Speakers at a discussion arranged by the Barisal unit of the Samajtantrik Chhatra Front yesterday demanded 25% of the national budget to be allotted for the education sector to control commercialisation and end discrimination.
Held at the Kirtankhola Auditorium in Barisal city, the event was presided over by Manisha Chakraborty, president of the party’s Barisal unit.
Elites, experts and representatives of different organisations took part in the discussion.
Among others, child rights activist Jiban Krishna Dey, human rights activist Apurba Goutam, former president of Barisal District Bar Association Manabendra Botobayal, Udichi activist Mukul Das, and Professor Dulal Majumdar of Barisal City College spoke at the event.
Mithun Chakraborty, member of the Samajtantrik Chhatra Front, presented the key note paper at the event.
The speakers said at least 25% of the national budget must be allotted for the education sector, agreeing that without the development of this sector, development of other sectors can never be sustainable.
By allocating sufficient budget for this sector, the nation can achieve a strong backbone to fight against all types of irregularities, corruption, immoral and criminal activities, they said.
They said teaching has always been a noble profession, and teachers will not perform their duties sincerely if they are deprived of their due respect, social status, wages and service security.
The speakers stressed on interactive relationship between teachers, students and guardians to instil good citizenship among the children and youth in order to build the nation and strengthen its backbone.
They also called for the end of discrimination in public and private education sectors and criticised the presence of politics that hinders teachers from performing their duties.
Education will never be standardised until the discrimination between the government and non-government educational institutions in different regions is not eliminated, as wells as the commercialisation of education, agreed the speakers.
Nationalisation of all educational institutions and a uniform education system up to the higher secondary level are also necessary for the country’s sustainable development, they said.
The speakers said the number of nationalised schools increased up to 19 in the Barisal division after independence.
Ten of those institutions were nationalised in the pre-liberation period, and 12 of those are situated in only two districts, while the Barisal divisional headquarters has only two, they said.
