The high sense of values, ethics, pluralism, public service goals and contributions to communities are some of the key drivers that need to be taken into consideration while educating children to be the leaders of Bangladesh and the world, according to a globally renowned educationist.
“We’re very keen on these areas and these’re all big drivers for us — wonderful education, wonderful values,” educationist Julian Drinkall told UNB in an interview.
Drinkall studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University followed by his Master of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and Master of Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School.
Drinkall brings years of executive leadership experience across the fields of education, non-profit governance, strategy and media.
The globally renowned educationist who recently joined as the first General Manager of the Aga Khan Schools (AKS), an agency that regroups the Aga Khan Education Services and the Aga Khan Academies, hopes that the Academy in Dhaka will educate children to be the future leaders of Bangladesh, to be global leaders, to be bright, intelligent and informed human beings.
The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) globally seeks to ensure that children and young people are equipped with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to help them interact effectively with the world and be contributing members of a pluralist society.
The Network implements its programmes through a number of local, national and global organisations, including AKS, that work together to promote a continuous ladder of lifelong learning, starting from early childhood and extending well into adulthood.
AKS comprises a network of over 200 schools, more than 100 non-formal education programme centres and seven hostels, serving over 90,000 students from the age of 18 months to adulthood each year, with the support of over 5,500 teachers and staff. The agency currently operates across East Africa, South and Central Asia, and the Middle East.
Throughout his life, Drinkall’s passion has been human development, both social and economic, and this philosophy and approach resonates with him hugely.
Talking about his recent Bangladesh visit, Drinkall said he is “incredibly interested” in finding out more about Bangladesh which has an “extraordinary growth story” at the moment noting that his personal academic interest has been around economic development.
The educationist is interested to find out “why the rich people are so rich and the poor so poor” (he taught a class at Harvard on the Wealth and Poverty of Nations); and in part of that he seeks to explain what are the things that make development happen.
“There’s so much going on in Bangladesh,” Drinkall remarked, adding that he was really interested in the conversations about how education is contributing to that development in Bangladesh and seeing the relationship between education and development.
Quality of Life
Drinkall made his first visit to Bangladesh to share the Aga Khan Schools’ “dedication” to making the new Aga Khan Academy in Dhaka a “tremendous success.”
The academy is looking forward to welcoming its first cohort of students in July 2022.
“You know, we really wanted to be the beacon and to be the gold standard by which education in Bangladesh is judged,” Drinkall said, adding that they really want to cultivate students’ passion.
And in the broadest sense, he said, they believe that their education is about the quality of life and it is not just about education inside the four walls of the schools. “It’s about what these children do with their lives to contribute to the community.”
Drinkall added that AKS is looking for their students to be more compassionate and they want educational excellence at every level.
“We’re very keen that we give our students the best opportunities to get the best destinations in higher education and also in terms of their career,” he mentioned.
Technology and Education
Talking about changes in the education sector, the educationist said every parent wants to see her child get a better education than she had; schools also have developed a really strong sense of wellbeing, confidence and curiosity.
Drinkall said there is a dramatically increased level of self-belief and level of interest in education if they look at children at schools. The other thing, he said, is that the level of engagement with parents and staff has increased.
“We’re all widely interested in teachers training, professional development and taking teaching as a career,” he said, appreciating teachers’ level of understanding, level of empathy, and the ability to support children in a broader sense.
Drinkall believes that academic excellence has got better, that the wellbeing of children must go beyond safeguarding such that children positively thrive and flourish and that is the way the global education system is evolving.
Responding to a question, he said educators are now massively more democratic and inclusive and it is part of the governments’ strategy and policies all around the world as everyone knows the benefits on how education contributes to the economy with growing skills.
“I think there’s a kind of willingness and desire to bring everyone to education,” he said, adding that access to technology is crucial when physical opening has been difficult or problematic due to Covid-19 pandemic. “There’re lots of grounds of optimism to ensure education for all.”
Drinkall informed that teachers’ quality also matters and there are some big parameters like quality of technical skills, quality around organizational management and leadership quality.
For over 100 years the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) has worked to ensure that students of all ages have access to quality learning opportunities. Each year, the AKDN reaches 2 million learners across 16 countries.
“It has grown hugely with a very high reputation. It’s very successful,” Drinkall said while talking about the AKDN which has been engaged in education activities in Bangladesh for over thirty years.
Talking about the common challenges in education globally, he said, they need to understand the needs of the society, take advantage of advancing technology and make sure that kids have access to devices but need to remain watchful about misuse of devices.
In the next stage, when the world continues to be globalized and the global economy continues to grow, the role of technology and the ability for people to communicate broadly across the world will grow, he said.
“I think for us in AKDN, the fact is that we’re international, we’re inclusive, we’re global and we’ve lot of expertise and teachers with extraordinary network in place,” Julian said, adding that becoming part of the Dhaka Academy will mean joining an international community and an opportunity for children to share lessons globally.
In addition to meetings with the AKDN leadership and staff of AKS in Dhaka, together with Munir M Merali, AKDN’s Resident Diplomatic Representative to Bangladesh, Drinkall had fruitful meetings with Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni and Foreign Secretary Masud Momen.
Having enjoyed his successful maiden visit, Drinkall plans to visit Bangladesh more often to help contribute and improve the quality of education in the country.
Source: United News of Bangladesh