Bangladesh Diploma Engineering Students-Teachers Professional Struggle Council has demanded to enrich the diploma engineering course instead of reducing its duration from 4 years to 3 years. The organization claims that if the duration of the course is reduced, the talented students and parents will lose interest in this education. Career promotion will be hindered, diploma engineers will face questions about their qualifications in the workplace. Along with that, various problems will arise including hindrance of higher education.
“The duration of the 4-year diploma engineering course is being considered for 3 years.” This is how, in an event on August 13, the Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni hinted to reduce the duration of Diploma Engineering course. In view of this statement, on Tuesday (August 16), the organization held a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU).
In a written speech at the press conference, the member secretary of the organization, Mirza ATM Golam Mostafa, said that such a statement of the education minister has not only caused anger among diploma engineering students and teachers and diploma engineers. Rather, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s decision has been insulted to the extreme.
He said, at a time when the government is busy dealing with the global crisis due to the Russia-Ukraine war, such a statement by the minister will not bring good news for the government. We feel that a conspiratorial circle is very cleverly encouraging the Education Minister to make such unwanted statements out of a malicious plan to endanger the government. Which cannot bode well for the government and the polytechnic education system.
He also said that not only the diploma in engineering education, but also the quality of overall education system has been questioned from various quarters. The Ministry of Education has very cleverly brought the issue of reducing the duration of diploma engineering education to the nation to cover the responsibility of that failure.
At that time, ATM Golam Mostafa highlighted some issues of what kind of problems will arise if the duration of the 4-year diploma engineering course is made 3 years.
8 problems identified in shortening the tenure:
# Talented students and parents will lose interest in education (Diploma Engineering).
# Diploma Engineers will be undervalued in the workplace nationally and internationally. Due to lack of modern technology, lack of communication skills, engineers who passed the 3-year diploma engineering course will be devalued in various countries of the world, including the Middle East, and the supply of foreign exchange will decrease.
# Promotion at work will be hindered.
# Diploma engineers will face questions about their qualifications in the workplace.
# Since, the difference in education with degree engineering course is 2 years, one step below the job will face question about salary and status and may lose status.
# In the international job market, the salary and status will be lost, and the country will also suffer.
# Higher education sector will be disrupted.
# Employment in the country’s modern technology dependent industries will be hampered. As a result, entrepreneurs have to spend a large amount of foreign currency to hire foreign manpower in these factories.
In response to a question from reporters at the press conference, the general secretary of IDEB Md. Shamsur Rahman said, now, we pay 6 billion dollars every year for hiring foreign engineers. If the duration of the 4-year diploma engineering course is reduced to 3 years, the cost for foreign engineers will increase further. So without reducing the course it should be enriched with modern technology.
The Central Struggle Council Convener, Md. Fazlur Rahman Khan, Public Relations and Publicity Secretary of IDB Md. Sirajul Islam, General Secretary of Private Sector Federation Md. Nazimuddin Patwari, President of the Central Committee of BaKaChhaP Md. Mehdi Hasan, Md. Saiful Alam Mollah and others were also present at the press conference.
