After independence, the provincial government of East Bengal, set up a committee under the chairmanship of Maulana akram khan, a senior politician and an Islamic scholar, to frame a new curriculum for schools. The committee did a good job. The curriculum proposed by it made primary education completely and exclusively based on mother tongue, with provision for religious education to be imparted in the medium of Bangla. As for higher education, the government's intervention was simply unfortunate. university of dhaka, the singular institution of its kind in the province, was deprived of its traditional autonomy enshrined in the Act of 1920. Government was given a new and wider authority over its management, including the appointment of vice-chancellors. Worse still, great many colleges, a few government but the majority under private management, were, without much thought, brought under the academic control of Dhaka University. This university, a unitary and teaching institution since its inception, had neither the experience nor the capacity, and hardly the inclination, to discharge a responsibility that had been the preserve of Calcutta University for nearly a century. The measure severely jolted Dhaka University and left the colleges under a scrappy academic supervision of the university. The total picture of the system in 1947 presents, at the highest level, a university almost fully financed by the government, and lower down the system, colleges and schools both secondary and primary, forming a private sector. This invited and justified governmental involvement in the two vital sectors of education. The successive governments' response to this demand makes a story full of directions and misdirections, of targets proposed and missed but despite all odds, a continuous linear growth of both primary and secondary education in the province, later in the Republic of Bangladesh. Primary Education Turning to primary education first, this sector is now becoming the centre-point of all educational interventions of the government. The process started in the last decade of the twentieth century. We can notice its changing status in five successive five-year plans but the beginnings are to be traced back to the articles 15 and 17 of the Constitution (1972) and the clear recommendations of the Education Commission's Report, 1974. Both these documents made primary education the responsibility of the government. In 1974, true to the provisions of the Constitution, the government issued a 'Decree of Nationalisation' of all 36,165 primary schools in the country. This was truly a landmark in the history of education. Since then, with every successive five-year plan, the allocation for primary education has increased steadily, both in the revenue and development parts of the annual budget. There are now an almost equal number of primary schools in the private sector; most of them in the rural areas, that enjoy considerable financial support of the government, short of full adoption as government institutions. Urban schools with a leaning toward English but complying generally to the curriculum nationally adopted do not as a rule depend on state support. There still remain a vast number of children of the school-going age who are out of school. A parallel stream of non-formal education, under the management of NGOs, has come into the picture in recent years. Also, international funding agencies the world Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNICEF and others have now emerged in Bangladesh as major partners in primary education. The list now includes IDA, DGIS, SIDA, NOFAD, UNDP, IOB, EU (EEC), OPEC, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Germany. One factor that has contributed to the new importance being given to and the enhanced status being enjoyed by the sector is the international commitment to it. Bangladesh is committed to the goals set in the World Conference on Education for All held in Jomtein, Thailand in March 1990 and the World Summit on Children held in New York in September 1990. Bangladesh is also committed to implement the Summit Declaration on Education for All of Nine High Population Developing Countries held in Delhi in December 1993. From 1947 onward, the main problem with primary education has been its tardy growth. At that point of time, for one village with a primary school there were four without any. Most of these schools were poorly housed, teachers were, most of them, poorly trained, and invariably poorly paid. The uphill task of lifting this whole sector to a reasonable level of efficiency rested with the government. But resources, when it came to education, especially primary education, were always scanty. From 1947 to 1972, that is the time when Bangladesh emerged as a truly independent country, primary education and the level of literacy of the country were both stuck in a state of prolonged stupor. The new phase starting in 1972/73 with the governmentalisation of over 36,000 schools did not produce miracles in terms of universalisation of basic education. But the objective came to be better defined, with the publication of the Education Commissionreport of 1974. New strategies were proposed for achieving the goal of universal primary education. The Primary Education Act of 1981 made provisions for the establishment of Local Educational Authorities at the sub-divisional level. The move unfortunately proved abortive, mainly due to political uncertainty. Next, in 1990 came the Compulsory Primary Education Act. It empowered the government to undertake legal and administrative measures to implement the purposes of the CPE Act. After this, something like a concerted campaign has been initiated for eradication of illiteracy under projects that have brought the government and many development partners on the same platform. These projects comprehend both formal and non-formal primary education, the NGOs playing a significant role in the non-formal sector. It has been claimed officially that literacy rate now is somewhere between 50 and 60 percent. Also, as a result of the literacy drive initiated by district administrations, a number of districts have emerged, at least officially, as fully literate ones. Secondary Education In 1947, secondary education presented a similar look with primary. Schools were mostly in the private sector. There were zilla schools, under government management, one in each district headquarters. These were to serve as models for privately managed schools, or so the colonial rulers thought. The same policy that kept them unencumbered with primary education left them generally indifferent to secondary education also. Incidentally, the policy extended to college level education, too. Advocacy for an eight-year long primary education goes back to Sargent Report, 1944, if not earlier. The idea found strong endorsement virtually in all subsequent inquiries, notably in the Education Commission Report of 1974, popularly the Qudrat-e- Khuda Commission Report. It is now accepted in principle, though implementation is yet to begin. As and when it is implemented, it will add to the problem of structure that has been inseparably an issue in respect of secondary education. For many years before and after 1947, secondary education showed a faster rate of growth than primary. High dropout rate took a heavy toll of student population at the primary stage, and this may partly explain the difference. On the management side, one important post-independence development was the delinking of secondary education from the university. Suggested as long ago as the sadler Commission (1917-19), it did not materialise in Bengal, with the exception of the small area that defined Dhaka University's realm, ie Dhaka Municipal area. East Pakistan Secondary Education Board took charge of the affiliation and examination of secondary level institutions. This step was followed by the creation of a School Text Book Board in 1954. At a later stage, one Board was split into six, on the principle of one Board for each administrative division of the country. In the overall management of secondary education, central control is still in force, though only theoretically. The impact of the governmental grant system has been negative: the local communities have turned their face away from the institutions they themselves established. Decentralisation of management is accepted in principle, maybe less emphatically than in the case of primary. In both cases, the pace is determined by the pace at which the proposed three-tier local government becomes a reality. The six Boards mentioned above share between them the responsibility of granting recognition to the schools, supply of textbooks, inspection and, above all, holding two public examinations, one at the end of ten years of schooling (Secondary), and the other, at the end of twelve years (Higher Secondary). In the present system, two public examinations at this level, especially the higher secondary examination, in spite of all its shortcomings, determine the course of future education. Importance of the second, HSC, examination is rather high since it is the gateway to higher education. Both the quality and management of secondary education has come under severe criticism. Great many schools are privately managed and poorly staffed. There is no scheme for the government to nationalise these schools, after the negative results of similar policy in respect of the privately run colleges. The persistent demand of the teachers of these private schools (also colleges) for equality of pay with government school and college teachers have been met, not fully, but to a considerable degree. The policy so far has been to initiate plans and programmes for the improvement of teaching generally, and introduction and expansion of science teaching in particular. The basic weakness of' school level teaching has become increasingly evident. High failure rate at both the public examinations, SSC and HSC, points to low performance both in teaching and learning. Naturally enough, the situation has been viewed with a sense of alarm at all levels and by all quarters, including the government. One part of the picture relates to curriculum. Following the recommendations of the 1959 Commission, separate streams were introduced after class VIII, thus signalling a break from the traditional one-stream secondary education. Apparently, the autonomous status of the secondary stage was ignored or perhaps, a still-to-be-realised eight-year long primary education was taken to be terminal for most students. But in the absence of a clearly enunciated policy, the bifurcation of courses resulted in a truncated curriculum producing manpower with insufficient grounding in the essentials of a sound education. The National Curriculum Committee, 1976-78, sought to remedy this defect, and proposed a return to one-stream secondary education. Of several difficulties faced by the authorities, one was relating to the introduction of science in the village-based schools. Science, especially Mathematics, and English continue to suffer from less than adequate teaching in most of the schools. And it casts its debilitating influence on the next, the tertiary stage of education. In the past many reform ideas have fallen through because of two reasons: lack of governmental resolution in programme implementation, and scarcity of resources. How institutional adjustments are made, once eight-year long primary education comes into force, remains to be seen. At present, the last two years of secondary form part of a school in some cases, or the bottom classes of a four-year college in some cases or the entire programme of a college, the Intermediate Colleges, in yet another case. The intermediate was visualised as a sandwich course by the Sadler Commission, a preparatory course for the better students completing their entrance/ matriculation and qualifying for higher education. But as it turned out, matriculation was not a terminal examination for many. Later thinking has clearly marked the intermediate as part of secondary and has renamed it Higher Secondary. So it is now clear that this part of reform will entail the shedding off of the two bottom classes for the existing degree colleges and the upgrading of schools that will lose the primary section and will gain the higher secondary section. And all these adjustments will have their accompanying dimension of restructuring the staff. Higher Education In 1947, the eastern part of Pakistan (later East Pakistan) started with a system of higher education whose beginnings go back to the earlier century. The colleges were teaching courses prescribed by Calcutta University as affiliated institutions of the same and students were taking examinations set by it and receiving degrees awarded by it. The only university that fell within the geographical limits of East Pakistan, the University of Dhaka (estd.1921) functioned within the municipal jurisdiction of the town. Beyond, the entire system was bound with the larger system of which the University of Calcutta was the apex body. With Partition, this comprehensive role of an affiliating university devolved on the University of Dhaka. Dhaka's problems were manifold. Since its inception (1921) it has been functioning as a unitary, teaching university, distantly modeled on Oxford and Cambridge. Its halls of residence were so many replicas of the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge; its three-year degree Honours course borrowed from them and its tutorial system, too, looking back to the practice prevailing there. In short, both academically and structurally, Dhaka represented a marked departure from the Calcutta system, modeled on London nearly a century earlier. Dhaka now was faced with the problem of reconciling the two systems. In fact, the university had no option but to let the colleges continue with their old courses, two-year Pass and two-year Honours courses. Its own three-year followed course was left undisturbed. university of rajshahi, the second in the province, was established in 1954 and Chittagong, the third, in 1965. Both followed the Dhaka example of three-year Honours, followed by a one-year Masters course. All three felt the need to upgrade the two-year Honours, Calcutta's legacy, to bring at least the Honours streams into a common strand. The colleges offering the two-year Honours for a long time under Calcutta University, and later under Dhaka, found the strain of conversion too much. Many dropped the programme, others dithered but carried on. The newer universities of Rajshahi and Chittagong, in their general organisation, were imitatative of Dhaka in many ways. Dhaka, by now both teaching and affiliating, found compatriots in Rajshahi and Chittagong, founded on the same principle of combining the dual functions of teaching and affiliation. Also, they went ahead with the arduous job of building a campus on a grand scale providing residence to the student body in halls of residence, and to a considerable number of teaching and other staff. Dhaka was spared the birth pangs of building a campus that it got ready made, the abandoned lands and buildings of the erstwhile government of East Bengal and Assam province. Others were not so fortunate. They had to build from the scratch. By the close of the Pakistan phase of the province, there were two more additions to the number of universities: the Agricultural University at Mymensingh (1961) and the University of Engineering and Technology in Dhaka (1962). The latter was not a new institution. Ahsanullah Engineering College was upgraded and became a university. During these years under Pakistan, the system of higher education in the province comprising the universities, the colleges, both general and professional, was an expanding one. The expansion was more linear than vertical. Two Commissions, The Commission on National Education (1959) and the Commission on Student Problems and Welfare (1964-66), of the decade of Ayub Khan gave full attention to the Universities. The first was prompted by reformist zeal characteristic of a military regime. Sharif Commission's Report - popular name for the CNE, had its longest chapter devoted to Higher Education, 46 pages. Secondary Education got 36 pages and Primary, a bare 6. This lopsidedness is not without significance. To be fair to a much maligned Report, the CNE had something to say on each of the following aspects of higher education: higher education as a distinct stage of education free from the encumbrance of the intermediate, upgrading the degree courses, both Pass and Honours into three-year courses, the importance of language studies and the establishment of institutes of Modern Languages, examinations, with particular emphasis on internal evaluation, research, teacher's work, selection, appointment and promotion of teachers, student welfare and discipline, a simpler administrative structure for the universities. These all led to the promulgation of the University Ordinances of 1961 and the possibility of a university grants commission at some future date. The CNE report makes good reading. It suffers from an indulgence in generalities, and a lack of supportive data and evidences. In one respect the report was lucky: it was not put aside; a number of recommendations were taken up for implementation; (i) Intermediate sections were taken out of degree colleges; (a beginning was made with government colleges in East Pakistan); (ii) a revised Pass course was introduced with emphasis on languages, and of three years duration; (iii) most importantly, the older University Acts were repealed, and replaced by a set of new Ordinances (1961). A number of recommendations suggested sweeping reforms and proved controversial. But controversy was gagged, public debate pre-empted by means of instruction circulated to vice-chancellors and presumably also to the Press. Both the overly prescriptive tone and the three-year degree courses invited criticism, caused indignation and added fuel to the fire already simmering in East Pakistan. Came the formation of the Commission on Student Problems and Welfare. It was chaired by Justice Hamoodur Rahman, who had served in addition to his normal juridical duties, as the vice-chancellor of Dhaka University (5 november1958 -14 December 1960). The three other members all held constitutional posts and none was an educationist. When Kazi Anwarul Huq left, making room for Dr Mamtazuddin Ahmed, he was the lone academic in a committee of four. While examining the causes of student unrest that had lately disrupted normal academic work in the universities, and was increasingly taking a violent turn on the campuses, and while suggesting remedies to the ill, the Commission thought it necessary to turn to the larger issue of university governance. In so doing it found some recommendations of the earlier Commission unduly peremptory. It took into consideration, along with students' grievances, those of the teachers, too. It considered specific workload prescribed by the earlier Commission for teachers unnecessary. At the same time it supported the discipline rules as a guarantee of teachers security of service and not as an encroachment on academic freedom or on the professional dignity of a teacher. During the Commission's tenure of work, 1964-66, Pakistan, in September 1965, got engaged with an armed clash with India. Though the clash was a brief affair, lasting only seventeen days, it shook the country to its foundations. After the signing of the Tashkent treaty and the end of war, the country was led into a period of political turmoil. This engulfed both the wings of Pakistan. It hastened the fall of President Ayub, leading to the assumption of Presidential power by Gen. Yahya Khan, and ushering in of a period of' political sanity. As the country was looking forward to a general election on the basis of one - man - one - vote, Air Vice-Marshal Noor Khan was asked to give the country a new education policy. The New Education Policy (1969), short but decisive, is full of positive ideas, including the idea of a reformed University Act. The report suggested university governance with full faculty participation, recommended the return of the Senate, and made a strong case for a University Grants Commission, vaguely promised by NEP and side-tracked by CSPW. The value of the report lies in its positive tone, and its foreshadowing of the things to come in the University Order/Acts of 1973. In retrospect, this period of the nation's history cannot be credited with any very sound progress in the sector of higher education. This can partly be attributed to the political turmoil. Under military rulers the states resources were diverted to ambitious military spending, at the cost of manpower development. Mass education and poverty alleviation were criminally neglected, with the result that when East Pakistan emerged, by the end of 1971, as the People's Republic of Bangladesh, it started with a shattered economy and a badly damaged educational edifice. Independent Bangladesh made a promising start in respect of education. The Decree of Nationalization of the existing primary schools has already been mentioned. The government did not wait for the report of the Education Commission but went ahead with a sense of urgency in fulfilling the academic aspirations of universitymen. The hated University Ordinances of 1961 were repealed to be replaced by a set of new laws: The Dhaka University Order, and the Rajshahi, the Chittagong and the Jahangirnagar University Acts. About the same time came the law heralding the birth of the University Grants Commission through the promulgation of Presidential Order No. 10, in 1973. Bangladesh Education Commission too was set up simultaneously, with Dr Qudrat-e- Khuda as its chairman. The Commission's Report, published in May 1974, is something of a landmark in the history of educational thinking. Both idealism and optimism duly qualified by practical considerations, remain the hallmark of this document. It gives both a short-term and a long-term view of the nation's education in all its dimensions in a process of reconstruction. Its hopes and projections have not come true but that does not detract from its abiding value, enshrining as it does the educational dream of a nascent nation. Despite its thoroughness, the Report is curiously reticent on certain aspects of university education. The Acts restored the university's autonomy, more or less on the lines of the original Dhaka University Act of 1920, And the UGC was inaugurated with high hopes of its acting as the guardian of this autonomy. There was no increase in the number of universities till about 1985 when the Islami University became operational. The intervening years were not barren, though. All the six universities continued to grow in size. Colleges affiliated with Dhaka, Rajshahi and Chittagong Universities not only grew in size but also in number. This growth in both the sectors had both positive and negative aspects. On the positive side, it demonstrated the nation's urge for higher education that acted as spurs to found new colleges. A pressure was thus created on the universities to grant affiliation to many a fledgling college, poor in staff and equipment, and far from meeting the academic requirements. This was the negative side of the picture. As early as early nineteen seventies, the Education Commission had recognized the problem, had desired the teaching universities to be relieved of the burden of affiliation. It found a solution when it proposed four purely affiliating universities to take charge of the colleges. This did not happen till 1992, when the National University took the responsibility. During the seventies and the eighties, the system of higher education showed a higher rate of growth than either the primary or the secondary, in absolute, numerical terms. But statistics do not have the last word here. Five new universities were established in the public sector after independence: Islami University (1985), Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (1990), Khulna University (1990), Bangladesh National University (1992), and Bangladesh Open University (1993). The first three owe their origin to a common perception of many years: a university is a regional institution in a country of teeming millions with a growing system of higher education, and serves as the apex body over a large number of degree colleges of the region. Both the universities of Rajshahi and Chittagong were established on this principle. Shah Jalal and Khulna followed suit. With the establishment of a university at Khulna, it lost its affiliatory role planned for it. The original proposals for four affiliating universities in the 1974 Commission's report was modified in the BNEC's report of 1988. The number was reduced to two. It was finally reduced to one in 1992, when it was sanctioned under the National University Act. With the establishment of NU all other universities automatically became unitary, a long cherished desire. Starting with a limited programme of teacher training through a correspondence course, the Open University soon generated ideas of the same kind of work, on a larger scale, under the management of a university. Open universities had already been functioning in neighbouring countries to serve as models.The practical value of a system that eschews full-time enrolment with a fee-receiving institution and yet offers degree level courses to numerous working men and women of all ages has its special appeal in a country like Bangladesh. The University has already met with remarkable success in its operation. Starting with diploma/degree level programmes, the university later took the bold step of opening the SSC programme, thus casting its net wide to attract the younger aspirants for education at the secondary level. Enrolment-wise, OU now comes first among universities. A system of accreditation has become overdue to assign different courses and institutions their relative worth. This is more so as the two newer universities, National and Open, now are operating on a scale and under conditions that are likely to affect standards. Starting with diploma/degree level programmes, the university later took the bold step of opening the SSC programme, thus casting its net wide to attract the younger aspirants for education at the secondary level. Enrolment-wise, OU now comes first among universities. A system of accreditation has become overdue to assign different courses and institutions their relative worth. This is more so as the two newer universities, National and Open, now are operating on a scale and under conditions that are likely to affect standards. Private universities Private universities were already in the air in the nineteen eighties. Violence on the campus caused by warring groups in the universities, frequent unscheduled closures and the resulting session-jam had shown no sign of abatement. The entire system had sunk low in public estimation. Anxious guardians especially those who could afford the expense had been sending their children abroad. India and US were the most favoured countries. The state of affairs naturally pointed to an alternative arrangement within the country. The objective was to provide higher education, generally on the model prevalent in North American universities, as opposed to the model derived from Britain in the colonial days. Change of model was only part of the story. Mainstream higher education, populist and lowbrow in the main, had lost its credibility on the management side. Private universities promised efficiency in management. They charged high fees but they compensated by prompt delivery of goods. The academic base was narrow. A quick look at the courses being offered by the sixteen universities in the private sector reveals their lopsided shape: courses limited to business studies and computer engineering in most cases, with a veneer of English or environment studies and the like. In short, the private universities so far have one commitment: to prepare young executives for lucrative jobs in the market. The narrow agenda with which they have started, if pursued over a length of time, will go against their best interest. Meanwhile, after nearly a decade of their operation, the private universities can claim to have made an impact on the mainstream universities. One solid example is the switch over to four-year degree course that the other universities are adopting, following the example of the private universities. So far the latter comprises a sub-system within or alongside the main system. The private universities, whether deliberately or of necessity, have chosen to keep to themselves. Neither the UGC nor the AUB (Association of the Universities of Bangladesh) has thought of extending its membership to them. Curiously enough, these are established solely on the sanction of the UGC, and are obliged to conform to certain basic rules laid down by the UGC. The Private Universities Act, 1992 has permitted establishment of private universities but have been excessively wary of too much innovation on their part. But without innovation and experiment, a private University may be a misnomer. A system of education has evolved that had its beginnings in colonial days and that bore the mark of its alien origins for a century or more. Slowly the national and oriental elements have been absorbed and accommodated in the curriculum. The supremacy of English has been largely replaced by the growing role of Bangla, the language of the people, though English has remained as an essential part of the system. The major change has been the assumption by the state of the overall responsibility of nation's education. There still exists a private sector alongside the public, especially at the secondary level. But here also there has been increasing and meaningful intervention by the government. A new feature is the appearance of the private universities in the sphere of higher education. This and other developments indicate that the system is far from static. Already there are signs of an inner dynamism at work, expressing itself not only on the plane of ideas but also on the plane of reform and innovation. Already, it is generally an accepted creed that only through education can an independent nation fulfil itself. [Zillur Rahman Siddiqui] But here also there has been increasing and meaningful intervention by the government. A new feature is the appearance of the private universities in the sphere of higher education. This and other developments indicate that the system is far from static. Already there are signs of an inner dynamism at work, expressing itself not only on the plane of ideas but also on the plane of reform and innovation. Already, it is generally an accepted creed that only through education can an independent nation fulfil itself. [Zillur Rahman Siddiqui] Bibliography S Mahmood, A History of English Education in India, Aligarh, 1895; Nathan Committee Report, Calcutta, 1912; Calcutta University Commission Report, Calcutta, 1917; Niharranjan Ray, Bangalir Itihasa, Adi Parba, Calcutta, 1356 BS, 1402 BS; PN Banerjee (et al), Hundred Years of the University of Calcutta, Calcutta, 1957; A Karim, Social History of the Muslim in Bengal, Dhaka, 1959; Commission on National Education Report, Government of Pakistan, 1959; AR Mallick, British Policy and the Muslims of Bengal 1757-1856, Dhaka 1961 & 1977; MA Rahim, Social and Cultural History of Bengal, 2, Karachi, 1967 and The History of the University of Dacca, Dhaka 1981; RC Majumdar, History of Ancient Bengal, Calcutta, 1971; Rachana Chakraborty, Higher Education in Bengal (1919 - 1947): A Study of its Administration and Management, Calcutta, 1996; ZR Siddiqui, Visions and Revisions: Higher Education in Bangladesh, 1947 - 1992, Dhaka, 1997.

Referance: Bangla Pedia