Erroneous teaching begot textbook 'mistakes'
The "embarrassing mistakes" in the new school textbooks are a result of the erroneous lessons being delivered to students over the years, Professor Emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury said yesterday.
“These errors are not accidental. These are not an outcome of anyone's neglect," he said. This is a strategy of the government to appease Hefejat-e-Islam, a Qawmi madrasa based organisation, he said.
The government has compromised with Hefajat; it would later tell Hefajat that it could not keep the organisation's demands fulfilled because of the ongoing protest, he said.
The academic was addressing a discussion on "Textbook Scam and Future of Education", organised by Student Federation of Bangladesh at Teacher-Student Centre of Dhaka University.
Hefajat and Bangladesh Awami Olema League demanded exclusion of some of the poems written by "Hindus and atheists".
Citing that the Pakistani regime had also attempted to alter words in the poems of Kazi Nazrul Islam and Jasimuddin, he said, “I didn't expect the same in independent Bangladesh.”
Serajul Islam said the three-stream education system was based on class discrimination. “Madrasa education is a conspiracy to keep the poor marginalised,” he said.
Mentioning that the situation of education reflects state mechanism, Tanjim Uddin Khan, associate professor of international relations of Dhaka University, said, “The education system is not children-friendly.”
Meanwhile, speakers yesterday demanded exemplary punishment for the persons responsible for the "embarrassing mistakes" in the textbooks.
If these errors are aimed at materialising the agenda of a vested quarter, it will jeopardise the age-old Bangalee culture, said Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council.
He said this while addressing a press conference on "Incidence of Human Rights Violation against Minority People in 2016" organised at Dhaka Reporters Unity.
Stories, essays, and poems bearing the message of traditional culture, patriotism, independence, values and ethics have been replaced by contents of religious, sexist, and communal elements, he said.
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