Developing a Management Point of View: Case of Education Sector Problems in a Developing country

Abstract

This is a case study in the domain of public sector management or management in government, with particular reference to education as a sector as a whole. Bangladesh has shown persistent upward trends in development indicators during the last four decades. In the education sector also, essential quantity indicators like literacy, the female proportion of literacy, number of educational institutions, increased and improved, at all levels - primary, secondary, tertiary, and technical. But qualitative improvement remained mysteriously low, despite government intention to increase quality of teaching, learning, and administration. This paper aimed to draw an overall picture of the prevalent scenario of the education sector. Analyzing secondary sources like public media, and primary sources like citizen interactions, this qualitative study consolidated the problems of the education sector in a coherent whole. Contrary to overstated budget problems, the paper argues that many problems of the education sector are not budget problems. Rather purely and simply 'management' problems, and so, can effectively be solved with basic but thorough understanding of the basic technicalities of management as a discipline.