2012-09-01 23:25:17
Muhammad Rakib Mansur
Scientific research and technology development is the main tool for development in the modern day world. And the initiatives taken by the government of each country is an indicator of their depth of knowledge, vision and commitment towards science and research. The initiatives taken by the government in this arena indicates whether leaders or policymakers want to build a strong independent nation or dependent backboneless nation. This article discusses the present scientific research infrastructure of Bangladesh and makes a comparative study with our neighbouring nations.
If readers check the government website of the Ministry of science and information technology (MOSICT) of Bangladesh, then their first impression will be it looks nice, but when they will dig little deep then it will become apparent to them that not only the web but the overall structure of MOSICT (Ministry of Science and Information Technology) is very poor and neglected in terms of resources and supervision. MOSICT have only seven organizations under its belt.
The organizations are:
BAEC (Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission)
BCSIR ( Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research)
BCC (Bangladesh Computer Council)
NMST (National Museum of Science and Technology)
BANSDOC (Bangladesh National Scientific and Technical documentation Centre)
NIB (National Institute of Biotechnology)
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mojibur Rahman Novo theatre.
Everybody will become amazed that among these 7, only 3 (BAEC, BCSIR, NIB) are real research organizations. Bangladesh Computer Council is only an autonomous body which is supporting ICT related activities; National Museum of Science and Technology is only a science gallery and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mojibur Rahman Novo theatre is a big planetarium. They are contributing indirectly to the development of R&D and their indirect contribution is also needed for the development of R&D. There are some other research organizations named BINA, BARI, BRRI etc but by virtue, they are under the ministry of agriculture. And their contribution to the development of our country is significant. Without their contribution, it would be difficult for our country to feed such a large population. These organizations are the main factors behind the green revolution. The website of BRRI and BARI could be a good example for other research organizations. Their web pages contain their publications (at least abstracts), their works are comparatively well written and well groomed compared to other organization under MOSICT. This indicates the better management, vision and effort. Having a web page is the beginning but making a web page effective needs continuous effort, expertise, monitoring and direction. If we think that we have a webpage and it’s a big achievement then we are living in a fool’s paradise. It is amazing that in the knowledge-based world we have only 3 active government research organizations, and it’s a real pity indeed.
There is a common misconception among us that we are a poor country and we don’t have enough resource for scientific R&D. But the truth is as we are poor we need some means which will alleviate poverty. And scientific R&D is a delicate tool which can help to take us out of this vicious circle of poverty. The investment towards R&D can generate unlimited income which is not possible by other means. The price of one high tech product is much more than an ordinary product and it’s not possible to boost our economy without value addition. Politicians and private investors admit the necessity to develop our R&D sector but they don’t believe. Most of them are blind having two eyes but no vision & courage. They go to Singapore for leisure, sees the posh shopping malls and amenities but overlook the mechanism which is driving Singapore. The mechanism which has made Singapore a centre of excellence is proper management and huge investment in scientific R&D.
Singapore is one of the few countries which increased their budget in R&D even at the crunch period of economic crisis. If interested readers can enter into the individual web links of our research organizations, then they will find a lack of appropriate manpower and research personnel. For example, if you visit our National Institute of biotechnology (NIB), then you will find the truth. There is only one scientific personnel in animal biotechnology section, two in the plant biology section, one in environmental biotechnology, two in microbial biotechnology, and two in molecular biology. All of them are entry-level researchers. That means we could not or didn’t recruit enough experienced researchers to build the only national specialized biotechnology research organization. If the information on the web is current this is horrific, our national institute of biotechnology holds only eight scientific personnel (according to web info). The highest amount of fellowship offered by BCSIR for a postdoctoral fellow is 9000 Tk per month. If this is the honorarium of a researcher then who will be motivated to do quality research is a big question? Another thing is vision towards research most products developed by BCSIR are food products and leather processing products. This indicates the narrowness of the research focus of our top research institution. This comparison is not to undermine the achievements of the researchers but to show a lack of research fund and focus and negligence about a wide area of research. Even the website of MOSICT is not showing any accountability and lacks technical data of their achievement and poor in terms of data update. The question is with this poor framework of scientific research establishment how we can progress. If we admit the truth then there is no way but to start reform as early as possible. Universities are the prime area to start. The steps could be taken are
Develop and enrich related research labs in public universities.
1. To promote research Government can declare a significant amount of prize for publications in internationally acclaimed peer-reviewed journals.
2. Starting research collaborations with developed nations.
3.Appointing competent persons to build up research infrastructure
4. Allocating necessary resources (of course considering our budget limitation).
5. Promotion criteria of the academicians should be set to promote research rather considering seniority. This step will inspire academicians towards R&D.
6.Development of human resources involved in scientific R&D.
7. Create the national complete database, which will give support regarding international journal articles, PhD and master thesis’s both (online and hardcopies). All Universities (Public & private) will submit the thesis’s of their doctorate students to this database and any research student and teachers will get the privilege to enter this website for free (All the Universities can pay an amount for this service). BANSDOC has set up with the aim to carry on this sort of activities but they are lagging age behind in terms of digitization. BANSDOC should be made more effective so that they will be able to give support for all sorts of journal papers upon requisition by the research students and teachers.
Modern research needs many instruments and it’s difficult to buy expensive instruments for the Universities and even for the Government. The government can set up new instruments in BCSIR and give easy access to research students and teachers for research. Present BCSIR inventory lacks many modern types of equipment, enrichment of BCSIR labs is a must.
8. MOSICT can keep a record to all the exclusive equipment possessed by all the Universities. And the Universities can sign an MOU which will give easy access to the researchers from different Universities.
National Science and Technology Policy is a well-written accumulation of words. But policies on paper have no real effect until and unless it is practically executed by our policymakers and administrators. In reality, words don’t matter only the action & result is important.
If we look at the ministry of science and technology web site of our neighbour India then we will be able to see the difference. Ministry of Science & Technology of India has 3 large departments, about 24 autonomous research bodies and about 40 divisions, wings or branches. Their area of research covers from astronomy to meteorology, life science to brain research, DNA fingerprinting to Industrial research. And the most important is their research branches, wings and autonomous bodies are significantly contributing in terms of R&D. Indians have done significant progress because their policymakers have realized the importance of scientific R&D and they want to make strong India.
Myanmar, another neighbour of Bangladesh, is giving hard effort towards the development of science and technology though Myanmar is run by the Military Government. They have four departments under the ministry. Department of advanced science and technology is focusing towards planning, financing and human resource development to achieve advanced science and technology. Yangon Institute of Technology is giving B.Sc degree in Aeronautics whether in our country none of our public technical universities yet to offer B.Sc in Aeronautics (Aeronautical Institute of Bangladesh is offering only diploma and short courses).
We will have to dream about a nation which will stand tall in every sphere of excellence. Only forward steps towards scientific research & development can make our dreams come true. Our leaders should have to realize that their name will survive only when their actions will be great. We will have to dream about a developed Bangladesh and believe in our dreams only then that dream will come true.
N.B: The information presented in this article are collected from the respective websites and links are given in the article.