Government Has Completed Its 180-Day Honeymoon Period: Education Minister

Education Minister A.N.M. Ehsanul Haque Milan has said the government has completed its first 180 days, which he described as the “honeymoon period,” and has used the time to identify several key challenges facing the country’s education sector.

“We have completed the 180-day honeymoon period of this government. During this time, we have identified various problems,” the education minister said.

Milan questioned the way the QS university rankings assess institutions, arguing that greater consideration should be given to universities across the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region.

“Why should QS ratings focus only on universities in developed countries? Why not universities across SAARC countries? If that were the case, we could also make greater progress,” he said.

The education minister also questioned why private universities in Bangladesh have not been able to introduce PhD programmes on a wider scale.

“Why have private universities not been able to introduce PhD degrees even after all these years? Have you remained silent for the last 20 years?” he asked.

Milan said Bangladesh has many talented researchers whose knowledge and expertise contribute to the development of other countries, but the country has failed to identify and retain them.

“We have many researchers in our universities who contribute their knowledge to the development of other countries. But we cannot identify them. This is our failure,” he said.

The minister said the government is now focusing on identifying researchers and strengthening Bangladesh’s higher education and research capacity.