Enough ink has been spilled over the faulty state of our national education system.
As a developing nation, Bangladesh's best years are still ahead as it seeks to achieve middle income status. A truly democratic and working education system will play a pivotal role in that regard.
Which is why we agree with the growing number of voices calling for universal scholarship exams, with experts urging the government to promote and dedicate higher amounts as stipends under this potential new scholarship program and to do away entirely with the current primary scholarship program.
One of the reasons cited behind scrapping the existing scholarship program is how it does nothing to promote the importance of education to those who need it the most, furthering the gap between the disadvantaged and the privileged.
This is, to put it simply, unacceptable.
A nation's education system, above all else, needs to be truly democratic, not just in terms of what is being taught but also in terms of opportunities presented. To that end, a universal scholarship program would go quite a long way to ensure a level playing field for students regardless of their financial backgrounds.
Of course, making education available for everyone would mean little if the quality of that education is unable to keep up with our national goals. Given our lofty economic ambitions, after years of struggling with a mediocre system where the number of graduates is at an all-time high and the number of skilled workers is at an all-time low, it is high time that the government reexamines our education system in order to understand the kinds of reform it needs.
It is absolutely imperative that some semblance of credibility be restored to our education system, and making it less discriminatory would be a great first step.