Originally posted in The Daily Star on 3 November 2026
Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon has said he does not want to form an education commission, despite the BNP’s promise to establish one in its election manifesto earlier this year.
“The education commission was supposed to be formed, but I did not do it. I do not want to,” the minister said yesterday (Monday).
He made the remarks at the closing and certificate distribution ceremony of the 210th foundation training course for BCS (general education) cadre officials at the National Academy for Educational Management (NAEM).
The BNP’s manifesto, unveiled on February 6 ahead of the 13th parliamentary election, explicitly pledged to form an “Education Reform Commission” to improve the overall quality of education. It also promised to review and reform curricula.
Milon said a senior professor had urged him to form the commission and offered to contribute to its work. But he questioned whether a panel of people whose expertise was based on past knowledge and experience could determine the direction of education amid rapid technological changes.
He said artificial intelligence was changing teaching methods and education systems, making it difficult to predict how the sector would develop.
“AI is the most important,” he said, adding that Bangladesh needed to learn to use modern technology even if it could not develop the technology itself.
Besides the commission, the manifesto promised multimedia classrooms, free Wi-Fi and a “One Teacher, One Tab” initiative.
At the NAEM programme, the minister also criticised the inadequate orientation and professional training provided to education cadre officials.
He asked officials to document the changes introduced in training programmes over the past five years and raised concerns about the lack of smart boards, smart classrooms and other teaching facilities at the academy.
Milon also stressed that teachers needed access to laptops and artificial intelligence tools to keep pace with changes in education.
