The irrecoverable loss

EDUCATION is the greatest thing to give as an irrevocable gift to our children. But we are causing irrecoverable loss to them as well as Bangladesh's future. Extended closure of educational institutions, disruption of exam schedules and brutal attacks on school-going children have pushed their education life to the brink.
Bangladeshi schools already suffer from very low teacher-student contact hours. Closure of schools is making it worse. A UNDP study titled 'Beyond Hartals' shows that classes lost due to hartals are never made up. Sometimes it is said that the syllabus is completed, but only by rushing through a chapter or lesson that would normally require multiple classes.
To understand the immediate impact, if we take the pass rate as an index we will find that, in the general stream, pass rate went down from 76.5% in 2012 to 71.3% in 2013. The combined (general, technical and Madrasa education) pass rate also fell by 4.37 percentage points.
If new books do not reach to students on time due to nonstop hartal and oborodh it will only add to the ever-increasing burden. But, who cares? Our leaders will continue saying: oborodh is of the people, by the people, for the people.
Make up classes during Friday eat up children's holiday. Six days of the week, they are confined in the houses for fear of violence, and on the holiday they have to rush for long hours of make up classes.
Please note that the number of the student is more than 40 million, more than quarter of our total population. It is estimated that Bangladesh will enjoy this demographic dividend only for the next 15-20 years. If we fail to turn the young population into human capital, the loss will be irrecoverable.
A Unesco study shows that disruption in access to education can lead to significant and long-lasting detrimental effects on individual human capital formation in terms of educational attainment, health outcomes and labour market opportunities. Failure in raising the human capital of young people will only guarantee lags in long-term economic growth and increase the risk of social and political turbulence!
On the one hand, violent politics obstructs access to education and, on the other, children are used in processions and picketing, putting their life at risk. It is reported that they are lured to stand in the front row for extra money. This is using children as human shield!
The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that a young, curious mind attracted to a red taped object finds in his sheer trepidation that it is a bomb, not a ball. Young boys are paid to hurl bombs on innocent pedestrians or other school-going children. Is this politics of 'Digital Bangladesh' or politics of 'Save the Country, Save People' (Desh Bachao, Manush Bachao)?
We, the general people, do not have the luxury of being silent.

The writer is Sr. Editorial Assistant, The Daily Star.
E-mail:[email protected].