Bangladesh is a country where the population is greater than its own territory. In addition, where population is a great problem, such a country suffers from economic crises. As a result, the industrial revolution takes a lot of time to get established, the economy faces hikes in prices, and education becomes a secondary choice.
Where a vast population remains out of the light of education and economic growth is a matter of stress for the majority of the citizens, corruption is claimed to be an expected scenario for the country. As education is a sector that many of the population takes part in, like other sectors or areas, corruption is substituted with its morality.
It can be claimed that our education system is not out of corruption, and this article tries to find out the reasons why corruption is a problem in education and how this problem can be resolved from a leader's perspective. The first part of this article will find out the causes of corruption, and the later part will try to draw solutions from a leadership perspective addressing such problems.
First of all, it is important to realize that the education system is very complex, as it is divided into various sectors like primary education, secondary education, higher secondary education, Madrasa education, English version and medium education, university education, open university education, vocational education system, etc. We can assume that a vast education system requires a vast amount of resources and manpower to work efficiently. Where there is a question of resource management, it can be said that there will be a question of transparency and accountability.
According to the Transparency International Report (2015), the administrators are in a more favourable position than the beneficiaries, and as a result it is barely helpful for the latter. Moreover, the author claims that the monitoring system of this resource management is also not functioning properly.
Here, it can be argued that, there have been two parties in this case: The whole management and reimbursement system, and the beneficiaries. Furthermore, it is needed to be addressed that the lack of motivation from educators is also a problem in this sector. Teachers are burdened with government voter ID works, government exam guards, calculating population census, school administrative work, and many more. As a result, for the majority of the time, they feel too exhausted to take classes thoroughly.
Not fulfilling teachers' roles and taking salaries against it can also be considered as a form of corruption. For instance, the beneficiaries are suffering and education is barely helping them to light their ways through it.
For the welfare of the beneficiaries, we need to find a solution.
In this regard, trying leadership theories in order to bring a massive change in this corrupted education sector can be a good solution. Firstly, professional ethics should be maintained properly. As an educator, we have certain ethics that bind us with some accountability and transparency from our side. If we can manage to follow our professional ethics, that would be helpful to stop corruption in the education sector.
Moreover, in accordance with Maintop (2012), the leaders can respond to accountability in three ways: Alignment, resistance, and coherence. The alignment part requires accountability with stakeholders' choices and needs. If the educators work for the welfare of the stakeholders like beneficiaries, then there would be a possibility to reduce corruption as, when corruption takes place, the beneficiaries suffer the most. Identifying the parents and the students as the most important stakeholders, should facilitate better alignment with their welfare in this scenario.
In addition to that, Trevino et al (1999) suggests that the organizational practices that seem to reduce incidences of unethical employee behaviour are: The fair treatment of employees; ethical managerial leadership; and establishing an open work culture where employees can discuss ethical problems without fear of retribution. According to these suggestions, if we treat each of our educators fairly and transparently, then they might be ethical with their work and, as a result, corruption can be reduced.
Moreover, academic leader management must act promptly to solve such problems. In addition to that, we need to establish a liberal work environment, where every educator can act in accordance with the needs of situations as every aspect is different from the other. It is suggested that, if the educator and involved persons in the education sector can work independently, and if they can have a safe space amongst themselves, they can share easily which eventually will increase their motivation in serving the beneficiaries.
Furthermore, if the monitoring and evaluation system can be ensured accordingly and transparently, then it can turn the table of corruption. The government monitoring officers such as District Director (DD), Assistant Thana Education Officer (ATEO), Thana Education Officer (TEO) and other related staff visit such institutions without notifying the authority or School Management Committee (SMC) at least twice every month, then their sudden visit and audit may help them more than the current practices to eradicate or reduce corruption rate in the education sector of Bangladesh.
Also, the e-monitoring system can be implemented effectively -- which was introduced in 2018 but is yet to find its own developing system. On the other hand, if the government officials can arrange official surveys directly from the beneficiaries and every stakeholder where they will be able to express their opinions without the fear of persecution, then it can be argued that concerned authorities will get real time data and take data driven actions immediately.
Arranging continuous seminars and open group discussions can help as well. When there is a chance of information regarding corruption being leaked, it could minimize corruption and eradicate it completely in the near future. The corrupted syndicate can be broken, and when the chain of corruption does not function effectively, then there is a chance of reducing it.
In conclusion, the welfare of the beneficiaries must be prioritized. Corruption not only wastes the resources of an economically struggling country, but also deprives every beneficiary of a fair chance to grow. Most of the time, inequality turns into inequity that creates an even worse scenario on the national grid.
If the beneficiaries remain out of the light of education, the country will fail to produce manpower instead of a burdened population. Therefore, concerns of corruption should be looked into by the authorities, and ethical leadership can be a source to try.
Md Asif Mahbub Tanvir is a freelance contributor.
