When Excellence Fails Us: A Letter to the System That Forgot to  Educate

Dear Bangladesh’s Education System, 

I once topped my class without knowing how to introduce myself confidently in English. I  memorized Newton’s laws but never learned how to apply them. I passed every exam, but failed  every interview. If success in your eyes means filling in blanks and circling the correct answer,  then I was once your star student. But the truth is, I was never truly educated. Like thousands of  others, I was simply trained to obey, to repeat, to survive. 

This is not just my story. It is Akash’s, who memorized entire guidebooks but trembled  during job interviews. It is Moumita’s, whose science teacher discouraged her from asking  questions that weren’t in the syllabus. It is Chaity’s who dared to dream of being a filmmaker but  was told creativity wouldn’t feed her. These stories aren’t rare. They are routine. And that is  precisely the tragedy. 

Education in Bangladesh has become a race of grades, coaching centers, and certificates. In  that race, we’ve left behind the very essence of learning. We are producing graduates who can  recite definitions but can’t solve real problems, who can write essays on leadership but lack the  courage to lead, who study for twenty years but enter the workforce unprepared. Isn’t it time we  asked, what exactly are we educating for? 

Let me be clear: this letter isn’t just a complaint. It’s a call. A call for change, for imagination, for  courage. We must transform our classrooms from factories into laboratories of thought. 

1. Make Critical Thinking a Core Subject, Not an Afterthought 

Our classrooms must be designed to ask more questions than they answer. Why do students still  learn through rote memorization in 2025? Why are textbooks filled with outdated information and  zero relevance to the real world? Students must be trained to question, analyze, and explore.

✓ Introduce open-book exams, case studies, and project-based assessments. Let a student  present on how climate change affects Bangladesh rather than memorize definitions of  greenhouse gases. Make debate and discussion part of every subject, not just  extracurriculars. The world doesn’t reward parrots. It rewards problem solvers. 

2. Rebuild Teacher Training from the Ground Up 

The backbone of any education system is its teachers. Yet, in many classrooms, teachers are  underpaid, undertrained, and overburdened. Many still treat students as vessels to be filled rather  than minds to be inspired. 

✓ Bangladesh needs a National Pedagogy Mission where every teacher, from urban Dhaka  to rural Khulna, is trained in modern, interactive teaching methods. Training must focus  not only on content but on empathy, communication, and inclusivity. Give teachers the  respect and support they deserve, and they will transform generations. 

3. End the Urban–Rural Learning Divide 

A student’s potential should not depend on their postal code. Yet today, a child in Rangamati may  never touch a computer while a child in Gulshan codes Python in coaching classes. This is not just  an education gap; it’s an injustice. 

✓ Equip rural schools with solar-powered digital classrooms. Create mobile libraries. Provide  teacher exchange programs between city and village schools. Ensure that the national  curriculum includes local languages and knowledge systems so no child feels invisible.  Equality in education isn’t charity, it’s necessity. 

4. Embrace Creativity, Not Just Conformity 

Why must every student be an engineer or doctor to be called successful? Where are our poets, our  designers, our inventors? Creativity isn’t a luxury; it is the soul of progress. 

✓ Include arts, music, film, and storytelling in mainstream syllabi. Let students build, design,  compose, and act because these are not distractions from education; they are its beating 

heart. A child who builds a robot from scrap is learning physics. A girl who scripts a play  on gender inequality is learning sociology. Don’t clip wings. Build runways. 

5. Create a Bridge Between Classrooms and Careers 

Bangladesh’s industries are changing fast AI, digital marketing, freelancing, and green energy. Yet  our curriculum remains frozen in time. We need a bridge, not a wall, between education and  employment. 

✓ Introduce real-world skill modules in high school: financial literacy, public speaking, CV  writing, and basic coding. Launch internship programs from college’s first year. Partner  with universities, startups, and companies. Let learning happen in labs, offices, and streets rather than just in rows of benches. 

6. Reform the Examination Culture 

If a student’s worth is judged solely by how they perform in a three-hour exam, we are not  assessing knowledge; we are testing memory and nerves. Life is not an MCQ test. 

✓ Adopt continuous assessment models. Include peer evaluation, self-reflection,  presentations, and fieldwork. Encourage curiosity over correctness. Replace fear of failure  with freedom to explore. 

Dear System, 

We, the students, the dreamers, the ones who fill your classrooms each morning, are not asking for  miracles. We’re asking for meaning. We don’t want to be products of pressure, but of possibility.  Don’t teach us what to think. Teach us how to think. Don’t prepare us to follow orders. Prepare us  to lead lives. 

Education should not be a punishment we endure to get a degree. It should be the discovery of  who we are and what we can give to the world. The system you built was meant to serve a past  generation. Let us build one that serves the future. 

This letter is written by one student, but it speaks for thousands. And together, we are not just  asking for change. We are ready to create it. 

With hope, urgency, and determination, 

Author: Md. Mejbaur Rahman 

Position: 5th (WC 2025)

Institution: Faculty Of Business Studies, University of Dhaka