Affordable online learning to ensure efficient human capital for future
Bangladesh, the world's eighth most populous country, has a very youthful population with currently about 34 % being beneath the age of 15.
The country's population pyramid is a clear indication of its possibilities for future financial growth, that includes a strong correlation with human capital.
Human capital is an integral factor behind sustained economical growth and poverty reduction for many nations in the 21st century, the World Bank said in a statement.
Theodore William Schultz, a famous American Nobel Laureate for economics, once said there are five ways to develop human capital, of which the very best is education.
Over the last 2 decades, the government has regularly improved after this sector as Bangladesh's human development index (HDI) has truly gone from 0.39 to 0.61, a 58.3 % increase, between 1990 and 2018.
However, the country still ranks below Sri Lanka, India and Bhutan on this index.
In 2020, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic created the largest disruption to the training system ever sold but developed countries fared better in this aspect compared developing nations.
Currently, there are 3.6 million students out of school and in light of the situation, the federal government introduced online admissions for HSC students and completed the procedure by September 17.
This year, a complete of just one 1.69 million students passed the SSC or equivalent examinations while about 1.40 million requested college.
Secondary education creates a bridge that ensures regularity and continuity for further education and this stage is crucial for any student given that this is a part of developing human capital.
To help make the government's target to introduce distance learning for HSC students from October onwards possible, a combined effort is required to ensure that classes on the web are held routinely and effectively.
As per the statistics from a year or two ago, 26 to 28 % of most HSC students dropped out of school for numerous reasons but mainly due to financial constraints.
It is well known that Covid-19 has already established significantly adverse impacts on the employment and income levels among medium and low-income groups.
So under these situations, the federal government should provide special financial support for the education sector and recommend full waivers for college or university admission fees, monthly tuition and other costs according to a student's needs.
Online education is actually more expensive than traditional learning in Bangladesh as students needs to have the right electronic device, for instance a smartphone or laptop, along with strong internet connectivity to wait virtual classes.
Since many students don't have the financial capacity to get the required devices, the federal government, its development partners and business houses should come forward to lend their support in this regard.
By simply running a computer, students can avail hundreds of skill development programmes and besides, this also accelerates digital inclusion.
Internet connectivity is another must-have for distance education but within Bangladesh, the speed of internet connections is inadequate while the costs are too much.
From this backdrop, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission and all local mobile network operators should interact to increase the quality of connection speeds and offer free internet data for classes on the web.
Success in advanced schooling is often defined by a student's persistence, progression and timely graduation. Scholarships that assist or cover the price tag on pursuing an increased education give a number of benefits.
In the current scenario, the government, alongside various reputed business organisations, should actively contribute financial aid for those seeking higher education and allocate disbursements predicated on a student's needs as well as merit.
On top of that, Bangladesh Bank and other finance institutions can play an active role aswell by creating an interest free education loan product.
To control the disbursement of such micro funds would be the biggest challenge but all you need is the right platform and the glad tidings are, we curently have one as bKash, in colaboration with City Bank, recently launched the country's first collateral-free instant digital loan product through mobile wallet.
Online learning and teaching is a totally new dimension in Bangladesh and educators need to have additional skills, such as for example digital literacy.
Some have previously declared classes on the web to be less effective than its physical counterpart but to address this matter, effective measures, initiatives and road maps are a must.
Before that though, the first & most important thing to accomplish is to draft a definite and comprehensive guideline on online learning for both institutions themselves and their teachers.
According to the renowned American writer and founding father Johan Adams, 'Teacher is a maker of man, he's the foundation of most education and thus, of the complete civilisation of mankind, present and future. No nation's reconstruction can be done without the active cooperation of the teacher'.
Apart from government and an extremely few private colleges, the country's remaining educational institutions are registering limited revenues amid the ongoing pandemic and also have even faced difficulties to pay their teachers' salaries promptly.
Under these circumstances, it'll be even more complicated for teachers and other faculty members to possess a enough digital device and internet connection. Therefore, the government and different university governing bodies should discover a way to supply digital devices and bear all the related costs to online understanding how to make the initiative successful.
Within Bangladesh, many students need to work to support their own families and because of this pandemic, their numbers will only increase.
Some students may neglect to attend classes on the web or might not exactly have the same merits as others, therefore the classes ought to be archived so that the video recordings might help them attain a much better understanding.
To facilitate this, there must be a national level archive platform that also features digital textbooks so that students facing financial constraints are not hard pressed to acquire learning materials.
Examinations play an important role in e-learning and a range of benefits for both learner and instructor.
And thus, several types of testing modules, such as for example planned and surprise monthly, quarterly and half-yearly quizzes should be structured in a manner that encourages learners to think back on course materials instead of looking for answers elsewhere.
All of us wish to know when the coronavirus crisis will come to an end so when life will go back to normalcy but it is most likely safe to state we remain nowhere near to the end. Recently, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also asked all concerned to stay prepared as the Covid-19 situation may worsen in winter.
As a proactive measure, the education board must take preparation from now regarding of which modality the entire year end and the final HSC examinations will need place.
Finally, the media can play a crucial role in enlightening and educating people. Aside from our national assembly session, the state-owned Sangsad Television can be used as full time education broadcast channel.
In addition we've 30 private TV channels and if each channel telecasts educational shows for at least 1 hour daily then it results in 30 hours each day total and in this crisis, they should come forward to greatly help our nation.
Business organisations should extend their hand for cost sharing. Print media should print more articles linked to this problem, mainly to attract the attention of concerned stakeholders. Radios also needs to air educational programmes.
Digital Bangladesh is probably the nation's dreams and during the last year or two, Bangladesh has remarkable achievement in several sectors for digitalization but little has been done up to now for the training sector, mainly digital teaching, and this pandemic has opened up an opportunity for nationwide inclusion of digital learning.
