Bangladesh Open University: Finishing the unfinished degrees
With 65 formal education programmes and 19 non-formal education programmes, it is the second-largest university in the country in terms of the number of students after the National University
Mohammad Salahuddin passed his SSC in 1994 with first division. He then got admitted to Narsingdi Government College for HSC. Unfortunately, he could not continue his studies due to the financial crisis.
"As my parents were old and I had younger brothers and sisters, I had to look for a job. I joined a garment factory in Mirpur as a peon," said the 45-year-old.
However, years later, Salahuddin earned his Bachelor in Social Science (BSS) degree from a Bangladesh Open University branch at the Narsingdi Government College. By then, he had set up his own business of RMG backward linkage.
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He even completed a professional MBA in 2018, also from Open University. "I wanted to study more because it is a social status issue and my children would know that their father is highly educated," he said.
Like Salahuddin, tens of thousands of people in the country have the scope of completing their unfinished education at the Bangladesh Open University.
The open university runs a total of 65 formal education programmes and 19 non-formal education programmes. The number of students is currently around 7 lakh. After National University, it is the second-largest university in the country in terms of the number of students.
The government established the Bangladesh Open University in 1992 to create an opportunity to reduce the number of dropouts in our secondary, higher secondary and tertiary levels. The idea was to keep education open for students of all ages across the country.
"If there was no open university, I do not think I could have done my bachelor's and ultimately, the MBA," said Salahuddin.
The birth of Bangladesh Open University
M Shamsher Ali was a professor at the Department of Physics of Dhaka University. He said that he thought about establishing an open university in 1976 when the British Open University was opened. At that time, he was working in Germany.
"The reasons for which the British government established the open university is more relevant for us," said Professor Emeritus M Shamsher Ali during a recent interview with The Business Standard. "They did it because the country witnessed dropouts in higher education level and people were looking for jobs."
He said that during the rule of H M Ershad, the Director General (DG) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) visited Bangladesh and participated in a seminar. In the seminar, Professor Ali raised the issue of distance learning in the country.
He said that even during the rule of Ziaur Rahman, there were talks about establishing an open university but it did not see any progress. At one point, he collected different types of information on it and went all the way to the British Open University to see the setup.
In the meantime, the UNESCO DG discussed with the Ministry of Education about setting up an open university and they agreed.
Professor Ali said that in Bangladesh, many students had to drop out because of financial crisis, illness and various other reasons. The number of qualified teachers was low as well.
In 1991, the government finally took up the project and Professor Ali was its project director. Later, he was appointed as the first Vice-Chancellor of the institution.
He said that in the past if a student failed in one subject in SSC, s/he had to sit for all subjects in the next exam. There was no scope to only sit for the failed subject. As a result, the number of dropouts increased.
An open university is open in terms of subjects; it is open in terms of time as well. The methods of providing the teaching are also open so you do not have to attend classes every day. "If anyone does not understand distance learning, a telephone tutorial will be used," said Professor Emeritus M Shamsher Ali.
He said that the textbooks were designed in such a manner that the students did not need to have any prior knowledge of the subjects.
A brief history of distance learning
On the Open University website, a detailed history of the birth of a distance learning programme called 'BaubiBaro' can be found. It started with the Education Directorate given the responsibility of distributing 200 radio receivers to educational institutions in 1956.
This led to the creation of the Audio-Visual Education Centre (1962), the School Broadcasting Pilot Project (1978) and the National Institute of Educational Media and Technology (NIEMT) in 1983.
Apart from producing audio-visual materials, the Bangladesh Institute of Distance Education (BIDE) – which replaced NIEMT – offered the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) program in distance mode. Its success encouraged policymakers to take up a major plan for establishing an Open University – this became a reality in October 1992 when the Bangladesh Open University Act 1992 was passed in the Parliament, the website further states.
The distance learning programme of the Bangladesh Open University became popular with the introduction of 'BaubiBaro' – a programme related to formal education and informal education that was broadcast on Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar.
Popular TV anchor Dr Abdun Noor Tushar used to host a 30-minute programme on informal education, which was produced by Faridur Reza Sagar.
The programme was a fine blend of quizzes, short documentaries and expert opinions on different issues including health, nutrition and general knowledge.
Dr Abdun Noor Tushar said that when he started the open university programmes under BaubiBaro, they were broadcast at around 6:00 or 6:15 in the evening. "No one watched Bangladesh Television at those hours," he remembered, adding, "For this reason, BTV allotted the Open University this time slot."
"But my happiest memory is that after broadcasting my programme for three to four weeks, this time slot became high in rating as people began to watch these programmes," said Dr Abdun Noor Tushar who was then a third-year student at Dhaka Medical College.
He added that one year later, a survey was conducted and his programme was the most popular one.
However, it is no longer a part of BTV and Bangladesh Betar. "Bangladesh Television did now show any cooperation and finally, closed our programme," he said. "The radio programme is also closed."
He said that now they have the university's own IPTV, bdopentv.com, although it is quite slow. There is a mobile application for distance learners but he said that they will improve the quality of the mobile app to make it more user-friendly and add a dynamic look to the university's webpage.
The professor said that they are also developing video content for OTT platforms.
Currently, the open university has a total of six schools or faculties: School of Education, Open School, School of Social Science, Humanities and Languages, School of Business, School of Science and Technology and School of Agriculture and Rural Development. It offers a wide range of master's programmes, diplomas, etc.
Overseas schools for migrant workers
The SSC and HSC courses have already been introduced in countries including South Korea, Qatar, Saudia Arabia and Kuwait. The university authority wants to expand to some more countries including the United States and Canada for Bangladeshi expatriates.
The main reason is that when many of the expatriates went abroad, they had not completed their secondary or higher secondary education. As they do not have higher education certificates, they do not get better salaries.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia said that they will not keep any unskilled workers after 2030. The existing migrant workers will have to come back to their home countries if they fail to upskill.
"We have just started our activities in Rome [Italy], We will launch our activities in Dubai soon," said VC Dr Syed Humayun Akhter.
Other than helping the expats, the open university programmes might also help their children learn the Bangla language.
Changes on the horizon
On the university's new logo, the current VC said, "I tried to accommodate the concept of the open university, distance learning and ICT-based technology."
Not only the logo but the popular jingle of the BaubiBaro programme will be changed as well. "Everything is changeable, you will have to move to the tune of the time," he said. "We are actually rebranding it to attract more people."
Additionally, Professor Dr Syed Humayun Akhter said that he has a plan to introduce 6-month and 3-month short courses for technical education. With the university's vast network across the country, these will help to achieve the government's Vision 2041 goals.
"The main purpose is to bring these students to the labour force so that they can earn money," he said.
He said that there is a huge demand for nursing abroad and the Open University has also introduced this course. "However, the nursing council has stopped the course so it can take bribes from the private nursing college," alleged the VC.
He shared with TBS that the university will open a parenting course as well.
