CA urges education overhaul, calls for revival of SAARC

Staff Reporter :

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Tuesday called on academics across South Asia to realign higher education with the expectations and aspirations of young people, arguing that Bangladesh’s education system must move beyond job-oriented learning and instead nurture creativity, entrepreneurship, and social leadership.

He also renewed his call for the revival of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to strengthen regional academic collaboration, saying the decline of the platform has weakened opportunities for intellectual exchange.

Prof Yunus made the remarks while addressing the inaugural session of the three-day “South Asian Regional Conference on State of Higher Education and Future Pathway (SARCHE 2026)” at a city hotel.

“I feel very excited that academics at the highest level could get together in Dhaka,” he said, noting the significance of holding the conference in the capital after the political upheavals of recent months.

Referring to the post-July 2024 developments, he urged participants to review what had happened in the city and reflect on what those events revealed about the purpose of education.

“That review will clarify what university education, and education as a whole, are really about,” he said. “This should be the core subject of discussion here.”

The conference has brought together 30 international representatives, including delegates from the United Kingdom, Maldives, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, along with officials from the World Bank.

The event is being organised under the government- and World Bank-funded Higher Education Acceleration and Transformation (HEAT) Project of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Highlighting the central role of students in the July Uprising, Prof Yunus urged academics to examine the motivations and expectations of the young people who spearheaded the movement.

“Who are these young people that we are dealing with? They have their own minds. They stood up, raised their voices, and brought down the ugliest fascist regime you could ever think of, giving their lives,” he said.

“It would be a missed opportunity if you don’t spend some time understanding what they did a few months back in this very city—what they expected, what they aspired to, and why they stood in front of guns knowing what could happen.”

To illustrate that motivation, he referred to a letter written by school student Shaheed Shahriar Khan Anas to his mother before his death, in which he said it was his duty to join friends facing a state crackdown.

Prof Yunus said the uprising was not a sudden outburst, noting that similar movements had occurred in Sri Lanka and Nepal, though “it happened in a bigger way in Dhaka.”

He thanked the World Bank for helping organise the conference, saying it was an initiative that regional institutions themselves should have undertaken.

Such academic exchanges, he said, were originally central to the mission of SAARC, whose decline he described as “a shame on us.”

“This was supposed to be the idea of SAARC—that we get together, exchange ideas, and learn from each other,” he said, adding that since assuming office he has repeatedly urged regional governments to revive the organisation. “That’s where our family belongs, and I will not give up repeating that appeal.”

Turning to Bangladesh’s political transition, Prof Yunus referred to the forthcoming national election and the February 12 referendum, saying young people had drafted their own July Charter to dismantle what the country had long been “stuck with.”

He said the referendum would determine the future constitutional framework, reflecting a belief that “the root of the problems lies in the constitution.”

“These issues are not taught in classrooms,” he said, questioning where universities stood in the face of such historic change. He also noted that young people had now formed their own political party, adding, “I’m sure some of them will get elected.”

Prof Yunus warned that traditional models of education were “self-destructing” and that institutions must change as rapidly as young people had acted during the July and August uprising.

He sharply criticised the prevailing job-centric education model, arguing that systems designed primarily to produce job-seekers misunderstood the purpose of learning.

“We design education around the idea that students must become suitable for jobs. If they fail to take a job, we think it is their failure, not ours,” he said, questioning whether the ultimate goal of education should be preparation for the labour market.

“Human beings are not born as slaves. Each human being is a free person,” he said, describing the traditional notion of employment as rooted in subordination. The young people who challenged the state, he added, “refused to be slaves.”

“So what kind of education will you give?” he asked. “Should we continue an education that creates slaves—turning creative beings into slaves? That is a criminal job.”

Prof Yunus said creativity should be translated into entrepreneurship, urging educators to teach students to become job creators and agents of change, driven by imagination.

“Imagination is the essence of human beings,” he said, adding that it was this imaginative power that inspired young people to sacrifice their lives for the vision of a new Bangladesh.

The inaugural ceremony was attended by Education Adviser Professor C R Abrar as special guest, with UGC Chairman Professor S M A Faiz presiding. Secondary and Higher Education Division Secretary Rehana Perven and World Bank Division Director Jean Pesme were present as guests of honour, while UGC Member Professor Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan delivered the welcome address.