Practising morality can reduce a lot of problems

Bangladesh is a country affected with many problems almost in every sector. Whenever a patriot thinks about the country, he finds a lot of problems in the country that just can be solved if we practice morality everywhere. As our society has been deviated far away from the moral practices, various social evils like corruption, lack of transparency and accountability have rooted in it. Moral practices should be taught at schools and family with great emphasis.

Our educational institutions do not give proper emphasis on the issue of morality. Teachers and guardians always focus on good academic results of the students instead of grooming them as good citizens. If families and educational institutions fail to groom the students as good citizens, corruption, irregularities and ill-practices cannot be uprooted from society. The malpractice prevails in public offices and everywhere else, which adds burden to the general people.

A lack of moral practices is at the core of corruption like Hallmark Group scandal or Sonali Bank scam or capital flight to Swiss bank through illegal channels. Every year, we lose a lot of our valuable currencies in the form of capital flight, which are unlikely to be recovered. These persons hardly practice morality. What they understand is just personal gains; it does not matter to them whether they come through illegal means.

In each and every time any unwanted situation appears, we blame the government for that. But we do not want to take our responsibility for the irregularities. If we were aware of good governance, we won't elect any corrupt people to as our representative to the government. Our voters often take their decisions forgetting morality and taking money from the candidates for casting their valuable votes for these incompetent persons. So, citizens cannot deny their responsibility.

Global consumerism tendency should be replaced with value-based moralities in educational institutions. In educational institutions and in families and in different offices, practices of moralities should be given a great emphasis. Both individual and collective morality practice should be emphasized to uphold transparency and accountability in our society and administration. Actions should be taken against any ill-practice.  Dutifulness and responsibility should be practiced everywhere.

There are many problems in society which can be solved if we are committed to bring positive change in our society. Honesty is the best policy which should be practiced everywhere. Honest persons in every position should be awarded with media highlights to uphold the practice of morality and honesty. On the contrary, dishonest persons should be punished with capital punishment to discourage immoral practices. We can place example in support of this claim.

There are many projects and plans to solve our existing problems. But these problems were not solved even after implementation of those projects. People are yet to see any notable impact of these projects. Project undertaken by different entities to solve the Sewerage problem of Dhaka city have not made any improvement to Dhaka city's sewerage system. Though massive allocation was made for those projects to solve the problem, those funds were not used with transparency and accountability.

The media always highlight the problems prevailing in the country's education sector. It is all too well known that a section of teachers force their students to take private tuition and coaching with them by threatening the students that they will give lower marks to those students who would not take private tuition and coaching. This is very appalling since it is teachers who are supposed to instill morality in their students. Even the law cannot stop this section of teachers.

It is quite impossible for us to change the situation overnight. But steps should be taken from now to change the unwanted situation. Moral practices should be practiced in each and every aspect of our life. Transparency and accountability should increase. We should believe ourselves as positive change makers in every aspect of our life.

The government should strengthen its watchdog bodies to oversee irregularities. There should be a complain box website for public to lodge complain against any irregularity they face in their everyday life. The government should take serious action to stop those irregularities. If there is strong monitoring of government services, the services might be improved and irregularities might be reduced. And with this system, public officials and representatives will be obliged to follow and practice rules of moralities and dutifulness.

If moral practices and transparency can be established in society and government services, we might be able to expect a better livelihood for ourselves. All of us should take our own responsibility of our duties to become good citizens. Moral practices will reduce problems from our day to day lives. Political morality practices won't give birth to armed cadres. All concerned should therefore pay importance to practice of morality to make a positive change for our better livelihoods.


The writer is a member of Jahangirnagar University Journalist Association and Joint Secretary of Rotaract Club of Jahangirnagar