We applaud Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni for her conviction and belief in bringing much needed change to the country's education system; she said earlier this week that no matter how much controversy arises over textbooks, the country will not go back, it will only move forward.
This is the sort of ownership we expect from our leaders and the policy changes they are looking to implement. Too long and too often have our policies been reactive and misguided, and with the country intending to become a prosperous, developed, and smart economy in less than two decades, there is no place for such retrograde approaches any more.
Instead, what the education minister had proposed for our education system -- of making our education fun, teaching students to think, teaching them to analyze -- is what should be reflected across all sectors, embracing what will undoubtedly be some of the most important skills for the 21st century.
As a country, we must also exercise patience and allow the new curriculum to play out. While the impact of these admittedly momentous changes will not be seen overnight, change in the education system has been a long time coming, and passive inaction was not going to get us anywhere.
To that end, while opposing voices, of which there are already plenty, shall no doubt have their place, we urge them to work together constructively with our education policy makers to continue to make our education sector better suited for the country we wish to become.
There is no reason for Bangladesh to continue lagging behind here, and if we are to become Smart Bangladesh, then our education system, and our students by extension, must reflect that.
