Would you disbelieve me if I don’t give any reference and statistics but say that in our colleges there are not enough seats to accommodate all the SSC students who pass from science group? Would you disbelieve me if………….. there are not enough seats in our universities to accommodate all the HSC students who pass from science group? Would you………………there are not enough jobs in our research organizations and industries to give jobs to a large share of science graduates who finish their studies in universities , let alone to all? . Would you …………….these jobs are not attractive enough to attract meritorious science graduates?
I am confident, none will disbelieve me. As my statements are generally accepted, does not need any statistics or reference, then should we really worry seeing the deceasing enrollment in science group at SSC and HSC level?
No. because if the enrollment in science decease at the present rate there will be no shortage of science graduates in the next 20 years to fill in the positions in our research organizations and industries.
But should we be relaxed? If not, than what should we worry about? If we are really worried or really want to worry, then we should worry about poor performance of our research organizations, there poor attraction to our meritorious science graduates. We should worry why science and technology is not a national issue? We should worry that Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS) is not a well known organization to our science graduates. We should worry about why Dr. Shamsher Ali is well known to the nation but not the president of BAS to the science graduates. We should …………..why the website of BAS (www.basbd.org ) is not updated. We should worry why Dr. Zafar Iqbal frequently write political column, but hardly or never write science column or criticize the governments’, irrespective of party in power, policy and neglect to science and technology . We should worry why our scientific professional organizations are not critical of governments neglect to science and technology. We should worry why our newspapers have “extension of literature page” in the name of science page and not a single newspaper has prominent scientist as editor of the science page.
Yes, we should really worry as there is no talk of reform, let alone reform, in the science and technology even during the reformist caretaker government?
If we are really worried for what we should be worried, and Want to be relaxed we should make our research organization improve their performance so that jobs in these organizations become attractive and prestigious.Then it will pull students in science group at SSC and HSC level.We should not push students in science group at SSC and HSC level.
4 comments:
Being terrified and horrified by your discussion, I just want to say that, ‘science’ is a discipline where no one can induce others. For instance, you said you are a fan of A.P.J Abdul Kalam. I guess you never meet him, then how did you become his fan?
The point is ‘instance’ or ‘ideal’ this is what make him convenient him to you. But in our country our seniors and obviously we are continuously establishing an idle science community who seek for a banker or administrative job after their graduation.
Our young fellows are claver enough to calculate the math, if he or she has to do such job then why read science. I saw most of the student in my class was daunted of science not because of mathematics or not because of physics or chemistry. Rather they choose their subject by taking a senior uncle or elder brother as instance. A class eight student hardly know about the subsequent hardening of any department. What they follow is the comparative social position of the seniors from the different faculty. After this a few students are brave enough to admit in science with the hope to become a doctor mostly. Within 35 students in my SSC class 15 is still studying in science and 6 of them are in medical, 9 computer science and electrical science with the hope to have a better job mobile company and only 2 is studying mathematics.
This is a glimpse to the total picture of BANGLADESH 7 years ago. I might be wrong but I think the problem is that we are not willing making our own job field. Rather we feel relaxed to wait when a foreign company will start and we will get a job. Though there are some research institutions in Bangladesh but there administrators feel safe to appoint foreign advisor and foreign equipment and protocol there. Bangladeshis work there as a technicians of simple worker. We never encourage our young when they try to make a science project. An undergraduate student is never encouraged if he/she ask teacher what is the alternative of commercial equipment. I believe there is not even a single screw in any research institution of Bangladesh, which was made in Bangladesh.
To change the view we should first respect ourselves. We have to believe and we have to make those juvenile believe that we are capable of invent, improve and support our own technology.
Long lives our country, long lives our wisdom.
Mr. Khandakar,
I have nothing to disagree with you except my being fan of A.P.J kalam. Do i need to see him to be fan of him?
I know his performance , read his books . Are not these enough to be fan of him?
One more thing, why are you terrified and horrified? It seems that i could make my message clear to you. As a new writer it is my weakness. But there is nothing to be terrified or horrified.
If you read my message one more time it may be clear to you.
The Daily Prothom Alo featured the problem concerning decrease of Science students on June 21, 2008. As a science graduate myself, I face the following problems:
1. limited scope of jobs
2. increasing demand for social science and business graduates: the employers advertize for social science graduates even for prevention of AIDS and bird flu!
3. Starting salary for Science graduates is almost half of the business graduates.
4. Female graduates are discouraged in pharmacueticals and jobs requiring field works. The options left are teaching or going abroad.
My suugestions for improving the situation are:
-Transforming Govt. funded institutes BCSIR, AERC, NIB into functional bodies through a public-private partnership
-The science graduates should be entrepreneurs in science based productive business ventures like biofuel production, water purification
-We can use the mass media to make science a popular and effective subject in Bangladesh. Accomplishment of Bangladeshi scientists working in Bangladesh should be focused with honour. We have to make people understand that being a scientist may not make us famous but it is more useful than becoming a singer or a comic hero.
Tasneem Towhid, Dept Microbiology, DU
Hi Tasneem Towhid,
Thanks for sharing your views. Who can disagree with you?
Actually, we all, BAS, scientific professional organisations, media and govt. should our due roles to make research organisations performing up to expectation.
Hope you will share your opinion in future too.
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