What is the crisis for the world as well as Bangladesh today? Many answers can be given; however, the most important one is knowledge. Of course, knowledge is the best concept discovered ever in human history. Of late, this all-pervading issue becomes the corner stone of our thoughts since all other issues are revolving round it. When I dream of a beautiful land to breathe freely, when I crave for a prolific land to nurture free thoughts and when I seriously mull over to discomfit prejudice and pusillanimity for a country like Bangladesh it often provokes me to get through a society based on knowledge and wisdom up to the hilt. Ignorance puts back a society, puts an end to good feelings and obliterates all good steps of human life and land. Philosophers, historians, science-writers and professionals by making overview concede the importance of knowledge for both individual life and society in order to foster greater unity for the best abode of human life. Modern societies proclaim the best precept: 'knowledge is power and precedes muscle'. It frees from suffocation, liberates inertia, promotes openness and teaches universality and equity. If the question put forward here: what is the most powerful in the world, it must follow something crystal clear- nothing but knowledge. To begin with, one needs to illustrate the connotation of the term 'knowledge society' or 'knowledge-based society', then to its necessity for all along. Peter Drucker, in the 1970s, first uses the term 'knowledge society' by which he means learning societies and lifelong education for all. We are living in 'information age' or 'age of reason' that declares the triumph of human reason over opacity. Plato says, knowledge is universal and it encompasses human wisdom though later philosophers do not wholly go a long way with him because of diverse facets of human concepts. Yet there is immense discontent over the issue of knowledge in human mind; however it cannot be debated, after all, that knowledge is true acquaintance of facts. It reflects the true sense and real phenomena of human cognitive faculty. Knowledge ensures free thoughts, freedom of expression, intrepid and undaunted saturation, patience, endurance, assiduity, respect to others, and sense of mensuration. Contrarily, ignorance diminishes human auspicious act, emasculates the sense of reason and makes people zealots, which ultimately downgrades human qualities. Bangladesh since her early birth has been struggling to address the evil-doers on different grounds, though the principal target of independence was a knowledge society and a developed human cognitive land among many others. Knowledge society is thus a society which is nurtured by all its potentiality to carry forward by using the maximum capacities. Bangladesh is a vastly populous country in the world having nearly 170 million people with 1.6 per cent growth rate per annum. It is very difficult, factually, to bring all the people within a network and provide all information to them. Despite the drawback, of late, the country is digitally connected with information super high way that creates a revolution in communication technology. Use of communication technology becomes the foundation of development to reach at the proposed vision that Bangladesh has set for 2021. The right to information becomes one of important prerequisite variables of democratic environment. And, Bangladesh presently has been usefully making up all opportunities to connect with global knowledge.
Development in communication is gradually shaping up the country that partially helps address the poverty, illiteracy, ignorance and social unevenness. Society is immensely influenced by the technological advancement since almost all sectors including education, business, health, and agriculture are blissfully benefitted from the rapid expansion of it. However, the number of internet subscription in Bangladesh is still very low just ahead of some poor countries. Expert says Bangladesh in recent times has stooped to five steps in ICT and internet usage among 144 countries in the world. Education institutions particularly do not able to provide all opportunities to the usurers, researches are still far behind with those facilities. Cell phone companies are providing the service to the remote areas of the country; however it fails to reach the root level equally because of high cost and non-availability of networking. In addition, it is not properly used by all for actual knowledge generation.
Unless freedom of expression is ensured for a society nothing can be said about knowledge formation or generation correctly. It becomes a risky point to make any comment against authoritarian truth. Nobody can venture to write, speak, or make any opinion over any issue that is supposed to stand against the establishment. History always stands against establishment, if not all, but conquest over false and fabricated belief. Pluralism in thoughts and concepts are always admirably extolled in developed society. To be sure, Bangladesh needs to go a long way to succeed in this battle. Freedom of expression and independence of thoughts invigorate human capacity to create knowledge, viz. science, technology, art, literature, philosophy.
From time immemorial it has been taken unquestionably that there is no alternative to education for human society. Quality education is thus universally proclaimed as the most important fundamental human right. World Education Forum in 2000 has set up six basic goals by 2015 to meet the global challenges. Bangladesh has made remarkable success in elementary education since the last decade of 20th century. It encompasses women education, adult education and child education. Literacy rate increases, and social disparities in many cases are successfully addressed. It is reported, Bangladesh now stands much ahead of many South Asian countries including India in reducing poverty and illiteracy. Women empowerment and gender equity are rather conspicuous that makes the country a model of developing nations. However, it needs to come across long way to achieve the optimum level.
Technological advancement without moral sense is fatal. Bangladesh has progressed lot especially in economy and science in the last three decades though no remarkable progress had been come to the fore in the domain of ethics and moral education. Education system, over all, fails to incorporate such curriculum in all phases of ladder.
We need a holistic programme to improve the socio-scientific atmosphere in the country because it involves some fundamental issues including poverty reduction, education for all, gender equity, woman empowerment and equal opportunity to all. Some immediate actions can be- i) sufficient investment in education, both in elementary and higher levels to ensure the quality. Higher education has become a commodity and a package programme for students. Educational institutions are being used for only producing certificates, not knowledge properly. Hence, it needs to be stopped immediately, ii) special commission is needed for education. More allocation is invoked for research programme in universities for higher education. Research tools should be made easy to learners, iii) motivational programme needs to be taken up for women's education and empowerment, iv) information tools are recommended to be cheap and easy for all, and v) freedom of opinion should be ensured regardless of its status - for or against government. Bangladesh has earned its independence at the cost of millions of lives. This is a country, possibly very rare in the world, which has fought for language, fought for distinct entity, fought against ignorance and poverty. What actually needs, at the outset, for her sublimity is nothing but knowledge and high moral values. To establish an ideal society we have nothing left but for a society based on knowledge and wisdom. (The article is a reprint).
Siddhartha Shankar Joarder is Associate Professor of Philosophy, Jagannath University
