The declining trend of science education

We hailed the news of two Bangladeshi scientists, Dipan­kar Talukdar and Prof Selim Shah­riar, who were among the global teams of scientists who detected gravitational forces about a month back. As a member of the LIGO research team of the University of Oregon, Dipankar—he was a former student of Dhaka University’s physics department—concentrated on finding whether the wave came from the Earth or from the collision of the two black holes joining into one. On the other hand, Prof. Selim Shahriar led the team of scientists of US’s famous Northwestern University. Hailing from Bera upazila of Pabna, Prof. Selim Shahriar, contributed to the making of the machine that captured the gravitational forces.
Detection of gravitational forces was ground-breaking news in the field of astrophysics and is expected to help scientists fully understand gravity. What the great scientist of all time Albert Einstein predicted a century ago about the presence of gravitational waves in the space is now real with the discovery of these waves. The new finding would also help scientists understand and explain the Big Bang theory of the universe. According to scientists of LIGO Laboratory, when two black holes collided some 1.3 billion years ago, the joining of those two great masses sent forth a vibration that hurtled through space and reached Earth on September 14, 2015. Some compared the magnitude of discovery with that of discovery of Galilio’s telescope. However, as Bangladeshis, we were happy to know that Dipankar Talukdar and Prof. Selim Shahriar were on the vanguard in this ground-breaking discovery.  
Few days ago Bangladesh’s media also prominently covered the news that Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) scientist, Dr Mohammad Tofajjal Hossain, discovered a new species of endophytic bacteria called Bacillus oryzicola. Out of 299 species of the Bacillus groups, only 30 species are novel and the newly discovered Bacillus oryzicola occupies the 31st position. This new species of bacteria helps in increasing rice yields by controlling major diseases and promoting the plant growth. After this discovery we now expect that Bangladesh would gain practically utilising the recent discovery.
 While these pieces of news of Bangladeshi scientists making outstanding performance in the outside world, back in the country it is really alarming to know that at the SSC and HSc levels, students as well as their guardians are showing less and less interest for science education. As students of school and college, Dipankar Talukdar, Prof. Selim Shahriar or Dr Mohammad Tofajjal Hossain belonged to a time when students spontaneously opted for science section but the young people of this generation are more attracted to study business and commerce.  
Recently it was revealed that the number of science students dropped from 23 per cent of 2004 to the present 17 per cent in HSc and 34 per cent to 28 per cent in SSC during the time. There are, however, many reasons for this trend that does not bode well for development of science in Bangladesh.
Firstly, guardians are giving importance to the business subjects because these offer better job prospects; they are convinced that if their wards have a bachelor degree in business faculty, they would surely have a place in the job market which is however not true at all. While many business graduates are going from one corporate office to another and are not getting jobs, students with diploma degree on technical education are filling vacant posts in various office set-ups. And it goes without saying that students who opt for arts or commerce education at the SSC and HSc levels will not be able to pursue vocational education because they do not have basic science knowledge at these levels.
Apart from the job prospects, there are other reasons for which students are not opting for reading physics, chemistry, biology, etc. The situation has now become such in the country that without private tuition on these subjects students cannot appear in the exams. This trend has made the science education very costly. Moreover, according to the report there is also a scarcity of good science teachers in school and college levels.
More importantly, all schools and colleges do not have science laboratories with adequate equipment for practical science without which science education cannot be complete. For a particular student with special knack for business or arts, the choice must be open; but if in general Bangladesh fails to lag behind in science education, it will not be possible to take Bangladesh to the desired level of development.
Therefore, it is very important for the policy makers to create an environment where students feel encouraged to read science as opposed to the present trend. Besides making schools and college well-equipped with laboratories as well as good science teachers, the government authorities can give stimulus to students who opt for science division both at the SSC and HSc levels, particularly at the SCC level. This stimulus can be even offering stipend to the students. The ministry of education must take the ever declining trend of science education very seriously and do the needful to reverse it.  
There is also the necessity of creating jobs for science students for attracting them to science education. The government can very well take up establishing well-equipped science laboratories to promote research within and outside an academic institution. Indeed it would have been very heartening to know if the BARI agriculturist, Dr Mohammad Tofajjal Hossain, made his discovery of the novel species of bacteria in any agriculture laboratory in Bangladesh.
It is often said—and justifiably so—that Muslim countries are now failing to keep pace with the rest of the world because they are lagging behind in science education both in its theoretical and practical sides. Therefore, Bangladesh’s education policy makers must take the student’s recent dwindling interest in science education very seriously. Ideas are aplenty here and values of a society mostly generate from that society’s inherent traditions. But lagging behind in science means dependence on countries that have mastered it better.          

The writer can be contacted at: [email protected]

 

The declining trend of science education

We hailed the news of two Bangladeshi scientists, Dipankar Talukdar and Prof Selim Shahriar, who were among the global teams of scientists who detected gravitational forces about a month back. As a member of the LIGO research team of the University of Oregon, Dipankarhe was a former student of Dhaka Universitys physics departmentconcentrated on finding whether the wave came from the Earth or from the collision of the two black holes joining into one. On the other hand, Prof. Selim Shahriar led the team of scientists of USs famous Northwestern University. Hailing from Bera upazila of Pabna, Prof. Selim Shahriar, contributed to the making of the machine that captured the gravitational forces. Detection of gravitational forces was ground-breaking news in the field of astrophysics and is expected to help scientists fully understand gravity. What the great scientist of all time Albert Einstein predicted a century ago about the presence of gravitational waves in the space is now real with the discovery of these waves. The new finding would also help scientists understand and explain the Big Bang theory of the universe. According to scientists of LIGO Laboratory, when two black holes collided some 1.3 billion years ago, the joining of those two great masses sent forth a vibration that hurtled through space and reached Earth on September 14, 2015. Some compared the magnitude of discovery with that of discovery of Galilios telescope. However, as Bangladeshis, we were happy to know that Dipankar Talukdar and Prof. Selim Shahriar were on the vanguard in this ground-breaking discovery. Few days ago Bangladeshs media also prominently covered the news that Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) scientist, Dr Mohammad Tofajjal Hossain, discovered a new species of endophytic bacteria called Bacillus oryzicola. Out of 299 species of the Bacillus groups, only 30 species are novel and the newly discovered Bacillus oryzicola occupies the 31st position. This new species of bacteria helps in increasing rice yields by controlling major diseases and promoting the plant growth. After this discovery we now expect that Bangladesh would gain practically utilising the recent discovery. While these pieces of news of Bangladeshi scientists making outstanding performance in the outside world, back in the country it is really alarming to know that at the SSC and HSc levels, students as well as their guardians are showing less and less interest for science education. As students of school and college, Dipankar Talukdar, Prof. Selim Shahriar or Dr Mohammad Tofajjal Hossain belonged to a time when students spontaneously opted for science section but the young people of this generation are more attracted to study business and commerce. Recently it was revealed that the number of science students dropped from 23 per cent of 2004 to the present 17 per cent in HSc and 34 per cent to 28 per cent in SSC during the time. There are, however, many reasons for this trend that does not bode well for development of science in Bangladesh. Firstly, guardians are giving importance to the business subjects because these offer better job prospects; they are convinced that if their wards have a bachelor degree in business faculty, they would surely have a place in the job market which is however not true at all. While many business graduates are going from one corporate office to another and are not getting jobs, students with diploma degree on technical education are filling vacant posts in various office set-ups. And it goes without saying that students who opt for arts or commerce education at the SSC and HSc levels will not be able to pursue vocational education because they do not have basic science knowledge at these levels. Apart from the job prospects, there are other reasons for which students are not opting for reading physics, chemistry, biology, etc. The situation has now become such in the country that without private tuition on these subjects students cannot appear in the exams. This trend has made the science education very costly. Moreover, according to the report there is also a scarcity of good science teachers in school and college levels. More importantly, all schools and colleges do not have science laboratories with adequate equipment for practical science without which science education cannot be complete. For a particular student with special knack for business or arts, the choice must be open; but if in general Bangladesh fails to lag behind in science education, it will not be possible to take Bangladesh to the desired level of development. Therefore, it is very important for the policy makers to create an environment where students feel encouraged to read science as opposed to the present trend. Besides making schools and college well-equipped with laboratories as well as good science teachers, the government authorities can give stimulus to students who opt for science division both at the SSC and HSc levels, particularly at the SCC level. This stimulus can be even offering stipend to the students. The ministry of education must take the ever declining trend of science education very seriously and do the needful to reverse it. There is also the necessity of creating jobs for science students for attracting them to science education. The government can very well take up establishing well-equipped science laboratories to promote research within and outside an academic institution. Indeed it would have been very heartening to know if the BARI agriculturist, Dr Mohammad Tofajjal Hossain, made his discovery of the novel species of bacteria in any agriculture laboratory in Bangladesh. It is often saidand justifiably sothat Muslim countries are now failing to keep pace with the rest of the world because they are lagging behind in science education both in its theoretical and practical sides. Therefore, Bangladeshs education policy makers must take the students recent dwindling interest in science education very seriously. Ideas are aplenty here and values of a society mostly generate from that societys inherent traditions. But lagging behind in science means dependence on countries that have mastered it better. The writer can be contacted at: [email protected]