In an article published on August 8, 2026, educator Dr Shahjahan Khan called for values-based higher education in Bangladesh as an urgent strategy to address corruption and violent social crime. He cited Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s repeated emphasis on traditional family values and morality-based education. The article places the appeal amid concerns over extortion, corruption, youth drug addiction, mistreatment of elderly parents and sexual assaults on children.

Khan wrote that Bangladesh has expanded higher education to more than 170 public and private universities, but questioned whether institutions are producing people of sound character alongside qualified graduates. He argued that universities have given comparatively less attention to integrity, justice, accountability, empathy and social responsibility. The article cited Finland, Japan, Singapore and Australia as examples of education systems incorporating trust, discipline, character building, citizenship and ethics.

The author proposed integrating ethics across all curricula, enforcing academic-integrity policies, providing mandatory teacher training, encouraging service learning, ensuring transparent appointments and administration, strengthening counselling and supporting research on ethics. He called for a coordinated national framework and said universities are best placed to lead the change.