Expansion of College Education: A Sociological Study of Some Selected Colleges in Rajshahi Division

Abstract

The abnormal expansion of college education in Bangladesh raises questions and confusions regarding the justification of the establishment of colleges. Such situation needs sociological exploration for comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon. This study was conducted on a sample of 44 nongovernmental colleges of Rajshahi division through extensive interview of the college management. However, secondary sources of information also consulted for review the overall construction of the problem. An exploration of the historical background of college education and higher education made it clear that Bangladesh has a very rich tradition of educational institutions and education management. Despite policy shifts and implementation of development plans during colonial and post-colonial periods, present day Bangladesh as an independent state yet to establish the right way of educational policy and management. Most of the recommendations of the Education Commissions and Five Years Plans were not implemented due to the reluctance and incapability of the then Pakistan government. As a result, the college education failed to reach its desired level of accomplishment during the Pakistan period. The situation continued even after the independence of Bangladesh. The government and policy makers lack seriousness in implementing a viable education policy and workable strategy. Consequently, the education sector still suffers from mismanagement and cannot progress without a viable education policy. Despite the recommendations by Education Commissions and Five-Year Plans nothing significant could have been done to develop the quality of college education and to stop the expansion of below standard college education. The establishment of National University in 1992 as an affiliating university was supposed to improve the standard of the affiliated colleges. The study found that the situation further aggravated under the incapable leadership of the National University. There is gross politicization at grassroots level during and after the. _ establishment of colleges. The political regimes have had immense negative impact on college management. The donation during employment of teachers and staffs has deteriorated the quality of teachers and performance of management. There is anomalies and lack of compliance in respect to the fulfillment of the requirements for affiliation. National University and Ministry of Education have failed to ensure the quality of college education and management. The purpose of establishing the colleges was self-employment of the newly educated unemployed persons. Moreover, the profiteering motive of establishing colleges seemed to be a case of commercialization of education throughout the country. The persons coming forward to establish colleges were the unemployed educated persons, political leaders, businessmen, etc. On the other hand, involvement of benevolent personalities, experienced teachers, social workers are decreasing gradually. Local influential and powerful political persons and businessmen are the main patrons of the newly established colleges. The purpose of the political persons as well as the businessmen is to receive share of the donation. Local political persons and their cronies are being nominated for membership in the Governing Bodies of the colleges. Clear inclination of the individuals of the management with the ruling party politics was ·found. Failure of complying with existing rules of the affiliating National University and Ministry of Education eased the expansion of colleges. The colleges are not properly fulfilling the requirements for affiliation. National University is granting affiliation to the below standard colleges. The monitoring system and teachers' training activities of National University are not sufficient enough to play any significant role in developing the standard of the colleges. The role of the Ministry of Education and its monitoring and training organizations are not encouraging. There are malpractices in case of inclusion in the Monthly Payment Order (MPO). Inspection by the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) of the colleges is irregular and inadequate. It was found that the quality of most of the college teachers is not satisfactory. Teachers do not take the required number of classes prescribed in the routine and they are engaged otherwise for extra income. The poor pay scale is also responsible for such situation. It was found that the colleges took no admission test during enrollment; the rate of passing is very low, students adopted unfair means in examinations and the rate of students' attendance is very poor. All these aggravated the quality of the college education. The management of the most colleges recruited teachers and staffs who could donate to the colleges. Political affiliation and identity of the job seekers rather than educational qualification and experience also received high consideration during appointments. The management look after personal economic profit and most of the management personnel were found inefficient and corrupt. The financial stability and support system of the colleges is also poor. In some cases, the reserve fund is satisfactory, but the condition of general fund is dis satisfactory; no college provides college portion salary to its employees regularly and they do not have adequate sources of income. The study found inadequate infrastructures and teaching aids, unsatisfactory performance of the colleges regarding co-curricular activities, and incapability of providing necessary facilities. Colleges do not have adequate furniture, library facilities and laboratory equipment’s. The tradition of higher education m Bangladesh is quite long and full of experiments. But unfortunately, after decolonization the legacy of colonial attitude in setting objective of higher education and educational management has not gone off. Bangladesh scenario today still suffers from gross anomalies in educational management, commercialization of education, and politicization of educational expansion. The expansion of college education is a result of easy affiliation rather than utility of education in society.