It goes without saying that in an era where students navigate complex digital landscapes with ease, educators can no longer rely on chalkboard methods of the past.
To that end, we agree with Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon’s recent call for teachers to master technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to keep pace with digitally fluent students.
To maintain academic relevance, our teaching corps must indeed embrace technological innovation, critical research, and inclusive classroom practices. All of that is a given, and difficult to argue against.
However, telling teachers to adapt without giving them the tools to do so is an exercise in futility. That, unfortunately, has been the reality for some time now when it comes to our education.
Ambitious directives that have been handed down from administrative boardrooms are meaningless if the ground-level reality of our schools and education institutions remains woefully underfunded and disregarded.
Instructors - particularly in rural and under-resourced institutions - grapple with chronic shortages of basic digital infrastructure, inadequate computer labs, unreliable internet, and zero structured training modules.
Expecting such educators to independently bridge the digital divide while burdened by heavy workloads and administrative neglect is completely unrealistic and shows a lack of awareness on the part of the authorities regarding the reality of such educators.
If the government is serious about modernizing our education system, rhetoric must be matched with substantial state investment. Meaningful digital transformation will require comprehensive, continuous, and well-funded professional development programs that equip every teacher with hands-on AI and technology training.
Educators must embrace the challenge of lifelong learning, but the state must provide the robust institutional backing, resources, and institutional support required to make that growth possible.
We cannot build a future-ready education system by demanding modern outcomes from neglected, unsupported teachers.
