Building smart Bangladesh requires quality education

Education is the backbone of a nation. Education creates people's thinking and conscience and helps people to develop as human beings. It creates a sense of value in people and ensures their rights and duties as human beings. Millions of students are admitted to schools and colleges yearly, and the same number pass out. Pass rates for boys and girls are higher than at any other time, but the students are not getting opportunities to develop intelligence, thinking, and moral values. That way is blocked. We are more interested in passing knowledge. We check the merit of the student on the index of marks. Let's choose who is gifted and who is not. This standard is now in effect everywhere. As a result, all the knowledge and activities of a student are limited to achieving a certain number of marks.

Wherever he goes for education to school-college, coaching, or private tutor, he is confined to those few subjects. Education that does not acquire humanity, patriotism, and conscience, that does not inspire people to give up self-centeredness and work selflessly for the welfare of humankind, will not change the nation's fate, even in the long run. One can become a doctor-engineer with a passing education, and one can become a high-paid government employee. Still, due to a lack of education, preserving the sanctity of that profession is impossible. So, we can see that with the increase of the so-called education rate in our country, millions of people are graduating and occupying various positions in various social, cultural, institutional, business, and political fields. However, injustice, oppression, rich-poor discrimination, bribery, and corruption are also increasing. The present teaching method is completely failing to turn people away from wrongdoing. First, we should check the quality of education without looking at the passing rate and make action plans to improve it. But the most significant change that is necessary is psychological. Mentally, we have to free ourselves from the narrow confines of finance and decide to devote ourselves to the welfare of humanity. Making students bright is necessary to realize the dream of building a smart Bangladesh from Digital Bangladesh.

Science has guided people through the ages. We now mean a modern and advanced human being, basically a scientific-minded human being. Therefore, there is no alternative to prioritizing science education for the country's development. Science education is analytical and practical. So, it is best to plan and implement any work scientifically. This is very important for a developing country like Bangladesh. Only through this can we enrich our economy by utilizing limited resources. To build the smart Bangladesh of the future, students should also become smart students. We don't feel the urge to know about the world. As a result, the scope of our knowledge is not increasing. Many people think there is no benefit in practicing knowledge; only a certificate will do. Science students are decreasing at an alarming rate in our country. The primary purpose of our education is employment. But the main purpose of education is to practice knowledge, to know about the world, to reveal the secret of God's creation, and to research about it. Education is the backbone of the nation. The more educated a nation is, the more advanced it is. But this education can be of two types.

One is institutional, and the other is informal. Institutionalized education is confined to a particular institution and curriculum. On the other hand, informal education is natural education. A science that does not change people's perspective is moral. Education has nothing to do with enlightenment but is used only for livelihood, hence bookish knowledge. The wiser the nation, the more humane the nation. The more righteous the nation, the more sacrificial. The thirst for knowledge gives human being immortality. The light of acquired knowledge illuminates the world little by little. There is a human gem hidden in every human being. They must be brought out, nurtured with a suitable environment and education and put to work. Then a human being becomes a human being. It benefits him, the society, the country, and the people.

The current initiative taken by the government is, 'Bangladesh will be a smart Bangladesh with innovative and knowledge-based economy in 2041.' In the world of technology, it is necessary to create human resources who are science-minded, technology-friendly, used to using technology, and skilled in innovating new technologies and pursuing a humane philosophy free from dogma and superstitions by shaking off traditional thinking, sense of life, and mentality. Many old thoughts, philosophies, reforms exist in the individual life, family, society, and state system. No matter how modern it looks from the outside, inside, there are long cherished spirits and principles being carried. By connecting hardware, software, and human ware, Smart City, Smart Village, and above all, Smart Bangladesh should play a leading role. There is no alternative to science education to ensure the use of robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, genetic engineering, and biotechnology, i.e., digital devices in all fields, including smart Bangladesh, smart government, smart population, smart industries and trade, health, education, trade, agriculture. Emphasis should be placed on research at all levels.

Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, dreamed of building a golden Bengal free from exploitation and deprivation. By building a smart country, we must build a happy and prosperous non-communal Bangladesh and realize his dream. And in this way, we have to take the responsibility of putting smiles on the faces of the ordinary people of this country. Smart Bangladesh should be built on the four pillars of smart citizens, economy, government, and society. There is no alternative to practical education. The primary sources of this education are family, educational institutions, good books, and good companions. A person's family plays a significant role in achieving practical education. Technical education is practical education with the touch of technology nowadays. That is education that goes beyond the fixed rules and develops the country's students as skilled individuals with practical knowledge in a particular subject. Technical education is also crucial in employment because of practical work experience. Therefore, in recent times, in the competitive market, technical education has played a significant role in creating qualified competitors. There should be diversity in the content of education.

From childhood, we have had no joy with education. We are voicing only what is necessary. Just like it works somehow, But the mind does not develop. We want our education system to be such that it gradually awakens and enlivens our life force. The education that nourishes both the body and the mind of the boys will be our education. A minimum of formal education is required to develop human life. Education will be a means of joyful creativity, skill, knowledge, and knowledge development. To build a smart Bangladesh of the future, the nation needs to be built with proper modern science education, which is moving forward in inexorable progress under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the victory of the fourth industrial revolution of immense potential along the path of modern innovation of information technology.

Writer: Registrar, Bongomata Sheikh Fazilatun Nessa Mujib Science and Technology University, Jamalpur