To say that our country's education system needs to do better by its people would be a massive understatement.
Despite resulting in record numbers of GPA-5 seemingly after every national board exam, we have all but rendered the importance of grades useless as the status of the GPA-5 has been nothing but vacuous in nature.
From the age-old problem of question paper leaks to confusion and issues surrounding text books and their contents, our education system can no longer be sustained with mere band-aids.
Given that the government plans to transform the nation in accordance with its vision for a Smart Bangladesh, the first step it needs to take is to introduce sweeping changes into the very way we educate our children.
It is heartening to hear Education Minister Dipu Moni express that knowledge-based education is not the only way forward, as we need to also focus on skills development alongside it. To that end, vocational education should be made an increasingly important part of our national curricula moving forward.
After decades 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 would do us good to take some time, and think through our entire education strategy as we move into the future.
However, education is not just about ensuring employability -- high-paying jobs which contribute greatly to the economy should not become the only goal for us as a nation. We must understand the importance of raising a generation of citizens who are taught to think critically and understand the value of social justice, and how the country can forge ahead in an increasingly interconnected world where values are shared seamlessly.
For Bangladesh to become truly smart, we need an education system that would facilitate that kind of change first.
