Masum Billah
Conversation pertains to learning English practically as it is the second most important way of human communication. So, a teacher must arrange conversation sessions and classes based on the prescribed syllabus and related items. The following roles of a teacher may bring success to the students who learn English as a second language.
A teacher facilitating a conversation class must create a conducive atmosphere whose students feel free to express themselves. When the teachers knows the name the students, it makes them closer to each other and the students feel free to express themselves and along with it encouraging comments add extra benefit. The teacher should give a hearty laugh when situation demands. A smile generates warmth and response. The teacher should ensure that each student gets maximum opportunity to talk. Students should not be allowed to take notes during conversation class. They feel shy and stammer and ultimately want to surrender but the teacher must retain the interest and encourage them saying they have started speaking and it is getting good gradually. Students will try to shift from English to Bengali as it is very natural. The teacher should again divert their conversation in English When some are seen to become inattentive, the teacher may ask them some questions so that they become alert and can be back to the conversation. The teacher himself/herself can also ask one or two questions to other students and ask the inattentive ones to repeat the same questions.
Enthusiasm is infectious. The teacher should express enthusiasm to more actively engage the students in conversation. He should show much patience in the conversation class and put himself/herself in the place of the students remembering the struggle to express his/her ideas when he/she was first learning English. He/she should tell the students that they should be a critical listener without interrupting the students’ conversation because good listeners can be good speakers. Pronunciation or grammatical mistakes can be corrected by uttering the words/sentences the students have used without directly interrupting them.
The teacher is to remember when designing course that the students are the main target. He needs to find out what their needs are. Why do they want to learn English? What are some situations where they will use it? Have them bring topics that they wish to discuss. In this manner, you will be able to integrate the topics that they will need. Choose task based lessons so that students have a change to do meaningful tasks based on real life situations and on the target language. The main thing in conversation classes is to actually use a topic for your questions that the students are interested in talking about topics they would want to talk about in their native language will give them greater satisfaction and encourage them to develop their language skills to the point whether they can express themselves fluently.
The teacher in the conversation class must consider that some students remain timid in expressing their viewpoints because (i) students don’t have an opinion on the subject (ii) students have an opinion, but are worried about what the other students might say or think (iii)students have an opinion but don’t feel they can say exactly what they mean (iv)students begin giving their opinion but want to state it in the same eloquent manner that they are capable of in their native language (v)other more actively participating students, feel confident in their opinions and express them eloquently making the less confident students more timid. Having been assigned roles, opinions and point of view that they do not necessarily share, student are freed from having to express their own opinions. Therefore, they can focus on expressing themselves well in English. In this way students tend to concentrate more on production skills and less on factual content.
Short role play can make a conversation class more activated and interesting. Once students become comfortable with target structures and representing differing points of view, classes can move onto more elaborate exercises such as debates and group decision making activities. This approach bears fruit especially when debating opposing points of view. By representing opposing points of view student imaginations are activated by trying to focus on all the various points. One area that is easily overlooked by teachers of English conversation is the need to help student be aware of the learning process as it relates to language acquisition. First-time teachers need to keep this in mind as they face the arduous task of teaching language fluency in the short time allotted them. It is sometimes mistakenly assumed that after years of schooling, each student has already acquired the proper learning skills. Student may seem apathetic dejected belligerent and even unable to learn but these attitudes are the result of being confused and trusted. The root of the problem is not necessarily with methods or students’ attitudes but with the fact that too much is taken for granted, many times students simply don’t know what they are supposed to do and when they do, they don’t know how to go about doing it.
Many times the motivation exits and the teacher have good command of the various teachniques, but the students simply do not know how to go about learning the language. This is due to the fact that learning a language is often outside their experiences, first because learning one’s native language was simply a natural part of growing up and second because normally the study of English takes place only with the goal of passing entrance examination and hence the paper test phenomenon of concentrating on grammar.
To begin with students of English conversation must understand the fundamental difference between learning about the language and learning to use it for verbal communication. The common analogy of learning to drive a car or play a musical instrument is useful in demonstrating this point. We can learn all about the parts of a car or instrument, how they are made and what their functions are as they relate to the whole, but it does not necessarily follow that with this knowledge we will be able to get behind the steering wheel of a care or pick up an instrument for the first time and drive or play well. They only way to become a good driver is to practice driving. The only way to be able to play an instrument well is to practice playing it. Likewise, the only way to become a good English speaker is to practice speaking English.
Another important point to make is that English is not just a set of rule. It is not black and white, right or wrong as mathematics is with its equation and symbol which must calculate up every time. The initial goal then is not accuracy of use but is to communicate. Accuracy of use will aid ability to communicate but it should not be allowed to hinder the communication process. It is important to be realistic. Students are not going to be able to say all that is on their minds or even accurately express themselves from the start. A basic rule is not to dwell on simple mistakes in grammar or usage. Stemming directly from the previous point is the need to stress that learning a language is imaginative, creative and even artistic.
Each speaker is continually adding their idiosyncrasies as they use the language to express their unique ideas and views or simply to say things; the language is continually in a state of flux. English conversation class cannot be passive. The students need to be aggressive, putting in as much effort as they expect to get out of it. This means that students need to actively participate in the classroom by asking questions and joining in discussions and other communicative tasks or exercises. Since part of learning a language means taking that language and internalizes it, making it your own, it is important that the learners choose topics that are relevant to them. The students will find learning more enjoyable and, as a result, easier if they focus on the things that relate to their personal experiences and interests. Rote memorization is often ineffective as students cannot relate to the phrases and dialogues that have been spoon-fed them from a textbook.
Students should be cautioned against worrying over every unknown word or phrase or to get caught up in an overzealous attempt to pin down every expression with a dictionary meaning. Many things are restated when speaking and with certain amity of guessing, the gist of the conversation can be understood despite the unknown. Guessing is an important skill that needs to be developed and used often. It is useful and essential parts of comprehending what is being said, particularly in the early stages of conversational development. Guessing should be encouraged with the purpose of moving the students away from relying too heavily on their dictionaries and translating every meaning into their native tongues. Many times, translation has the effect of changing the meaning as much as an inaccurate guess. Various guessing games and pre-listening can be used to develop this concept. The more the student is exposed to the target language, the faster and easier it will be to assimilate the language. Like in all learning, the more time spent, the better the progress made. With language learning especially , it is important that the time spent be done on a daily or near-daily, basis as short sessions daily are much more effective than cramming all at once.
Many people think that they can be or should be fluent speaker in a short time but they must know that language learning on the road to fluency is a long process that cannot be hurried. Keeping a positive attitude and a steady schedule is more important than any immediate results. Students should learn from their mistakes by identifying the weaknesses and correcting them. Although progress often cannot be ‘seen ‘ or tested, students need to be assured that constant effort provides the necessary foundation which makes it possible to move on to the next stage and then only in hindsight is progress notices. There is no quick way to learn a language by skipping stages.
Students need to understand the idea that to be a good speaker, it is also necessary to be a good listener. Students should practice active listening by really turning in to what is being said and reading facial features and gestures, rising and falling intonations , speed and inflections, etc. all of which clued the listener in on the idea which is being communicated. The use of newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, movies , radio, TV etc. are easy ways to bring the real world into the classroom to increase interest. They also provide a change to expose the students to the cultural aspects of the language which further help the language take on ‘ character’ and make it more real. It is important to persevere and tackle the difficulties without losing one’s sense of enjoyment in the process. When enjoyment remains away or absent from the learning process, real learning hardly takes place.
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program and Vice-President: Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA)
Cell: 01714-091431 Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
Now is the time to think of quality education and drop out
It looks strange that two contrasting phenomena exist side by side in our education system. One shows a competition to make the students pass whatever they write in the examination scripts. It is an obsession to increase the pass percentage without properly assessing the scripts of the students in the terminal, junior school certificate, secondary school certificate and higher secondary school certificate examinations. The introduction of creative questions on the other hand tends to convince us of imparting quality education by the authority. A Chinese proverb regarding education goes thus “ If you want to think one year ahead, plant rice. If you want to think ten years ahead, plant trees. But if you want to think hundred years ahead give education to people.” But education should be qualitative. Quality education means that the majority of the students, if not all, are able to meet the expectation of the Minimum Level of Learning.” It means stimulating creative thinking, developing problem-solving skills and life skills and laying emphasis on application of knowledge.
Alison King a researcher and educator in the college of Education at California State University in San Marcos back in 1993 said, “In most classrooms, the teacher lectures and the students listen and take notes. The teacher is the central figure, the ‘sage of the sage’. The teacher thinks that he has the knowledge which he will transmits to the students who simply memorize the information and later reproduce it in an examination, often without even thinking about it. This, Allision says is akin to the assumption that the students’ brain is like an empty container into which the teacher pours knowledge. The students are perceived to be passive learners rather than active ones and the individuals are never expected to think for themselves. This situation actually prevails in our educational institutions which we cannot definitely term as quality education.
Now is the time to think of quality education from very early schooling as ensure the full cycle of schooling of the students. It’s good news for us that pre-schooling for students above five years in all government schools has come into effect from this academic session. This initiative, taken under the national education policy, is aimed at achieving hundred percent enrolment and reducing dropout rate. Apart from 37 672 government schools, nearly 10, 000 registered non-government pry-schools have also introduced pre-primary education. Most of the schools got encouraging response from parents- “ Symal Kanti Ghosh, Director General – Directorate of Primary Education has said. In 2011 pre-primary schooling was introduced as a pilot project in 12000 schools although some private schools have been offering the facility for the past few years. BRAC stands champion in this line. It introduced pre-schooling since 2002. Guardians and parents in some remote rural areas and slums don’t send their kids to schools due to poverty and lack of knowledge. BRAC Education has extended education facilities to the un-reach. The present rate of enrolment is 99.43 percent. (Source: Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics). As many as sixty percent students have been enrolled in the pre-primary class. Those who have got admitted come to schools every day, play with their peers and are receiving basic education. Classes under the pre-primary schooling are quite different from the usual ones. The National Education Policy 2010 says, “As a first step, pre-primary education will be introduced for children older than five years and later it would be introduced for children aged more than four years. This preparatory education will kindle an interest among children in education. Such schooling would make students disciplined and tolerant to others at a very early stage.” Definitely students start learning socialization through pre-schooling and it belongs to quality education. Real learning can occur at any given time or place as long as the environment provokes the person’s curiosity and drives him or her to find the truth under the surface.
Truth goes that the government of Bangladesh has made significant progress in recent years to increase primary-school age enrolment rates to cover eighty- nine per cent of boys and 94 percent girls. However, access to education remains a challenge for vulnerable groups, particularly working children, disabled children, indigenous children and those in remote areas or living in extreme poverty. Only half of all children living in slums attend school a rate eighteen percentage points lower than the national average. Dropout rates have made substantial progress where in 2006 the proportion of pupils starting grade one who reach grade 5 was 63.6 percent, in 2009 this has increased to 79.8 per cent. However, the room for progress is still required in this area. At least ten percent of primary school teaching posts are vacant. One third of staff at government schools teach without a certificate in Education .Promoting interactive and inclusive learning is difficult in the face of traditional teaching methods that require students to memorize facts. Students regularly fail to meet required curriculum competencies, so repetition rates are high. it currently takes an average of 8.5 years for a child to complete grades one through five. Ten per cent of primary school students are above primary school age eleven plus.
Mr Azim Premji , chairman of Wiplo Ltd in India thinks of critical component of the way of learning which he calls ‘ learning guarantee’. The concept of learning guarantee lies beyond the fragmented view of the education system as is generally understood. It is not just about the number and quality of teachers. It is not just about how the government is playing its role effectively or not. It is beyond the issues of a mid-day meal program or training of teachers or the kind of text books that are to be followed. Learning grantee consists ‘of more serious and deeper issues such as understanding of the pedagogical processes in the class room, clearer understanding by the teachers of what competencies are to be developed among the students, the class-room practices that bring out the best among the children in the most non-threatening and exciting manner., the competitive spirit that the school is able to create , the parents untiring interest in their children’s learning , the pressure created by an active and lively parent-teacher interaction for better delivery of learning in the school. It is a social process as well as a high quality management process.’ (Source: Internet)
Finally we can say to ensure quality education we cannot leave everything to the government as we have been doing for so long. If we have to make major headways, we have to start involving ourselves more deeply into the education of our children. Equally, we have to start thinking in terms of enthusiastic, highly motivated and more importantly, highly competent teachers and head teachers in reality, not in words or in seminar papers only.
Masum Billah :Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, .Email.mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
Alison King a researcher and educator in the college of Education at California State University in San Marcos back in 1993 said, “In most classrooms, the teacher lectures and the students listen and take notes. The teacher is the central figure, the ‘sage of the sage’. The teacher thinks that he has the knowledge which he will transmits to the students who simply memorize the information and later reproduce it in an examination, often without even thinking about it. This, Allision says is akin to the assumption that the students’ brain is like an empty container into which the teacher pours knowledge. The students are perceived to be passive learners rather than active ones and the individuals are never expected to think for themselves. This situation actually prevails in our educational institutions which we cannot definitely term as quality education.
Now is the time to think of quality education from very early schooling as ensure the full cycle of schooling of the students. It’s good news for us that pre-schooling for students above five years in all government schools has come into effect from this academic session. This initiative, taken under the national education policy, is aimed at achieving hundred percent enrolment and reducing dropout rate. Apart from 37 672 government schools, nearly 10, 000 registered non-government pry-schools have also introduced pre-primary education. Most of the schools got encouraging response from parents- “ Symal Kanti Ghosh, Director General – Directorate of Primary Education has said. In 2011 pre-primary schooling was introduced as a pilot project in 12000 schools although some private schools have been offering the facility for the past few years. BRAC stands champion in this line. It introduced pre-schooling since 2002. Guardians and parents in some remote rural areas and slums don’t send their kids to schools due to poverty and lack of knowledge. BRAC Education has extended education facilities to the un-reach. The present rate of enrolment is 99.43 percent. (Source: Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics). As many as sixty percent students have been enrolled in the pre-primary class. Those who have got admitted come to schools every day, play with their peers and are receiving basic education. Classes under the pre-primary schooling are quite different from the usual ones. The National Education Policy 2010 says, “As a first step, pre-primary education will be introduced for children older than five years and later it would be introduced for children aged more than four years. This preparatory education will kindle an interest among children in education. Such schooling would make students disciplined and tolerant to others at a very early stage.” Definitely students start learning socialization through pre-schooling and it belongs to quality education. Real learning can occur at any given time or place as long as the environment provokes the person’s curiosity and drives him or her to find the truth under the surface.
Truth goes that the government of Bangladesh has made significant progress in recent years to increase primary-school age enrolment rates to cover eighty- nine per cent of boys and 94 percent girls. However, access to education remains a challenge for vulnerable groups, particularly working children, disabled children, indigenous children and those in remote areas or living in extreme poverty. Only half of all children living in slums attend school a rate eighteen percentage points lower than the national average. Dropout rates have made substantial progress where in 2006 the proportion of pupils starting grade one who reach grade 5 was 63.6 percent, in 2009 this has increased to 79.8 per cent. However, the room for progress is still required in this area. At least ten percent of primary school teaching posts are vacant. One third of staff at government schools teach without a certificate in Education .Promoting interactive and inclusive learning is difficult in the face of traditional teaching methods that require students to memorize facts. Students regularly fail to meet required curriculum competencies, so repetition rates are high. it currently takes an average of 8.5 years for a child to complete grades one through five. Ten per cent of primary school students are above primary school age eleven plus.
Mr Azim Premji , chairman of Wiplo Ltd in India thinks of critical component of the way of learning which he calls ‘ learning guarantee’. The concept of learning guarantee lies beyond the fragmented view of the education system as is generally understood. It is not just about the number and quality of teachers. It is not just about how the government is playing its role effectively or not. It is beyond the issues of a mid-day meal program or training of teachers or the kind of text books that are to be followed. Learning grantee consists ‘of more serious and deeper issues such as understanding of the pedagogical processes in the class room, clearer understanding by the teachers of what competencies are to be developed among the students, the class-room practices that bring out the best among the children in the most non-threatening and exciting manner., the competitive spirit that the school is able to create , the parents untiring interest in their children’s learning , the pressure created by an active and lively parent-teacher interaction for better delivery of learning in the school. It is a social process as well as a high quality management process.’ (Source: Internet)
Finally we can say to ensure quality education we cannot leave everything to the government as we have been doing for so long. If we have to make major headways, we have to start involving ourselves more deeply into the education of our children. Equally, we have to start thinking in terms of enthusiastic, highly motivated and more importantly, highly competent teachers and head teachers in reality, not in words or in seminar papers only.
Masum Billah :Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, .Email.mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
Subject based teacher in secondary schools
Secondary level education is the second important tier of education which experiences some anomalies and negligence from the authorities concerned for long. Many changes call for monetary involvement whereas many don’t need money but can bring some positive changes in this sector. The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education has recently sent a proposal to the Ministry of Education aiming at minimizing some anomalies which deserve appreciation. The ministry also entertains this idea. Let us see how quickly it takes place.
It is known to us that in this level subject based teachers are not employed and teacher of one subject teaches several other subjects inviting some problems and hampering actual teaching learning situation. It is a common practice that Bengali teachers conduct classes of mathematics or science or agricultural science which hampers sound teaching system. If classes can be distributed among the teachers subject -wise learners would be greatly benefited and the administration will also see smooth running of the schools.
Most teachers of secondary schools prefer to live in urban areas to rural ones. As there are no subject-based teachers they can easily get transferred to urban areas depriving the students of rural areas or upazlias. As a result urban schools see many teachers whereas the rural government schools find scarcity of teachers. Moreover, the teachers of important subjects are not available. Many teachers remain engaged in teaching English, mathematics and science subjects as private tuition are available in these subjects. So, a kind of greasing and lobbing also takes place as many teachers of other subjects take classes managing the authorities for boosting up their tuition business.
After a long time and actually for the first time a proposal to divide teachers subject -wise in the government secondary schools was sent to the Ministry of Education by the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education. The proposal says there will be 25 teachers in each government secondary school. In Bengali there will be four, English four, mathematics three, social science three, Islamiat two, Physical Science two, Biological Science two , Business Education one, Geography one, Agricultural Science one, Arts and crafts one, Physical Education one. Teachers of this level welcome this decision. If this can be implemented, uniform number of teachers can be employed in rural and urban schools. The anomalies and problems show through this picture. Dhanmondi government Laboratory School sees teachers mostly in mathematics and arts and crafts. But Physics , Chemistry and Biological Science teachers show very poor number. Sreemongol Government Boys’ High School sees no Social Science teacher .Teachers of other subjects teach these subjects. In Dhaka Government Science College Annex secondary school witnesses 13 teachers in social science though only two positions are available against these teachers. This situation prevails in all the 317 government schools. In Dhaka city there are 24 government high schools and in each school there are minimum ten extra teachers. Whereas, the schools outside Dhaka sees crisis of teachers and to teach important subjects, teachers are not available. Time has come to review the whole situation of this level do the needful. Another big factor remains unaddressed and untreated. We should not forget that there are about twenty thousand secondary schools in Bangladesh. Out of them only 317 are run by the government, the rest accommodates the lion’s share of our secondary levels students. The worse situation lies here in terms of subject base teachers. But no such step or plan has been heard from the authorities. They think only the government schools. Can we afford to do this discrimination?
This decision should have been taken minimum 15 years back. It has become overdue. It should happen in this age of specialization.In the secondary level subject based teachers were not employed. There might be several reasons behind it. The teachers of earlier times, might not know the modern way of teaching, had solid knowledge as notes and guidebooks were not available then. What they learnt was genuine. They had to obtain their grade by utilzing their own brain. One of my cadet college colleagues told me about the father of a cadet who obtained third class in his Masters but wrote very good English and spoke English nicely. He just asked me how it was possible. My answer was they did not read Ramji Lal or Tilak. They managed their grade/class by reading the original text. These kinds of teachers could teach any subject as they had to go deep into each subject. They had to critically analyze any subject. Finally, they were dedicated teachers. Their dedication cannot be compared with the teachers of this age.
Today’s graduates need not delve deep into the subject. They obtain high grades with superficial knowledge.Critical analysis and giving their own comments stand absent in the examination system. Just putting tick marks or writing true or false question, they bring very good grade. They need not write creative composition .Even if they have to write, they need not utilize their own thinking. Notes and guide books have occupied that place making our students’ thinking power crippled. So, it is the time to teach subjects by the graduates of Masters degree holders who have particular subject knowledge. Cadet college, cantonment college, industrial colleges, collegiate schools find subject-based teachers and the students of these institutions get the opportunity to learn some extra ordinary things from these teachers. The students of other institutions get deprived of receiving this benefit. Subject based teachers were not also available then. Subject based teachers received employment in colleges ( higher secondary and graduation). But now many Masters Degree holders come to secondary level teaching. So, the previous rules should be changed and in the greater interest of education, secondary level teaching must see subject based teachers.
Masum Billah
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, PACE.Email:mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
It is known to us that in this level subject based teachers are not employed and teacher of one subject teaches several other subjects inviting some problems and hampering actual teaching learning situation. It is a common practice that Bengali teachers conduct classes of mathematics or science or agricultural science which hampers sound teaching system. If classes can be distributed among the teachers subject -wise learners would be greatly benefited and the administration will also see smooth running of the schools.
Most teachers of secondary schools prefer to live in urban areas to rural ones. As there are no subject-based teachers they can easily get transferred to urban areas depriving the students of rural areas or upazlias. As a result urban schools see many teachers whereas the rural government schools find scarcity of teachers. Moreover, the teachers of important subjects are not available. Many teachers remain engaged in teaching English, mathematics and science subjects as private tuition are available in these subjects. So, a kind of greasing and lobbing also takes place as many teachers of other subjects take classes managing the authorities for boosting up their tuition business.
After a long time and actually for the first time a proposal to divide teachers subject -wise in the government secondary schools was sent to the Ministry of Education by the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education. The proposal says there will be 25 teachers in each government secondary school. In Bengali there will be four, English four, mathematics three, social science three, Islamiat two, Physical Science two, Biological Science two , Business Education one, Geography one, Agricultural Science one, Arts and crafts one, Physical Education one. Teachers of this level welcome this decision. If this can be implemented, uniform number of teachers can be employed in rural and urban schools. The anomalies and problems show through this picture. Dhanmondi government Laboratory School sees teachers mostly in mathematics and arts and crafts. But Physics , Chemistry and Biological Science teachers show very poor number. Sreemongol Government Boys’ High School sees no Social Science teacher .Teachers of other subjects teach these subjects. In Dhaka Government Science College Annex secondary school witnesses 13 teachers in social science though only two positions are available against these teachers. This situation prevails in all the 317 government schools. In Dhaka city there are 24 government high schools and in each school there are minimum ten extra teachers. Whereas, the schools outside Dhaka sees crisis of teachers and to teach important subjects, teachers are not available. Time has come to review the whole situation of this level do the needful. Another big factor remains unaddressed and untreated. We should not forget that there are about twenty thousand secondary schools in Bangladesh. Out of them only 317 are run by the government, the rest accommodates the lion’s share of our secondary levels students. The worse situation lies here in terms of subject base teachers. But no such step or plan has been heard from the authorities. They think only the government schools. Can we afford to do this discrimination?
This decision should have been taken minimum 15 years back. It has become overdue. It should happen in this age of specialization.In the secondary level subject based teachers were not employed. There might be several reasons behind it. The teachers of earlier times, might not know the modern way of teaching, had solid knowledge as notes and guidebooks were not available then. What they learnt was genuine. They had to obtain their grade by utilzing their own brain. One of my cadet college colleagues told me about the father of a cadet who obtained third class in his Masters but wrote very good English and spoke English nicely. He just asked me how it was possible. My answer was they did not read Ramji Lal or Tilak. They managed their grade/class by reading the original text. These kinds of teachers could teach any subject as they had to go deep into each subject. They had to critically analyze any subject. Finally, they were dedicated teachers. Their dedication cannot be compared with the teachers of this age.
Today’s graduates need not delve deep into the subject. They obtain high grades with superficial knowledge.Critical analysis and giving their own comments stand absent in the examination system. Just putting tick marks or writing true or false question, they bring very good grade. They need not write creative composition .Even if they have to write, they need not utilize their own thinking. Notes and guide books have occupied that place making our students’ thinking power crippled. So, it is the time to teach subjects by the graduates of Masters degree holders who have particular subject knowledge. Cadet college, cantonment college, industrial colleges, collegiate schools find subject-based teachers and the students of these institutions get the opportunity to learn some extra ordinary things from these teachers. The students of other institutions get deprived of receiving this benefit. Subject based teachers were not also available then. Subject based teachers received employment in colleges ( higher secondary and graduation). But now many Masters Degree holders come to secondary level teaching. So, the previous rules should be changed and in the greater interest of education, secondary level teaching must see subject based teachers.
Masum Billah
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, PACE.Email:mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
Is CLT working in Bangladesh?
With a view to enabling our students to use English in their practical life situation Communicative Language Teaching was introduced in our education system in the year 1998-1999. Now ‘CLT has become a buzzword’ as has been said by Dr. Aria Rahman, professor of Dhaka University. All around us we hear the buzzing of ‘CLT’. It buzzes in the English classroom, with English teachers, ELT professionals , in the English departments of both private and public universities . Teacher training both in the private and government sectors talks about CLT provides training in CLT. CLT roams in and around educational vicinity. But how much change has it really brought for the learners to use English in real life remains a big question. Of course, authentic research in this regard is also not available. Our observation, guess and practical experience with the students offer not an encouraging picture.
Yes, it is true that the students particularly of urban areas have become smarter than before in terms of using English in their conversation, it is broken English, structurally wrong English even then they have started using it in their practical life. But there is every reason to ask is it the impact of introducing CLT in our education system? Without any research it can be said that it is the impact of their easy access to internet, easily available English movies and electronic and print Medias. In the classroom practical English or everyday use English is hardly practiced. The major concern of the students, teachers and guardians is to manage a good grade in English using a commercial or short-cut way which is tantamount to avoiding real learning. Understanding the pulse of the English stockholders and the loophole of examination system the commercial publishers are up and doing to satisfy their desired objectives and they are commercially successful. Real learning is still a far cry.
Professor Shahiddullah of Rajshahi University has been working in the line of CLT still he finds it difficult to deal with CLT comfortably. So he questions how is it possible to bring change giving only two-weeks or three weeks training to the teachers as government and non-government sectors do. Of course, ELTIP is not so active in the field of training now. Professor Shahidullah has said ‘CLT does not mean using wrong English rather fluency leading to accuracy.’ The point makes sense. A wrong notion has developed with CLT professionals that wrong English is most welcome. Actually, it is only for those who have not yet opened their mouth. Only two or three weeks training may not bring any significant change in the overall performance of the teachers but it definitely gives them some clues and tips to deal with EFT and teaching English. Any kind of training is just the beginning of a professional development, not the ending.
In the English For Today of class six out of 106 lessons there are 08 listening comprehension lessons, in seven EFT out of 80 lessons 10 listening, in class eight out of 75 lessons 11 listening comprehensions and nine-ten EFT out of 119 lessons 22 listening comprehensions. Again, in class six EFT 80 speaking focused lessons in seven EFT 74, in eight EFT 69-, nine-ten EFT 63, eleven-twelve EFT there are 133 lessons out of 158 which focus speaking skill. But these two important skills hardly receive any importance from the teachers in the classroom. A trained teacher can teach and practice all the four skills through a particular lesson as all the four skills are integrated in CLT approach. But teachers were not given enough training to develop their confidence up that level. However, some trained teachers try to practice all the skills in the classroom but they lose their motivation after a certain period as listening and speaking are not directly assessed in the public examinations and the students, guardians and the school authorities don’t encourage the point. Many don’t think that these two important skills directly and indirectly help develop the other two skills. It is very strange to think that 40 percent of our everyday communication we do through listening, 35 per cent speaking, 16 percent reading and only 9 percent through writing. But we put total emphasis on reading and writing which means we assess our students’ English performance only on 25 percent skills. It clandestinely proves that our assess in English is seriously faulty. The significant two skills remain ever neglected. A huge number of teachers were not trained well enough though under the umbrella of different government projects such as TQI, SEQAEP, SESIP, SESDP and non-government organization like BRAC conducted training for the teachers to use CLT in the classroom. To continue their development process in this subject remains absent.
CLT and even the existing assessment system could have produced some quality students if the same kind of questions had not been set year after year. It no way it can assess the real progress of the students in English. The vocabulary test in the form of passage with clues and without clues should have been quite new every year but year after year the same clues have been set. Those who have memorized them can do well in the examination. And those who did not meet them earlier cannot solve them. The question setters never think of this point. What they do just pick up the same passage from the Test Papers means in some schools and colleges these question were set. Students practiced them and if any new passage is given, they become puzzled. At this teachers’ own creativity is lost and no scope lies to raise the capacity of the students. In 2010 Junior School Certificate examination was introduced and the same year the reading comprehension question for 40 marks was set from the listening comprehension. Listening comprehension was not practiced in the class rather it was set as reading comprehension question in the public examination. I doubt whether the question setter had idea about it.
After 1998 the government is going to introduce the new books for English from 2013. The teaching community is in the dark about what kind of books or the same cut-copy-paste English text is going to be introduced. The existing books are not at all interesting, eye-catching or user-friendly. Languages used there are not so sound. It called for very expert teachers to make the contents interesting and lively highlighting the spirit of CLT which is actually not taking place. Besides, we don’t have subject based English teachers in the secondary level that means the teachers who graduated in English are engaged in secondary level teaching. In the higher secondary level it is okay. As a result whole attempt of CLT has witnessed a mismatched situation. The students neither learn correct English nor can they communicate soundly using broken English even. The highly liberal attitude of the government to make the students pass in English whatever they write in the script has further deteriorated the situation. The students have lost total interest to learn something new. They experience from their older brothers and sisters and learn from them that whatever they write in the scripts, they obtain high grade in English. It’s a highly de-motivating factor for the learners to learn good English. The NCTB authorities should look into the matters and take lessons through the present outcome of English and devise and introduce English For Today accordingly.
Masum Billah :Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, PACE and Vice-President: Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association ( BELTA). Email:mmbillah2000@yahoo.com)
Yes, it is true that the students particularly of urban areas have become smarter than before in terms of using English in their conversation, it is broken English, structurally wrong English even then they have started using it in their practical life. But there is every reason to ask is it the impact of introducing CLT in our education system? Without any research it can be said that it is the impact of their easy access to internet, easily available English movies and electronic and print Medias. In the classroom practical English or everyday use English is hardly practiced. The major concern of the students, teachers and guardians is to manage a good grade in English using a commercial or short-cut way which is tantamount to avoiding real learning. Understanding the pulse of the English stockholders and the loophole of examination system the commercial publishers are up and doing to satisfy their desired objectives and they are commercially successful. Real learning is still a far cry.
Professor Shahiddullah of Rajshahi University has been working in the line of CLT still he finds it difficult to deal with CLT comfortably. So he questions how is it possible to bring change giving only two-weeks or three weeks training to the teachers as government and non-government sectors do. Of course, ELTIP is not so active in the field of training now. Professor Shahidullah has said ‘CLT does not mean using wrong English rather fluency leading to accuracy.’ The point makes sense. A wrong notion has developed with CLT professionals that wrong English is most welcome. Actually, it is only for those who have not yet opened their mouth. Only two or three weeks training may not bring any significant change in the overall performance of the teachers but it definitely gives them some clues and tips to deal with EFT and teaching English. Any kind of training is just the beginning of a professional development, not the ending.
In the English For Today of class six out of 106 lessons there are 08 listening comprehension lessons, in seven EFT out of 80 lessons 10 listening, in class eight out of 75 lessons 11 listening comprehensions and nine-ten EFT out of 119 lessons 22 listening comprehensions. Again, in class six EFT 80 speaking focused lessons in seven EFT 74, in eight EFT 69-, nine-ten EFT 63, eleven-twelve EFT there are 133 lessons out of 158 which focus speaking skill. But these two important skills hardly receive any importance from the teachers in the classroom. A trained teacher can teach and practice all the four skills through a particular lesson as all the four skills are integrated in CLT approach. But teachers were not given enough training to develop their confidence up that level. However, some trained teachers try to practice all the skills in the classroom but they lose their motivation after a certain period as listening and speaking are not directly assessed in the public examinations and the students, guardians and the school authorities don’t encourage the point. Many don’t think that these two important skills directly and indirectly help develop the other two skills. It is very strange to think that 40 percent of our everyday communication we do through listening, 35 per cent speaking, 16 percent reading and only 9 percent through writing. But we put total emphasis on reading and writing which means we assess our students’ English performance only on 25 percent skills. It clandestinely proves that our assess in English is seriously faulty. The significant two skills remain ever neglected. A huge number of teachers were not trained well enough though under the umbrella of different government projects such as TQI, SEQAEP, SESIP, SESDP and non-government organization like BRAC conducted training for the teachers to use CLT in the classroom. To continue their development process in this subject remains absent.
CLT and even the existing assessment system could have produced some quality students if the same kind of questions had not been set year after year. It no way it can assess the real progress of the students in English. The vocabulary test in the form of passage with clues and without clues should have been quite new every year but year after year the same clues have been set. Those who have memorized them can do well in the examination. And those who did not meet them earlier cannot solve them. The question setters never think of this point. What they do just pick up the same passage from the Test Papers means in some schools and colleges these question were set. Students practiced them and if any new passage is given, they become puzzled. At this teachers’ own creativity is lost and no scope lies to raise the capacity of the students. In 2010 Junior School Certificate examination was introduced and the same year the reading comprehension question for 40 marks was set from the listening comprehension. Listening comprehension was not practiced in the class rather it was set as reading comprehension question in the public examination. I doubt whether the question setter had idea about it.
After 1998 the government is going to introduce the new books for English from 2013. The teaching community is in the dark about what kind of books or the same cut-copy-paste English text is going to be introduced. The existing books are not at all interesting, eye-catching or user-friendly. Languages used there are not so sound. It called for very expert teachers to make the contents interesting and lively highlighting the spirit of CLT which is actually not taking place. Besides, we don’t have subject based English teachers in the secondary level that means the teachers who graduated in English are engaged in secondary level teaching. In the higher secondary level it is okay. As a result whole attempt of CLT has witnessed a mismatched situation. The students neither learn correct English nor can they communicate soundly using broken English even. The highly liberal attitude of the government to make the students pass in English whatever they write in the script has further deteriorated the situation. The students have lost total interest to learn something new. They experience from their older brothers and sisters and learn from them that whatever they write in the scripts, they obtain high grade in English. It’s a highly de-motivating factor for the learners to learn good English. The NCTB authorities should look into the matters and take lessons through the present outcome of English and devise and introduce English For Today accordingly.
Masum Billah :Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, PACE and Vice-President: Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association ( BELTA). Email:mmbillah2000@yahoo.com)
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Global Ranking of NGOs
NGOs now play the key roles to change the social, educational and financial development indicators. NGOs now are powerful players in the real sense of the term along with the governments of developing countries with the experience of some criticisms. Keeping this view in mind Global Journal has taken the initiative to rank these non-governmental organizations. It is indeed a commendable task as no such organization has yet taken any initiative to formally assess the NGOs’ contribution to human development all over the globe. “Recognizing the significant role of NGOs as influential agents of change on a global scale, The Global Journal has sought to move beyond outdated clichés and narrow conceptions about what an NGO is and does. From humanitarian relief to the environment, public health to education, microfinance to intellectual property, NGOs are increasingly at the forefront of developments shaping the lives of millions of people around the world.”
The following significant factors received consideration to rank NGOs in the global rating.
(i) Effectiveness meaning delivery against objective
(ii) Impact- outcome over output
(iii) Transparency and accountability-level of reporting
(iv) Innovation stands for fresh approaching to old problems.
This in-depth feature will no doubt invite and stimulate debate. Again, academics, diplomats, policymakers, international organizations and the private sectors will find an insight into the ever changing dynamics and innovative approaches of 100 leading NGOs. It will really invoke further attention from all concerned.
The Global Journal has congratulated the Wikimedia Foundation for achieving first place in the Top 100 for the year 2012. Wikipedia- has transformed the way in which the world obtains information, reaching 477 million visitors per month. Entirely, volunteer-driven, the site has rapidly become the largest collection of shared knowledge in human history. In the row of second ranking comes Partners in Health which works only in Haiti and is followed by Oxfam. It engages in humanitarian work, assisting those immediately affected by conflict and natural disasters. It implements development programs, seeking to lift communities out of poverty with long-term, sustainable solutions.
It’s a great honour and prestige for Bangladesh that BRAC, an NGO of the developing Bangladesh, funded and run by a visionary Bangladeshi leader Sir Fazle Hasan Abed by name, has occupied the fourth position in this world ranking. BRAC has crossed the boundary of Bangladesh and works in eleven Asian, African and Caribbean countries touching the lives of fourteen million people. It works in almost all the aspects that influence human life. BRAC vision goes thus’ a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination where everyone has the opportunity to realize the potential.’ BRAC’s mission is to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease and social injustice. It’s interventions aim to achieve large scale, positive changes through economic and social program that enable women and men to realize their potential. BRAC values are Innovation, Integrity, Inclusiveness and Effectiveness. BRAC is followed by International Rescue Committee and sixth position goes to PATH. CARE International stands seventh, Medicin Sans Frontiers eighth, Danish Refugee Council ninth and tenth position goes to Ushahidi , a Kenya-born NGO.
Global Journal is a German-based magazine aimed at becoming the insider’s guide to what it describes as the ‘global issues’ scene. It made the ranking on the basis of the data sources from the organizational websites, annual reports, external evaluations and conversations with practitioners and donors. How many people they interviewed and how have not been detailed. Of course, they collected feedback quite a number of practitioners in the field. Again, the size of an NGO did not receive serious consideration rather function, the impact they made. So, it can be said that they collected the genuine information regarding the selected NGOs. When they have started, some other organizations/bodies will come forward undertake this job next year. Some raised the question why The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation were not included on the list. The Ford Foundation, Rockfeller Foundation also was not in the list. The authority advocated that the Gates Foundation is ultimately focused on grant-making, rather than running its own programs.
We can see that from a geographical perspective, over half of the 100 best NGOs are found only in two countries: thirty-seven from the United States and fourteen from the United Kingdom. Emerging countries, such as India and Brazil, contribute just over a tenth of the top non-profit organizations in the ranking while developing countries host 15 of the best NGOs. Within the top 10 ranking there are already two developing country based organizations: Bangladesh’s BRAC in fourth and Kenya-born Ushahidi in tenth. This figures says that the developing countries do influence the poverty, education, health and consciousness factors indeed.
“International non-governmental organizations have a history dating back to at least 1839.It has been estimated that by 1914, there were 1083 NGOs. International NGOs were important in the anti-slavery movement and the movement for women’ suffrage and reached a peak at the time of the World Disarmament Conference. However, the phrase "non-governmental organization" only came into popular use with the establishment of the United Nations Organization United Nation in 1945 with provisions in Article 71 of Chapter 10 of the United Nations Charter for a consultative role for organizations which are neither governments nor member states. The definition of "international NGO" (INGO) is first given in resolution 288 (X) of ECOSOC on February 27, 1950: it is defined as "any international organization that is not founded by an international treaty". The vital role of NGOs and other "major groups" in sustainable development sustainable was recognized in Chapter 27 leading to intense arrangements for a consultative relationship between the United Nations and non-governmental organizations. Rapid development of the non-governmental sector occurred in western countries as a result of the processes of restructuring of the welfare state .Further globalization of that process occurred after the fall of the communist system and was an important part of the Washington consensus. Globalization during the 20th century gave rise to the importance of NGOs.” (Source: Wikipedia). Now NGOs are visual reality of the world. Their global ranking will further add to their values.
Masum Billah
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, PACE
Cell: 01714-091431 .Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
The following significant factors received consideration to rank NGOs in the global rating.
(i) Effectiveness meaning delivery against objective
(ii) Impact- outcome over output
(iii) Transparency and accountability-level of reporting
(iv) Innovation stands for fresh approaching to old problems.
This in-depth feature will no doubt invite and stimulate debate. Again, academics, diplomats, policymakers, international organizations and the private sectors will find an insight into the ever changing dynamics and innovative approaches of 100 leading NGOs. It will really invoke further attention from all concerned.
The Global Journal has congratulated the Wikimedia Foundation for achieving first place in the Top 100 for the year 2012. Wikipedia- has transformed the way in which the world obtains information, reaching 477 million visitors per month. Entirely, volunteer-driven, the site has rapidly become the largest collection of shared knowledge in human history. In the row of second ranking comes Partners in Health which works only in Haiti and is followed by Oxfam. It engages in humanitarian work, assisting those immediately affected by conflict and natural disasters. It implements development programs, seeking to lift communities out of poverty with long-term, sustainable solutions.
It’s a great honour and prestige for Bangladesh that BRAC, an NGO of the developing Bangladesh, funded and run by a visionary Bangladeshi leader Sir Fazle Hasan Abed by name, has occupied the fourth position in this world ranking. BRAC has crossed the boundary of Bangladesh and works in eleven Asian, African and Caribbean countries touching the lives of fourteen million people. It works in almost all the aspects that influence human life. BRAC vision goes thus’ a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination where everyone has the opportunity to realize the potential.’ BRAC’s mission is to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease and social injustice. It’s interventions aim to achieve large scale, positive changes through economic and social program that enable women and men to realize their potential. BRAC values are Innovation, Integrity, Inclusiveness and Effectiveness. BRAC is followed by International Rescue Committee and sixth position goes to PATH. CARE International stands seventh, Medicin Sans Frontiers eighth, Danish Refugee Council ninth and tenth position goes to Ushahidi , a Kenya-born NGO.
Global Journal is a German-based magazine aimed at becoming the insider’s guide to what it describes as the ‘global issues’ scene. It made the ranking on the basis of the data sources from the organizational websites, annual reports, external evaluations and conversations with practitioners and donors. How many people they interviewed and how have not been detailed. Of course, they collected feedback quite a number of practitioners in the field. Again, the size of an NGO did not receive serious consideration rather function, the impact they made. So, it can be said that they collected the genuine information regarding the selected NGOs. When they have started, some other organizations/bodies will come forward undertake this job next year. Some raised the question why The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation were not included on the list. The Ford Foundation, Rockfeller Foundation also was not in the list. The authority advocated that the Gates Foundation is ultimately focused on grant-making, rather than running its own programs.
We can see that from a geographical perspective, over half of the 100 best NGOs are found only in two countries: thirty-seven from the United States and fourteen from the United Kingdom. Emerging countries, such as India and Brazil, contribute just over a tenth of the top non-profit organizations in the ranking while developing countries host 15 of the best NGOs. Within the top 10 ranking there are already two developing country based organizations: Bangladesh’s BRAC in fourth and Kenya-born Ushahidi in tenth. This figures says that the developing countries do influence the poverty, education, health and consciousness factors indeed.
“International non-governmental organizations have a history dating back to at least 1839.It has been estimated that by 1914, there were 1083 NGOs. International NGOs were important in the anti-slavery movement and the movement for women’ suffrage and reached a peak at the time of the World Disarmament Conference. However, the phrase "non-governmental organization" only came into popular use with the establishment of the United Nations Organization United Nation in 1945 with provisions in Article 71 of Chapter 10 of the United Nations Charter for a consultative role for organizations which are neither governments nor member states. The definition of "international NGO" (INGO) is first given in resolution 288 (X) of ECOSOC on February 27, 1950: it is defined as "any international organization that is not founded by an international treaty". The vital role of NGOs and other "major groups" in sustainable development sustainable was recognized in Chapter 27 leading to intense arrangements for a consultative relationship between the United Nations and non-governmental organizations. Rapid development of the non-governmental sector occurred in western countries as a result of the processes of restructuring of the welfare state .Further globalization of that process occurred after the fall of the communist system and was an important part of the Washington consensus. Globalization during the 20th century gave rise to the importance of NGOs.” (Source: Wikipedia). Now NGOs are visual reality of the world. Their global ranking will further add to their values.
Masum Billah
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program, PACE
Cell: 01714-091431 .Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Will Kim Jong's death hasten the unification of Koreas?
Will Kim Jong’s death hasten the unification of Koreas?
North Korea lost her second generation great leader on 17 December 2011 of a heart attack brought on by mental and physical strain. The TV screen shows the heartfelt cry of the citizens which undoubtedly proves their undeniable love for their popular leader Kim Jong whatever way the world leaders termed him. Kim was groomed to succeed his father for three decades taking power when the Great Leader and the founder father of North Korea died in July 1994 to an outpouring of national grief. He extended a cult of personality as the dear leader even as many of the nation’s 24 million citizens lived on an average income of less than a dollar a day. He ruled for seventeen years since he came to power in July 1994 and resisted opening up to the outside world in order to protect his regime. “The likely succession of his third son, Jong Un, threatens to trigger a dangerous period for the Korean Peninsula where 1.7 million troops from the two Koreans and the U.S. square off every day. Kim Jong Un’s taking complete control of the helm will not take place for a while due to his young and inexperienced leadership,”-- said, Yang Moo, Jin, a professor, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. Kim leaves behind an economy less than three percent the size of South Korea’s and which has relied on economic handout since the 1990’s when an estimated two million people died from famine. The United Nations and the U.S. last year increased economic sanctions imposed as result of North Korea’s nuclear weapons activities and attacks that killed 50 South Koreans. He earned the title ‘ axis of evils’ for his country because of his nuclear activities but his genuine love and patriotism for his country gave him courage to ignore these western and outside world pressures.
In 2009 as Kim defied threats of United Nations sanctions to test a second nuclear device and a ballistic missile, technically capable of striking Tokyo. The following year North Korea lashed out militarily, prompting stern warnings from the U.S. and South Korea. An international investigation blamed Kim’s regime for the March 2010 sinking of a South Korean war ship and shelled a South Koran island killing two soldiers and two civilians. These activities convinced the world that North Korea had achieved ‘stunning ‘advances to its uranium –enriched program. In 2010 Kim set in line his succession plan, Kim Jong Un, thought to be 28 or 29 , was first mentioned in official KCNA dispatches on Sept. 28 when his appointments as general and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the party were announced.
The world knows that before the Korean war of 1950-1953 both South and North Korea had been one nation and the people could go back and forth from northern part of southern part. But it got divided into two namely North and South Korea. North Korea was influenced and helped by the Soviet Union and South by two western superpowers. During 1980s when Soviet Union collapsed North Korea started receiving no support from Russia and Eastern European countries because of their political ideology change. China, the biggest power and the giant in terms of military and commercial partner, began to establish close ties with North Korea. It angered the western powers and their ally South Korea. Both the parts began to do well in terms of economic achievement though the South proved far advanced. But in 1990s the North Korea witnessed several weather disasters and some wrong policies of agriculture coupled with receiving no help from Eastern European countries which invited a famine in the country. Hundreds and thousands of North Korean died in the famine then. Kim refrained from enforcing the usual tight restriction on mobility, permitting starving people to travel within the country to find food Kim hoped to avert a sudden loss of popular support. It was a pragmatic decision.
For three decades Kim exercised power as a high-level official rarely travelling aboard or meeting foreign leaders and often going for long periods when his domestic public appearances weren’t mentioned in the state-run media. ‘Kim was cinema buff whose personal library included tens of thousands of western moves. Obsessed with improving the country’s film output, he had agents kidnap South Korea’s leading director Shin Sang-ok, and the director’s actress wife, Choi- Eun-hi, they subsequently escaped with tape recording s of conversation they had with Kim.’( source: internet)
In 1991 Kim Jong II became Commander in Chief of North Koran’s powerful armed force. Three years later when Kim II Sung died suddenly from a heart attack at 82, most outsiders predicted the imminent collapse of North Korea as the nation had lost its venerable founder father. Just a few years later, its powerful alliances had evaporated with the fall of the Soviet Union bloc and China’s move toward a market based system. The economy was on the rocks and energy and food were in short supply. Kim Jong II inherited a genius for playing the weak hand and by keeping the major powers nervous. It was Kim Jong who managed to open dialogue and arrange a summit level meeting with the then South Korean president in 2000. Now the political analysts ask whether the two Koreas are going to be unified as Kim Jong has passed away. If it might have been done, the poverty stricken lakhs of people of North Korea would have been benefitted. Again, another group comments the unification of two Koreas will create economic imbalance between them. At present the per capita income of South Korea is seven times higher than that of North Korea. So, North Korea will be benefited thought unification. Now North Korea sees China’s full hold on her. Again, the South enjoys western support. Hillary Clinton, the USA Secretary of State, has announced help and cooperating for North Korea. She hopes to establish good relations with the new administration of North Korea. Now will these big global players allow the unification of Koreas to happen smoothly ? Besides, Kim Jong Un, the son of Kim Jong has been groomed and brought up with the same ideology of his father. Will he allow the unification? Time will untie the knot of this riddle. Let us wait to see what is going to happen?
MASUM BILLAH
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program
Cell: 01714-091431
Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com, masumbillah65@gmail.com
North Korea lost her second generation great leader on 17 December 2011 of a heart attack brought on by mental and physical strain. The TV screen shows the heartfelt cry of the citizens which undoubtedly proves their undeniable love for their popular leader Kim Jong whatever way the world leaders termed him. Kim was groomed to succeed his father for three decades taking power when the Great Leader and the founder father of North Korea died in July 1994 to an outpouring of national grief. He extended a cult of personality as the dear leader even as many of the nation’s 24 million citizens lived on an average income of less than a dollar a day. He ruled for seventeen years since he came to power in July 1994 and resisted opening up to the outside world in order to protect his regime. “The likely succession of his third son, Jong Un, threatens to trigger a dangerous period for the Korean Peninsula where 1.7 million troops from the two Koreans and the U.S. square off every day. Kim Jong Un’s taking complete control of the helm will not take place for a while due to his young and inexperienced leadership,”-- said, Yang Moo, Jin, a professor, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. Kim leaves behind an economy less than three percent the size of South Korea’s and which has relied on economic handout since the 1990’s when an estimated two million people died from famine. The United Nations and the U.S. last year increased economic sanctions imposed as result of North Korea’s nuclear weapons activities and attacks that killed 50 South Koreans. He earned the title ‘ axis of evils’ for his country because of his nuclear activities but his genuine love and patriotism for his country gave him courage to ignore these western and outside world pressures.
In 2009 as Kim defied threats of United Nations sanctions to test a second nuclear device and a ballistic missile, technically capable of striking Tokyo. The following year North Korea lashed out militarily, prompting stern warnings from the U.S. and South Korea. An international investigation blamed Kim’s regime for the March 2010 sinking of a South Korean war ship and shelled a South Koran island killing two soldiers and two civilians. These activities convinced the world that North Korea had achieved ‘stunning ‘advances to its uranium –enriched program. In 2010 Kim set in line his succession plan, Kim Jong Un, thought to be 28 or 29 , was first mentioned in official KCNA dispatches on Sept. 28 when his appointments as general and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the party were announced.
The world knows that before the Korean war of 1950-1953 both South and North Korea had been one nation and the people could go back and forth from northern part of southern part. But it got divided into two namely North and South Korea. North Korea was influenced and helped by the Soviet Union and South by two western superpowers. During 1980s when Soviet Union collapsed North Korea started receiving no support from Russia and Eastern European countries because of their political ideology change. China, the biggest power and the giant in terms of military and commercial partner, began to establish close ties with North Korea. It angered the western powers and their ally South Korea. Both the parts began to do well in terms of economic achievement though the South proved far advanced. But in 1990s the North Korea witnessed several weather disasters and some wrong policies of agriculture coupled with receiving no help from Eastern European countries which invited a famine in the country. Hundreds and thousands of North Korean died in the famine then. Kim refrained from enforcing the usual tight restriction on mobility, permitting starving people to travel within the country to find food Kim hoped to avert a sudden loss of popular support. It was a pragmatic decision.
For three decades Kim exercised power as a high-level official rarely travelling aboard or meeting foreign leaders and often going for long periods when his domestic public appearances weren’t mentioned in the state-run media. ‘Kim was cinema buff whose personal library included tens of thousands of western moves. Obsessed with improving the country’s film output, he had agents kidnap South Korea’s leading director Shin Sang-ok, and the director’s actress wife, Choi- Eun-hi, they subsequently escaped with tape recording s of conversation they had with Kim.’( source: internet)
In 1991 Kim Jong II became Commander in Chief of North Koran’s powerful armed force. Three years later when Kim II Sung died suddenly from a heart attack at 82, most outsiders predicted the imminent collapse of North Korea as the nation had lost its venerable founder father. Just a few years later, its powerful alliances had evaporated with the fall of the Soviet Union bloc and China’s move toward a market based system. The economy was on the rocks and energy and food were in short supply. Kim Jong II inherited a genius for playing the weak hand and by keeping the major powers nervous. It was Kim Jong who managed to open dialogue and arrange a summit level meeting with the then South Korean president in 2000. Now the political analysts ask whether the two Koreas are going to be unified as Kim Jong has passed away. If it might have been done, the poverty stricken lakhs of people of North Korea would have been benefitted. Again, another group comments the unification of two Koreas will create economic imbalance between them. At present the per capita income of South Korea is seven times higher than that of North Korea. So, North Korea will be benefited thought unification. Now North Korea sees China’s full hold on her. Again, the South enjoys western support. Hillary Clinton, the USA Secretary of State, has announced help and cooperating for North Korea. She hopes to establish good relations with the new administration of North Korea. Now will these big global players allow the unification of Koreas to happen smoothly ? Besides, Kim Jong Un, the son of Kim Jong has been groomed and brought up with the same ideology of his father. Will he allow the unification? Time will untie the knot of this riddle. Let us wait to see what is going to happen?
MASUM BILLAH
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program
Cell: 01714-091431
Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com, masumbillah65@gmail.com
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Our dream in next twenty years
Our dream in next twenty years
The nation has just observed its 40th Victory Day anniversary and stepped into 41st year of our achievement of freedom. Our greatest achievement in the 20th century at the cost of supreme sacrifice of our heroic sons is our freedom but the real spirit of freedom struggle still stands far apart from the reality. Political factors stand prime barriers to materialize the dream of our liberation struggle. What percentage of freedom we have achieved in terms of education, getting health facilities from the state, social security, freedom of speech and human rights still remains a big question.
We have achieved some progress in primary education in terms of the increase of school going children but not in terms of acquiring competency level. Still seventeen percent children don't go to school at all. The fruit of freedom has not yet ripened even after 40 years for these children. This percentage shows much higher in ‘haor’ and ‘monga’ and ‘hilly’ areas. In the secondary level pass percentage is increasing every year without ensuring quality. It has become a national mania to make the students pass in the public examination whether they have the ability to pass or not. We have established 56 private universities beyond our 32 public universities even though only fifteen percent of our students study in university level and the standard of our universities in the world ranking registers many hundred miles back. As in the secondary and higher secondary levels the quality is not ensured, its negative impact is discerned in the tertiary level. Every sensible person must ask a question is it the fruit of freedom that all the educational institutions from primary to highest tier would be absolutely politicized and vitiated the academic atmosphere in the name of democracy. Teacher recruitment, student admission, getting MPO and result publication witness the naked claws of politics. I dream a Bangladesh after twenty years where all the children will go to school laughing and smiling. They will enjoy the school environment; classroom environment will attract them just like magnet. All the teachers will be trained and dedicated to real teaching and building the patriotic citizens of the country. Extra coaching for money will be a foreign phenomenon to all the students, teachers and guardians. Teachers will not have to pay bribes to the corrupt officials of the department of education who are actually like their sons but don’t feel shame to take hush money from the teachers. This evil practice will disappear for ever from the corridors of Shiksha Bhaban. The universities will be centers of excellence where the ugly touch of politics will remain thousands of miles away. The world class research and ideal education will not only invite the true knowledge seekers of the country but also from abroad.
Political programs one after another have annoyed the lives of people. But the most miserable fact appears that hundreds and thousands of youths are being arrested by the police unnecessarily. Before any political programs the young people cannot sleep in their own houses because of the fear of police action. It seems then that we are living in another country, not in our homeland. We are living in occupied Gaza strip of West Bank. When they are caught by the police, they are to endure inhuman torture. Their families are to pass through nightmare ordeals. Many families have to lose everything to save their sons from the clutches of police. A question undoubtedly surfaces in every sensible people’s mind whether we are living in the independent Bangladesh or we are passing the days of 1971 when the Pak army used to torture us. My dream of a Bangladesh after twenty years is that Bangladesh must have a well trained police force that will not be used for gaining political ends. Police will be real friends of the people and the political vengeance will disappear for good. People will really feel the taste of independent Bangladesh. Human’s rights will be established at ever tier of the nation.
Social problems such as trafficking children and women, insecurity, road accidents, human rights situation, price hike, corruption at every step have faded the dream of our nation. We just remain complacent in terms of political achievement. Real achievement and the real fruit of freedom have not yet reached the doorstep of common people. Our state machinery would be diverted to public welfare and ensure trafficking free country and a county where road accidents will be only a rare happening. We live in an independent country but it’s peculiar that hundreds and thousands of poor people die for want of treatment and medicine. Already employed doctors think of their own fortune depriving the country of their valuable service. My dream of future Bangladesh after twenty years is to ensure sound treatment facilities for all the poor people from the state and the well to do have to have good treatment in the country of their own cost. My country will produce ample doctors with humanitarian trainings and good medical skill and also have best quality hospitals both in the private and public sectors but all will ensure treatment for the people of all strata of society.
We need to be optimistic. But mere optimism without any real and qualitative change in personal, social and state life cannot be appreciated. Yes we see many changes have taken place in the lives of the people but how much still remains to be fulfilled need to be thought? Most of the cases changes have taken place in private sectors and the state machinery imposes various types of restrictions in the name of democracy actually to materialize the nefarious design of ugly politics making the countrymen the hostages of these evils. We want to see this culture has evaporated otherwise our freedom will be meaningless to millions, may be meaningful to few. Do we see any qualitative or physical change in the government offices? The answer will be a big No. Still government offices have retained the reputation of harassing people. We don’t see any changes in delivering service to the clients in state run bodies. Nor they are trained to serve the people as the citizens of a free nation. Is it our hard earned freedom? Does freedom mean only having a piece of land? I want to see my country where all the children will receive education in a beautiful and enjoyable place. Girls will not be discriminated. Citizens will receive education and education will be treated as the rights of the citizens not as opportunity. We want a Bangladesh where corruption will be thrown in the dust forever. Poverty will be kept in the museum. We no more want to be the playthings of the rival political games. Rather we want to establish a healthy culture for all where the future generation will nourish and inhale fresh air. This is our dream.
Masum Billah
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program and Vice-President: Bangladesh English Teachers’ Association ( BELTA)
The nation has just observed its 40th Victory Day anniversary and stepped into 41st year of our achievement of freedom. Our greatest achievement in the 20th century at the cost of supreme sacrifice of our heroic sons is our freedom but the real spirit of freedom struggle still stands far apart from the reality. Political factors stand prime barriers to materialize the dream of our liberation struggle. What percentage of freedom we have achieved in terms of education, getting health facilities from the state, social security, freedom of speech and human rights still remains a big question.
We have achieved some progress in primary education in terms of the increase of school going children but not in terms of acquiring competency level. Still seventeen percent children don't go to school at all. The fruit of freedom has not yet ripened even after 40 years for these children. This percentage shows much higher in ‘haor’ and ‘monga’ and ‘hilly’ areas. In the secondary level pass percentage is increasing every year without ensuring quality. It has become a national mania to make the students pass in the public examination whether they have the ability to pass or not. We have established 56 private universities beyond our 32 public universities even though only fifteen percent of our students study in university level and the standard of our universities in the world ranking registers many hundred miles back. As in the secondary and higher secondary levels the quality is not ensured, its negative impact is discerned in the tertiary level. Every sensible person must ask a question is it the fruit of freedom that all the educational institutions from primary to highest tier would be absolutely politicized and vitiated the academic atmosphere in the name of democracy. Teacher recruitment, student admission, getting MPO and result publication witness the naked claws of politics. I dream a Bangladesh after twenty years where all the children will go to school laughing and smiling. They will enjoy the school environment; classroom environment will attract them just like magnet. All the teachers will be trained and dedicated to real teaching and building the patriotic citizens of the country. Extra coaching for money will be a foreign phenomenon to all the students, teachers and guardians. Teachers will not have to pay bribes to the corrupt officials of the department of education who are actually like their sons but don’t feel shame to take hush money from the teachers. This evil practice will disappear for ever from the corridors of Shiksha Bhaban. The universities will be centers of excellence where the ugly touch of politics will remain thousands of miles away. The world class research and ideal education will not only invite the true knowledge seekers of the country but also from abroad.
Political programs one after another have annoyed the lives of people. But the most miserable fact appears that hundreds and thousands of youths are being arrested by the police unnecessarily. Before any political programs the young people cannot sleep in their own houses because of the fear of police action. It seems then that we are living in another country, not in our homeland. We are living in occupied Gaza strip of West Bank. When they are caught by the police, they are to endure inhuman torture. Their families are to pass through nightmare ordeals. Many families have to lose everything to save their sons from the clutches of police. A question undoubtedly surfaces in every sensible people’s mind whether we are living in the independent Bangladesh or we are passing the days of 1971 when the Pak army used to torture us. My dream of a Bangladesh after twenty years is that Bangladesh must have a well trained police force that will not be used for gaining political ends. Police will be real friends of the people and the political vengeance will disappear for good. People will really feel the taste of independent Bangladesh. Human’s rights will be established at ever tier of the nation.
Social problems such as trafficking children and women, insecurity, road accidents, human rights situation, price hike, corruption at every step have faded the dream of our nation. We just remain complacent in terms of political achievement. Real achievement and the real fruit of freedom have not yet reached the doorstep of common people. Our state machinery would be diverted to public welfare and ensure trafficking free country and a county where road accidents will be only a rare happening. We live in an independent country but it’s peculiar that hundreds and thousands of poor people die for want of treatment and medicine. Already employed doctors think of their own fortune depriving the country of their valuable service. My dream of future Bangladesh after twenty years is to ensure sound treatment facilities for all the poor people from the state and the well to do have to have good treatment in the country of their own cost. My country will produce ample doctors with humanitarian trainings and good medical skill and also have best quality hospitals both in the private and public sectors but all will ensure treatment for the people of all strata of society.
We need to be optimistic. But mere optimism without any real and qualitative change in personal, social and state life cannot be appreciated. Yes we see many changes have taken place in the lives of the people but how much still remains to be fulfilled need to be thought? Most of the cases changes have taken place in private sectors and the state machinery imposes various types of restrictions in the name of democracy actually to materialize the nefarious design of ugly politics making the countrymen the hostages of these evils. We want to see this culture has evaporated otherwise our freedom will be meaningless to millions, may be meaningful to few. Do we see any qualitative or physical change in the government offices? The answer will be a big No. Still government offices have retained the reputation of harassing people. We don’t see any changes in delivering service to the clients in state run bodies. Nor they are trained to serve the people as the citizens of a free nation. Is it our hard earned freedom? Does freedom mean only having a piece of land? I want to see my country where all the children will receive education in a beautiful and enjoyable place. Girls will not be discriminated. Citizens will receive education and education will be treated as the rights of the citizens not as opportunity. We want a Bangladesh where corruption will be thrown in the dust forever. Poverty will be kept in the museum. We no more want to be the playthings of the rival political games. Rather we want to establish a healthy culture for all where the future generation will nourish and inhale fresh air. This is our dream.
Masum Billah
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program and Vice-President: Bangladesh English Teachers’ Association ( BELTA)
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