For a nation to prosper, emphasis has to be given to technical education the same way we prioritize theoretical education. Not only that, but since we have different modes of educational delivery, we have to prioritize all educational modes in the same way and give them the same amount of support. As such, it is encouraging that the government is set to modernize both technical and madrasa education sectors.
Alongside mainstream education, madrasas have been quickly becoming one of the most popular modes of educational delivery. Due to the content that is taught, however, madrasa graduates often have little to no prospects of getting proper jobs in the real world. While the situation is not quite dire in the technical sector, due to a dearth of theoretical education like the emphasis on linguistic skills and mathematical knowledge, people from the technical sector are viewed as low-skilled workers as opposed to skilled engineers and practitioners they should be viewed as. As such, the initiative by the government to develop and mainstream these educational sectors are praiseworthy.
On that note, the government is focusing on incorporating linguistic courses and other general subjects into the madrasa curricula. Aside from developing technical education, the ministry of foreign affairs is also in contact with Bangladeshi missions abroad to create more job opportunities for the graduates. Aside from that, the government is also focused on building technical institutes in each upazila. If all of these plans are properly executed, we can see a boom in our education sector and we can observe a drastic boost in the quality of our graduates.
To reiterate, while the plans themselves are encouraging, we need to focus on proper execution in order to reap the benefits properly. The authorities need to set up a task force to oversee the execution and review their work periodically. There has to be a zero-tolerance policy for corruption.
Only through the help of holistic education can we go beyond our limits. As the nation becomes more prosperous, let’s ensure that prosperity is reflected in our minds as well.