A gradual decline in the standard of education, on the one hand, and an exodus of students for higher studies abroad, on the other, are matters of serious concern. For studies abroad students have to fulfil some requisite criteria and this is evidence enough that given the right opportunities they can well adapt themselves to the demanding environment of higher education abroad. Given the quality of education at home leaves much to be desired, it would not be a bad thing if students studying in reputed higher seats of learning abroad returned home on completion of their studies. But reportedly, the majority are not returning. This is an indication that their talent is in demand in the countries they are staying. Although immigration law is strict in many of those countries, their values as human resource get the better of such laws in the case of granting them residential status.
True, a new breed of students studying at home have been leaving their marks at the top levels of international competitions beating the front-runners in the world but a few of their inventions, theoretical knowledge and technological developments have received the financial backing for translation into practical use. Most of the scientists and creative minds from this land came up with their extraordinary feats in laboratories and at institutions in foreign countries. Maqsudul Alam did his first seminal work of decoding papaya gene at the University of Hawaii, the United States of America. He was later successfully involved in sequencing of jute's genome. Now Zahid Hasan, a Princeton professor of physics, has discovered the elusive massless particle known as Weyl fermion which has a potential of making incredible use of electronics to facilitate communication.
So the challenge before the country is two-fold: first, raising the quality of education; second, creating facilities for research and experiments. It is quite out of question that this can be done overnight but the process should begin right now. Admittedly, most fundamental research needs an enormous amount of money beyond the country's capability. But there are areas where modest investments can yield startling results. The investment in the state-of-the-art laboratory set up under the guidance of Maqsudul Alam is a case in point. More scientists and business leaders who excel in their vocation abroad but have love for the country of their origin will come back home to pass on their knowledge and expertise if they are encouraged.
So the process of improving the standard of education and inviting scholars of Bangladeshi origin from abroad must go simultaneously. They will lead teams to set syllabi compatible with those of advanced countries as well as advise on creating laboratory facilities at universities for expediting research works. But all this requires money. Sadly, the government allocation both for education and research in the current budget has shrunken. In the budget it is as low as 1.8 per cent of the aggregate allocation as against India's 3.8 per cent. This cannot be said to be a move in the right direction. The country must be ready to spend at least 15 per cent of its annual budgetary fund on education and research, if not more.
