Colonial impact on education
Photo: STAR
The people who believe that we are free from every kind of colonial influence are not being realistic. Though we have got our liberation, intellectually or mentally, we are still dominated by the colonial doctrines. It is a sad truth that our students are eager to acquire their higher degree to become so-called most obedient servants. I think such kind of phenomenon is the hallmark of colonialism. Readers, now I am going to show an example so that you can easily see the problem. In Bangladesh, at the secondary level our students usually learn a common term “Sir, I beg most respectfully to state” in the application. That means our forefathers used to beg. We are still beggars! Since the time of British rue, till now, our entire education system has been manipulated for the sake of colonial interest. Perhaps, due to this utilitarian and colonial tenet, we see that our students are interested to read some specific subjects. Henry Cardinal Newman puts a lot of emphasis on “Liberal Education” in his famous prose named “The Idea of a University”. Yes, the aim of a university is neither to create faithful and dutiful servants, nor to make high-handed bureaucrats. Education must aim to create better, perfect and illuminated human beings. Well, I am not opposed to the technical or market based education. Rather, I would like to say that a university student should be illuminated with native culture besides his professional skills. It is a common phenomenon that our students are going abroad. After departing the motherland they feel a kind of alienation. So, they don't feel enthused to return to the native country. I think this is happening due to lack of liberal education. Readers, I would like to draw your attention to our “Madrasha” education. In the past, British rulers highly patronized “Madrasha” education for their own sake. But, in reality the “Madrasha” students are deprived of many things. Although, British people were accustomed to religious conflicts ( i.e. The Protestant and Catholic conflict, Methodist movement, Reformation, etc), they used to represent our sub-continental religions and culture on the basis of their interest. So, under the control of colonial power, it is not possible to be liberal and to practise our own culture. See, our TV advertisements, “If a girl has fair skin, she will be able to obtain a good job”. That means the girl having dark skin may not get any job or dark skin is the symbol of ugliness! Actually, we are imprisoned by some invisible colonial customs. So, at first we should reach the bottom of the problem. This is high time to think about it.
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