Decentralisation and standardisation of school education

When all roads lead to one destination, the consequent rush is unavoidable. In Dhaka, usually the commercial or administrative hubs are located at a stone's throw distance. Then the stadiums too are destinations of sport-enthusiastic fans, particularly on mega sports events. But one area of city life's regular rush that escapes notice is educational institutions, schools in particular. The problem here is the concentration of some reputed schools and colleges in some select areas.

Heavy concentration of reputed educational institutions has its attendant ills. More people set up kindergartens and preparatory schools for tiny tots, promising their extensive and targeted schooling will help the learns to get admitted to their parents' desired institutions. However, this is just a part of the problem. Coaching centres also have a mushrooming growth. Sometimes, more adventurous and intriguing ones bring out coloured posters of students who have successfully passed out from their facilities and been placed in top positions in medical college, engineering universities and universities like University of Dhaka (DU).

So, the proliferation of educational institutions continues and there is also an unwritten competition for residential accommodation as close-by as possible among the families fortunate enough to have their wards admitted to educational institutions in such localities. So the rush gets heavier in the morning, at noon and also in the evening. But not all families are equally fortunate enough to reside in the area within walking distance or around tit. Some have to commute long distance to get their boys and girls attend classes on time. Those who have private cars at least enjoy the luxury of comfortably travelling but not without hassles. Dhaka roads are infamous for waterlogging on account of a small shower and the cars too get stuck in the long tailback.

Now the atrocious urban-rural divide is commonly known but the divide within a city or cities in this country also prevails quite pronouncedly. Urban planning has neglected rational distribution of schools, colleges, universities, administrative and commercial hubs, hospitals and health clinics. One positive development happened in recent times. This is the relocation of private universities to their own campuses away from Dhaka. Yet a few are still struggling to provide the right geographical space and an environment suitable the institutions of higher education.

In advanced countries, not only are the highest seats of learning well distributed but also the schools are made to maintain a more or less uniform standard. Paris is divided into boroughs and no student can get admitted to schools located to one other than his/her own. This is how they limit city rush. This country has gone for concentration of its top set-ups in every area of life in Dhaka. This has to be gradually decentralised in the interest of not only economy but also in the interest of its people. This is the central point of reducing social discrimination. The best way to address the problem is to bring about some kind of uniformity in the standard of primary and secondary education in schools.

On this count, no government ever has made any serious attempt. But time has come for making move to this direction in order to bridge the yawning gap in educational standards and opportunities. Also, the location of educational institutions should be selected on the basis of accessibility and peripheral areas. One of the criteria ought to be the system of decent bus service instead of allowing private cars to cram the city streets. True, all this cannot be done overnight but if the government proceeds under a well-crafted plan, things can get better within a time limit. Hopefully Bangladesh will prioritise bridging the educational gap in the national interest.