Falling Ranking, Fading Identity

Despite sliight improvement in HPI,
Quality of nationals was better in years gone by.
Institutions care for society and human development
Disappearing fast due to shrinking fund and growing resentment.

Henley International Passport Index lifted Bangladesh a notch up for 2021. It was a slight improvement from last year when Bangladesh was ranked at 101st among 110 countries. This index measures strength of a passport in terms of its ability to move freely without any prior VISA. Henley underscored that COVID-19 restrictions did not influence its ranking (Source: Daily Prothom Alo, April 16,2021).

Despite the slight improvement, our passport remains weak. The weakening of our passport has been going on for the last six years. In 2013, it was ranked at 85th in HPI. In 2017, the green passport was downgraded by 10 places. In 2019, its rank was worsened further to 99. Perhaps not all the countries are buying our staggering success stories.

Like HPI, the Henley and Partners maintain the Quality of Nationality Index (QNI), conceived by Dimitry Kochenov and Christian H. Kälin. QNI ranks qualities of nationalities based on factors like economic strength, human development, ease of travel, political stability and overseas employment opportunities. In 2012, Bangladesh was placed at 129th position. In 2015, it was downgraded to 138. In 2017, it was further downgraded to 149.

Back in October,2014, I wrote a piece titled "Fading Passport, Fading Identity" where I also argued about other unpleasant measures to gauge quality of our nationals and passport .To keep the discussion brief, I refrain from bringing them back here.

Recent violences in Sylhet, Brahmanbaria , Chattogram and Dhaka reminded us how fragile our political stability is and how far we have to go in terms of human development. Trivial issues could easily be used to stir trouble and to rein in on streets. Five decades after independence,our nationals failed to devise a civilized way to manifest and to voice their concerns, to find peaceful mean to reconciliation and to find a platform to settle dispute in an amicable environment. Economic achievements may not sustain long, I am afraid, if status of our human development remains at the present level.

Education is the area where we fall behind our neighbors. In Global Knowledge Index, Bangladesh held the lowest rank in South Asia. Its position was 112th among 138 countries.Even Pakistan and Nepal were placed ahead of us (Source: Daily Star, December 12 , 2020).

In Innovation Index, Bangladesh was far behind than its South Asian neighbors. Among the 131 economies, Bangladesh occupied 116th position. It perched on that position for three consecutive years (Source: The Financial Express, September 14, 2020).

In recent years, school drop out rate, number of child marriage have also increased. I cannot figure out how we can continue our achievements in economic and development sectors with such a sorry state in education and innovation.

What complicated the matter is the presence of three different streams of education. A greater section of the population are not at the same wavelength while reading a particular event or situation and are not behaving in the right way at a crucial occasion or circumstances.

Our 14 years of schooling is not as good as others. It is casting a shadow over our overseas development markets. In middle eastern countries where our nationals mostly took up the jobs of housemaid, drivers, agricultural workers etc , Bangladeshis find themselves in awkward situation for failing to communicate in a proper manner. It is affecting their livelihoods there. Many even fall victims to deception and cheating. In Kuwait a Bangladeshi MP in connivance with Kuwaiti officials ran a human trafficking network. Thousands of Bangladeshis were lured into there traps, losing millions of Taka and risking their lives. The issue remains a sore point in the relationship between two countries and engenders overseas employment of Bangladesh in Kuwait.

Reuters last year carried a report divulging dilapidated conditions of stranded Bangladeshis , victims of human trafficking, in Bosnian jungles.

Like those cheated Bangladeshis abroad, state of our health sector does not vouch safe for our economic success story. COVID-19 laid bare the anarchy going on in this sector. Fake screening program ran by some politically-blessed quarter alarmed us about quality of our health professionals. Poorly equipped hospitals and dearth of health professionals brought us foreign grant and support in thick and fast. To our dismay, we watched that oxygen system and 300 ventilators bought with foreign credit were locked in warehouses of Dhaka International Airport for ten months. They are meant to equip the public hospitals. Meanwhile, deteriorating condition at home led to ban flights towards countries from where most of our remittances come.

With great enthusiasm and effort, Bangladesh implements infrastructure and development projects, very few turn out to be beneficial in the end. However, same vigor and enthusiasm are not displayed while creating social institutions that aim to develop human resources at the grassroot level. Tribal nature of our politics , tendency to set a yeoman at every organization are widely seen as encumbrance to developing such institution. For the last three decades, a moribund growth has been being observed on institutions that work on youth, discrimination, literacy,digital divide, communal harmony,folklore,hygiene,rural-urban migration, inclusion of new technology, charity, music and culture. These institutions in the past played key roles in churning out quality nationals. It does not mean they have to depend on foreign fund for their operations. Community, individual and government should step in so that they can function without any trouble. COVID-19 bluntly laid it bare that our health system is not working and one find morning we will discover, to our surprise, that our country becomes an unlivable prison. And HPI and QNI may coshare positions with other doomed countries.