By Mizan Rahman/Dhaka

 Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday slammed those criticising Bangladesh’s education system.

“I would like to tell the education minister to ignore the uncalled-for criticism,” she said while receiving results of this year’s Higher Secondary Certificate and equivalent examinations.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid and chairmen of 10 education boards formally handed over the results to the prime minister.

Education Secretary Mohamed Sadiq, the prime minster’s Principal Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikdar and Press Secretary A K M Shameem Chowdhury were present on the occasion.

Sheikh Hasina said there was a section of people in the Bangladesh society who are always jealous of any work - whether it was good or bad.

“There is nothing to be worried with whatever anyone says in the negative. Our main task is to reach the light of education to every nook and corner of Bangladesh,” she said.

The prime minister said her government has fixed a specific target for the development of education. “We know well what has to be done and how the country will be taken forward as Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman showed the path to our shining destination,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina referred to the already visible advancement in the country’s education sector and said an upward trend has already been set to ensure quality of education in the country.

She, however, said nothing can be changed overnight. “Those who work are criticised but those don’t work remain free from criticism,” she said, quoting from Bangabandhu that “People naturally pelt at fruit-bearing trees.”

The prime minister highlighted the steps taken for further development of education and said her government was taking the country towards light from an era of darkness. And that light is the “light of education,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina said without education, a nation can never hope for prosperity. “We want to build a poverty-free Bangladesh and education is the main key to achieving that goal,” she said, adding that only an educated nation could ensure development.

Paying rich tributes to Father of The Nation, the prime minister said the great leader struggled for 23 years to liberate the country and bring smiles on the faces of teeming millions in this part of the world. “Bangladesh earned its long-awaited independence under his leadership,” she said.

After the independence, she said, Bangabandhu put maximum emphasis on the development of education. “He nationalised all the primary schools through his farsighted policy and formed the Qudrat-e-Quda Education Commission which could not be implemented as he was assassinated.”

She said Bangabandhu not only liberated the country, but also visualised how he would advance the nation to the coveted goal by giving life to all key sectors, which were brutally ravaged by the war in 1971.

The prime minister said the genocide and also destruction during the War of Liberation shattered the country’s potentials and the dream of the people. Bangladesh and also its people were again plunged into darkness, when military dictatorship seized power.

She said the dictators did nothing for the welfare of the people.