Bangladesh is losing real connection with science in education

 

Science is knowledge attained by observation and experimental investigation to dispel misunderstanding and ignorance. Not only scientific knowledge is necessary to solve practical problems but a scientific outlook on life also enables making informed decisions - both individually and collectively. But the current trend of teaching science in the secondary level in Bangladesh has shown to put more emphasis in preparing students for competitive exams, not for building a scientific psyche. Therefore, currently science education is directed towards job market rather than knowledge generation.

Observing the “Scientific method” in everyday life enables everyone to better understand their surroundings, enlarges their capacity of critical thinking and exercise better surveillance upon their own lives and society. And in the field of research, such method produces new inventions and discoveries. Unfortunately, most students enrolled under the science faculty in schools and colleges fail to establish this scientific method of learning, rather they are taught in a more conservative way. The two main causes of this condition are inappropriate popularization of science and excessive theoretical study pressure, causing aversion to practical knowledge.

In a 2008 survey, it was found that non-school environments sparked the passion for science in 75% of Nobel Prize winners in science. But in our country, because of lack of a “scientific environment”, it is mostly the passion for jobs that becomes the only reason for studying science. Creation of a scientific environment requires the society as a whole, to be informed about the progression of science. Currently, influences of classmates, parents and teachers are the largest contributors to the students’ career choice.

Science Olympiads, which are held periodically, encourage students to do critical thinking and drive them to use science as a problem solver; but it’s not yet very popular and moreover, it doesn’t make the society as a whole, to see scientific research as solution. On the contrary, sciences’ TV-shows attract a wide range of audience helping to enlighten and entertain the population with up-to-date science. Unfortunately, Bangladesh does not produce any suitable science or science-fictive TV program. When it comes to discoveries by Bangladeshis, news like ‘extraordinary discovery in a foreign laboratory’ and ‘falling research budget’ are prominent. Thus people get the impression that anyone has to be overly intelligent and prepared to leave the country if they want to research. As a result, very few potential scientists stumble upon an interesting book or a science show in their college life that creates enthusiasm and drives them to pursue research as a career. But currently, most of the science students prefer studying in medical colleges or engineering institutions for better prospects. Most of the students enrolled in basic sciences in universities are there for failing to get into their first choice. Among them, many later leave for an administrative or business career.

The Government of India has taken a creative initiative to enhance the social reputation of scientific organizations in India through Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR) policy, whose draft was prepared last year. This policy puts an ethical obligation on scientists to bridge gaps between science and society. Activities under this policy include sharing infrastructure to foster research, lectures of scientists and tour of their institutes for school and college students in order to inoculate scientific temper, and public outreach activities focusing on communicating research output to general public. Implementation of such a policy in Bangladesh can also bridge the science-society gap.

The contemporary education system adds yet another obstacle towards making science interesting. Here, immense emphasis is given on theoretical knowledge at higher secondary level. According to the national curriculum, the textbooks of Chemistry, Physics and Biology should enable the students to “Comprehend the concepts” and find links between the theoretical knowledge and everyday experiences. It also requires the presentation of textbook contents to be “joyful” and to “attract the students’ attention”. Furthermore, it also requires helping students to build answers using their own creativity as opposed to just memorizing equations and facts.

Unfortunately, the average teaching situation is much different and more complex. This occurs because, even if every textbook discusses the required topics containing same scientific concepts, they differ in additional information, historical facts and practice exercises. Therefore, if one teacher prefers a particular book and includes multiple-choice-questions (MCQs) concerning that book, another teacher may have other preferences. This ambiguity is present in many college tests and even admission tests. The competitive students have to cope with this situation by studying several books on same subject, memorizing facts and practicing math, diminishing joyful creativity.

The national curriculum also requires 30 percent of all class periods to be devoted to class activities that include practical classes. In reality, the practical classes are probably the most neglected. A personal survey of 29 colleges that follows the national curriculum from both rural and urban areas revealed that every institution has more or less lack of academic integrity in this regard.

Most of the problems of an effective practical class come from excess number of students, and shortage of equipment or class time. This is most apparent in physics’ classes, where experiment groups are usually large and only few enthusiastic pupils do the experiments, and others can just copy the data to pass. In chemistry classes, it is the shortage of reagents that mostly limits the hands-on experience. In biology lab classes, about everyone copies figures and information from the books, rather than the scientific way of observing and recording information from specimens. Moreover, in labs with low supervision, the malicious practice of data manipulation to achieve result has become common practice. And to top it all, if the college’s usual practice is the signing of lab reports at the session’s end, customized full lab reports can be bought in shops.

As national scientific endeavors can offer the best solutions to endogenous problems, it is high time policymakers opt for creating science awareness in society and enhance research possibilities.

Anik Biswas