Weak passport belies trumpeted success,
Multiple streams in education offer little access.
Vigor and enthusiasm shown in doing project,
Absent in creating institution to reduce poverty abject.
Once again Henley & Partners has weakened Bangladeshi passport. Bangladesh is ranked 108th among 116 countries, only ahead of Nepal,Pakistan and Afghanistan in the subcontinent.1 This is something we should not be proud of and it belies the achievements government trumpets on every occasion.
The weakening of our passport has been going on for the last seven years. In 2013,our passport was ranked at 85 in Henley Passport Index(HPI). In 2017,the green passport was slides down by 10 places. In 2019,its rank worsened further to 99.In 2020, it was ranked 101st. Perhaps not all the countries are buying our success stories.4
Recently, European Union published a list of asylum seekers in EU where they entered illegally by crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Bangladesh ranked second in the list.
This week Lafarge Holcim cement announced that it would sell its operations in Bangladesh.2
E-commerce debacle left a serious blot on reputation of the government. One after another e-commerce platform that follows multilevel marketing model failed to meet customers’ need and many simply swindled money. What could have been the success story of govt's digital economy turned out to be an embarrassing point for the government.
It has been reported that government might have avoided this incident had it been stricter to malpractices.
Meanwhile, remittances shows a downward spiral following a remarkable growth last year.
In September 2021-22,Bangladesh received remittances worth $1726.29 million whereas the sum was $2171.03 million in May this year.3However, rising oil price could break the downward spiral as construction boom may resume in the Middle Eastern countries, riding on the high oil price.
Back in April this year,I wrote a piece titled “Falling Ranking,Fading Identity” in the wake of unrevised HPI. I would like to share some part of it again:
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 fine 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.4
Notes And References:
1 “Bangladeshi passport now 9 th weakest globally”,The Business Standard,October 05,2021Link here
2 “Bangladesh Theke Babsha Gutiye Nichhey Lafarge HolCim(Lafarge Winds Down Bangladesh Operations)”,Sylhet Today 24,October 06,2021Link here
3 Bangladesh Bank
4 “Falling Ranking,Fading Identity “,Rezaul Hoque,April 19,2021Link Here
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