in Bangladesh

A survey on the standard of education in Bangladesh conducted by the government is saying that students of the primary schools are getting only 40% of their required education from schools.  

In this research on evaluation of the students, a fearful scenario about the standard of the government primary schools has come out.  

90% students of the fifth grade have low standard mathematics skills. On the other hand, 35% students of the third grade have low standard in Bangla language education.

Image Source

In Bangladesh, the number of government primary school is 63,600. The number of students is two crore and nineteen lakh. As a result, education researchers said, “There is a close relation between the education standard of these schools and the standard of the country’s overall education.”

Rasheda K Chowdhury, the leading education researcher of Bangladesh, said to BBC that the standard of education and insufficiency in the primary level education is very alarming.” She said that a survey conducted by them in 2015 has shown that students are being depended on coaching for not getting education in school.”

Md Gias Uddin Ahmed, Additional Secretary of the ministry of Primary and Mass Education, said to Rakib Hasnat of BBC Bangla that they have accepted the result of this research and are thinking deeply about the ways to solve this problem.

He mentioned that they are thinking of organizing various competitions in the primary level to improve the standard of mathematics education.  

But one primary teacher told BBC that the lack of teachers is the main reason for this situation.   

Fatima Sharmin, a teacher of Amtali Staff Welfare Govt. Primary School, said, “There are 10 teachers for 529 students in her school.”

That means, one teacher has to manage more than 50 students on an average where this number is not supposed to be more than 30 in the government policy. This scenario is worse in rural areas.

“The number of student is very high, and on top of that they come with a different level of intelligence. So, we cannot give necessary attention to everyone. As a result, many low-intelligence students are being lost.”

“During training, we are taught to take preparation before taking class, but where is the time?”

Although the present government has paid attention to increasing the number of students and stop them from dropping out, the fear about the standard of education is increasing by day.

Source:

https://www.bbc.com/bengali/news-42223538?fbclid=IwAR1GJSqzMvzZkHbFtF_OS0kqLUmn3Y_SSELwXfvcEoYlEReXA2rzeVx1G30

Literary Criticism: Nature and function of poetry according to Coleridge

It is without a doubt that “Biographia Literaria” of S.T. Coleridge is one of the finest books on literary criticism in English literature. Coleridge’s personal life was very tragic, but he had great knowledge of literature and there are few critics equally talented in the history of English literature. There is a history behind the creation of “Biographia Literaria” which we should know if we are to discuss it. In fact, “Biographia Literaria” was written in answer to the famous essay “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads”. In 1798, Wordsworth and Coleridge jointly published Lyrical Ballads. This book started the Romantic era in the history of English literature. At that time, two friends shared different opinions on different matters of poetry. 

In his essay, Wordsworth said some important things about poetry. His first major statement was that there was not much difference between poetry and prose. We might think that they are same. Wordsworth emphasized that there is not much difference between the language of prose and the language of poetry and they are quite close. Coleridge did not agree with this statement and he clearly mentioned it in his essay “Biographia Literaria”. Hence, it is important when we will discuss about Coleridge’s view on nature and function of poetry.

Before Romantic era, there was neo-classical era in English literature. Poets, writers and critics of this era considered works of the Greek and Roman poets as standard and followed their rules. Many famous Greek and Roman poets and philosophers including Aristotle believed that the main function of poetry is to depict the truth but Coleridge did not support this view. He believed that the main function of poetry is to entertain the reader.  A reader should find pleasure or joy upon reading poetry. This matter is very important and while discussing about the function of poetry of Coleridge, we should keep it in mind as well about Neo-classical idea.

Coleridge said that poetry and prose are entirely different subjects. At first, the two may appear close for both of them actually work with words. We use words while writing prose and poetry. However, the sequence of words in poetry is different from that of prose. According to Coleridge, the function of poetry is different from that of prose. The main function of prose is to present the truth but that is not the same with poetry.

Coleridge believed that the main function of poetry is to provide pleasure to its reader not to present the truth. Poetry may represent the truth but that is not very important. Coleridge serious discussed on this issue in his essay “Biographia Literaria”. Coleridge said that if we look into scientific prose then we would see that they only present what happened but imagination has a major role in poetry. The main difference between poetry and prose lies in the use of imagination in these two forms. Except novel, there is not much use of imagination in prose. During the time of Coleridge, novel became very popular but many considered poetry equally important.

Coleridge emphasized on the presence of beauty and joy in poetry. Through he tried to say that poetry is an entirely different matter. Wordsworth’s definition of poetry is different from that of Coleridge. There difference in opinion surprises us for they were the pioneers of the Romantic Movement in England.

Literary Criticism: Do you also think that epics and novels can only represent the whole truth in literature?

‘Tragedy and the Whole Truth’ by Aldous Huxley is an important text in the literary criticism of English literature. The text discusses two very important issues: one is ‘tragedy’ and the other is ‘whole truth’. We all know more or less about tragedy and many tragic plays and tragic dramas have become world famous. We can take Oedipus as an example. Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Hamlet could also come to our mind. Whole truth, on the other hand, can be said to be a fairly new concept because before Huxley, very few people mentioned about this issue.

So, first of all, we need to know what Huxley tires to mean by introducing the term ‘whole truth’. By ‘whole truth’, he implies a kind of truth which is ‘super truth’. It is not ‘two and two makes four’ or ‘the earth travels around the sun’ type of truth or fact. Rather, in respect to literature, expressing every detail means whole truth. We may feel that giving every detail of everything in literature is a modern idea, but it has existed since ancient times. Besides portraying every detail, whole truth also brings forward the reality. Huxley finds such an example of whole truth in a description taken from Homer’s Odyssey. One day, Odysseus and his companions saw a monster swallowing six of their companions alive. Having seen that, other terrified companions moved to a safe place. After reaching ashore, they first looked for a safe place for themselves, instead of crying for their lost companions; and once they got a secured place, they first cooked food and filled their stomach and then started shedding tears for their friends before their exhausted bodies succumbed to sleep. This is a good example of whole truth. Many of us may think that what was the need of showing it and how could they eat food without crying when they saw that the demon chewed and devoured their companions. But Homer was realistic and knew that first they would need food and the question of crying would come later.

Over the ages, authors wrote about the concept of whole truth and Huxley tried to show that. However, whole truth cannot be manifested in tragedy because in tragedy, we shed all the lights on a fragmented part or sorrows and pains of life. So, there is a difference between tragedy and whole truth. Whole truth has been largely popular at present age. As a result, whole truth is perfect for novel.

Two types of literature could gain popularity in portraying whole truth. Epic should come first and here we can consider Homer as the best example. The advantage with epic is that it is, by nature, very long in size and so easier to depict whole truth. If it is a 200-page epic, the author can reveal every detail. Portraying whole truth does not only mean expressing all the details, but manifesting the reality as well. In respect to epic, an incident can be portrayed from each and every angle and all the related elements can be shown perfectly.

Another literary form can successfully show the whole truth and that is novel. Same thing can be said about novel. Novel is very long and most of the novels are around 100 pages. So, an author can beautifully present each and every detail in a novel. Another notable characteristic of novel is that the large span of life can be extensively illustrated in this form of literature. So, novel is ideal for whole truth.

Looking at other literary forms other than epic and novel, we can find drama. Even though drama, especially tragic drama, is long, whole truth can be successfully portrayed because tragedy is built on a serious setting and its sole objective is to direct it towards the end. So, the serious mood of tragedy can be diluted at the introduction of light-hearted materials. If that happens, then perhaps many audiences would not like tragedy that much. I do not see many instances of portraying whole truth in tragedy.

Poem is a very popular form of literature. Depicting whole truth in poem is fairly hard too. The problem in relation to poem is that in poetry, emotion is presented through a few lines or stanzas and there is little scope of portraying every detail in poem. Poets often try to present universal or timeless ideas. To do that or present something serious, it becomes tough to focus on whole truth in poetry. Long poems are often written in epic form and I already mentioned that epics are perfect for beautifully depicting whole truth. However, irrespective of literary forms, be it epic or tragedy or novel, the focus of the author is the most important thing. If he or she wants to put emphasis on whole truth, only then it will become possible to portray whole truth. On the other hand, if the whole truth is not given importance then whole truth cannot be shown even in novel.

Literary Criticism: Definition of poem and poetry and the explanation of the poetic process by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

‘Biographia Literaria’ is a book where Samuel Taylor Coleridge illustrates his ideas about poetry. Mainly, it was Coleridge’s response to William Wordsworth’s ‘Preface to the Lyrical Ballads’. Coleridge and Wordsworth had differences in their poetic principles, even though they were close friends. They laid the foundation of the Romantic age of English literature together, but their ideas about poetry were not quite similar. We can see more of these differences in the book ‘Biographia Literaria’.

In his book ‘Preface to the Lyrical Ballads’, William Wordsworth puts forth a number of new ideas which provoked thoughts among the contemporary litterateurs. Wordsworth wanted to say that poetry should be written in such a language that would be comprehensible to the general people and its subject matters should represent the daily life of common men. He also states that nature should be considered with sheer importance while writing poem and a poet should describe nature in his or her poetry. Besides, Wordsworth also provides his own theory on how a poet should write poetry or poetic process.

Coleridge reflected on some of the issues quite differently and it is perhaps down to the fact that Coleridge was one of the best philosophers of that age. So, not only was he a renowned poet, but at the same time, he was a philosopher and his philosophical ideologies influenced in different European countries. In Biographia Literaria, we can see that Coleridge mixes philosophy with literature. That is the reason he puts so much emphasis on ‘imagination’ and tries to signify imagination in everything.

Coleridge sees poem and poetry differently and the primary difference between the two is not apparent in Biographia Literaria. By poem, we can understand a particular poem, while poetry, in general, means collection of all poems. Coleridge also defines these two terms somewhat similarly. However, he associates a poet’s thoughts, feelings and imagination with poetry. That means, poetry represents the overall identity of a poet, while poem is just an individual poem.

To Coleridge, poetic genius is the most important thing when it comes to poetic process. A poet must utilize his poetic genius and imagination. Coleridge comes up with two different imaginations- primary and secondary imaginations. With the use of imagination, poets can come up with different new ideas and poetry gets elevated as well.

Both Wordsworth and Coleridge had immense contribution to the popularity of Romantic age or Romantic Movement. Coleridge delicately introduced the influence of imagination. Looking at his poetry and the subject matter of his poetry, we can understand the importance of imagination. Coleridge was a poet of great caliber and his Biographia Literaria not only did establish him as a poet, but also introduced his identity as a great literary critic of English literature.

Literary Criticism: What are “chemically pure” and “chemically impure” in literature?

Aldous Huxley’s Tragedy and the Whole Truth is a very important text in literary criticism as he has created a new window for the readers with this piece of writing. An idea has existed from the ancient time that tragedy or tragic drama is the best form of literature. So, we always consider Sophocles' Oedipus or Shakespeare’s Hamlet or Macbeth as some of the best pieces of literature and it is also thought that people’s emotions can be best revealed through tragedy. Huxley refers to this kind of idea or thought as chemically pure. That means, many people consider non-tragedies as of low quality. However, Huxley, through his essays, tries to imply that what is chemically impure can represent whole truth.

First of all, we need to know what chemically pure means. By introducing this term, Huxley does not intend to relate it with chemistry. Rather, he stresses on portraying the best thoughts, best feelings of human minds in literature. We can see that tragedy dramas are of very serious mood and incorporate serious dialogues or interactions among the characters, thoughts and feelings of very serious nature. We can also feel the seriousness in the presentation of the drama and as a result, small, irrelevant matters are not given much importance. This seriousness in presentation and the high standard is what Huxley calls chemically pure.

On the other hand, by saying chemically impure, Huxley denotes the representation of every detail of a story or set of stories, though not of so serious mood as of tragedy. In his regard, Huxley takes an example from the novel Tom Jones by Henry Fielding where the female protagonist, Sophia Western, falls on the ground while attempting to ride on a Western horse. The incident creates some humors and the way Fielding describes the incident is also very humorous. In tragic dramas, we cannot see a scene like this because it is chemically impure.

A lot of debates and arguments were going on about truth. Truth is obviously portrayed in tragedy and to establish the truth is one of the objectives of tragedy. In Macbeth, we can see that greed brings destruction and in Oedipus, we can see that arrogance causes downfall. Establishing this kind of higher truth is the objective of most of the tragedies. So, chemically pure literature is viewed by many with sheer importance and there are many who do not want to see chemically impure literature as of high standard. However, Huxley is against this idea and he thinks that higher truth is undoubtedly established in tragedy, but literature being chemically pure could also represent whole truth and it definitely has some importance. Huxley has taken the idea of whole truth with great importance and talked about the term in a recurring manner throughout the essay. Huxley wants to say that whole truth, by no means, diminish the standard of literature. Rather, whole truth could help increase the standard of literature.

Huxley attempts to answer whether chemically impure literature represents whole truth by introducing the example of heroine’s falling down from horseback, an incident taken from Tom Jones by Fielding, which sets up a humorous scene. We may find this humorous incident in our everyday lives and portraying every detail of this kind of incidents from our daily lives is actually whole truth. Huxley thinks that in literature, chemically pure is not a problem in establishing whole truth. So, Huxley opines that chemically impure literature can and must represent the whole truth.

Huxley also says that we have reached an age where the importance and popularity of whole truth is increasing and to establish whole truth, we need chemically impure elements. If we look at our daily lives, we can realize that our lives are full of all kinds of incidents.  Here, as we find sorrow, pain, despair, we also find delight, joy and happiness. We also find comic elements in life as well. So, in the current-day literature, we can see more emphasis given on illustrating the whole truth and it has a connection with the growing importance of novel. Novel is long in size and it is easier to represent whole truth in novel. So, this is the age of chemically impure literature. At last, I would like to say that there is no alternative of chemically impure elements for displaying whole truth in literature.