Formulating MPO policy
IT is learnt from a national daily newspaper that the government has formed a ten-member committee headed by the prime minister's education, social development and political affairs adviser, Dr. Alauddin Ahmed, to formulate a concrete policy for MPO allocation and enlistment of new educational institutions. As a senior citizen in an independent country, as well as a teacher, I believe I have every right to comment on and make suggestions about educational resource development in the country.
My recent participation in the International Conference on Open Educational Resources (OER) held on June 7-10, at Maastricht, Netherlands, has encouraged me to criticise and make comments on education resources anywhere in the globe. It was a unique event for transformation of education from the traditional to the modern system, i.e. shifting from face-to-face education to virtual education.
Unesco and Commonwealth of Learning and the Open University Netherlands jointly organised the event where senior academics, including vice-chancellors from all over the world, were invited to make their comments on different issues. The organisers gave a handsome amount in the form of M-2009 Fellowships and hourly remuneration for criticisising or finding faults or possible hazards in the new system. The comments and suggestions will be further discussed and reviewed at the Unesco headquarter in France in July.
Bangladesh is not different from other countries in respect of making mistakes. MPO (monthly payment order) is a part of development in education through educators. A real teacher has the right to enjoy the benefits.
So far, I have learnt that only a certain percentage of school and college teachers are going to be enlisted in the MPO. Who are those lucky teachers? How they will be selected is the main question. Two different groups of "have" and "have-nots" will be created. Some teachers will enjoy better life and others will not.
The schools with "have-nots" will lose students, teachers and confidence. There are instances of teachers working for more than ten years without remuneration in schools and colleges in the remote areas. Many institutes are showing tremendous results in board examinations for general and technical education. This is possible due to the sacrifice of the young and energetic teachers. They work under guidelines of the founder, who is normally well-educated and technically qualified.
Unfortunately, these institutions are normally not enlisted in MPO. Neither any minister nor adviser has ever visited them. It is really difficult for the decision makers to realise the exact situation without visiting the institutions and the localities.
Most schools and colleges in the country were set up under political auspices in the last two decades. But there are still some institutions that were established by talented and dedicated people who sincerely want to help develop their region or community. There are people who have money as well as wisdom, education, knowledge, skills, honesty and vision.
They want to utilise their talents, skills and vision for upgrading the life style of people through proper and effective education. But to do so, a platform like a school or college is essential. A school is does not have only students, teachers, rooms, chairs, desks etc., it also needs affiliation from the government to be recognised. That means sincere cooperation from the government is very important at this stage.
Enlistment of MPO is a part of such activities. I believe that the committee members are well educated, experienced and well aware of the social problems and needs. They will surely give importance to the issues mentioned.
As a founder of a technical institute in one of the remotest areas in Bangladesh, I have had immense scope of studying the people of remote and isolated areas and the activities of the government for the people for the last ten years. Support or cooperation from the government was very disappointing.
A school or institute is not just a platform for educating and giving certificates to students. An institute, particularly a technical or vocational institute, can bring a tremendous change in remote communities. It enables them to earn a reasonable amount through utilisation of technical knowledge, which they gain from the institute and from their guardians who are well experienced in local and traditional technologies.
There is scope for doing research on the issue, and lots to learn from such activities. The ideas are well accepted in international markets or events held in different continents. But the ideas or lessons are very rarely accepted or recognised by the policy makers in our country.
Establishing a vocational or technical institute in remote areas can be the best way of changing people, community or society as the present government wants a change at all levels.
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