Reimagining primary and compulsory education in Bangladesh
It is believed that education, in the midst of global advances and challenges, remains the critical vehicle of empowerment, and this holds true for countries like Bangladesh. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 (UDHR) has recognized education as a core human right, and throughout human history, it has proven essential to personal and social development.
In Bangladesh, primary education, up to class five, is compulsory according to the Primary Education (Compulsory) Act of 1990. Article 17 (free and compulsory education) of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh enshrines compulsory education as a fundamental principle of state policies. Our Constitution reads, "The State shall adopt effective measures for the purpose of – relating education to the needs of society and developing properly trained and motivated citizens to serve those needs." Along with that, the government of Bangladesh adopted the National Education Policy 2010 to cultivate human values, groom them with leadership skills, and progress society. Accordingly, the Government of Bangladesh has taken a few initiatives, including providing textbooks and a monthly stipend to the students, which are commendable and made significant contributions, particularly in enrollment in primary and secondary schools.
The overall scenario of education in Bangladesh is not relevant to the aspirations of the youth and much remains to be done in this regard. The looming challenges, i.e., quality teaching, timely curriculum, large class size, lack of extracurricular activities, lack of education material, out-of-pocket expenditure, assessment system, the gap in the introduction of technology, child marriage, dropout, etc., are holding us back from achieving the objectives of education referred to in the Construction and National Education Policy.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS) 2022, the dropout rate from primary education is 14 percent. For secondary education, which is 36 percent and 41 percent for girls. Moreover, the most recent survey published by BANBEIS revealed that the number of students in secondary education has reduced by 1 million in 2023 compared to 2019 and 55 percent of the dropped-out students are girls. The number of students in vocational education has increased slightly in this period with only below 50 thousand added students. The teacher-student ratio is as high as 30.5 students per teacher. BANBEIS (2022) data also exposed that among all teachers, 67.91% were trained, which means a large section of teachers are yet to be trained. Along with that, a UNSCEO report (2022) published that average expenditure on education increased by a staggering 80 percent in real terms and Bangladesh has the second highest rate of private secondary education globally. The same study informed us that households account for 71 percent of total education spending in Bangladesh, one of the highest in the world.
Moreover, in Bangladesh, 51 percent of the girls are married before the age of 18, and in the rural areas which is 54 percent. Child marriage is a big setback for young girls to continue with their education and eventually drop out. The existing education system also reflects the poor status of decent employment generation among the younger generation, with overall 92.7 percent of the young people engaged in the informal sector and 98.5 percent being young women (LFS 2022). Moreover, the recently published data by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) revealed that 39.88 percent of youth in Bangladesh are neither studying nor working, which has a gender dimension with 60.85 percent of young women.
The overall scenario shows that the existing education structure, including delivery methodology, is not able to bring the changes as expected in the overall socio-economic condition. The World Bank data tells us there are very few countries in the world that have five years or less of compulsory education. Compared to Bangladesh's five years, compulsory education in India is eight years, in Nepal, it is nine years; in Sri Lanka, it is eleven years; in Pakistan, it is twelve years; in Vietnam, it is ten years; and in the Philippines, it is thirteen years. UNICEF says each additional year of schooling raises the average annual GDP by 0.4 percent, increases individual earnings by up to 10 percent, and reduces the poverty rate by 9 percent. However, the outcome of education is not only limited to economic development. The recently published Human Development Index by UNDP refers to the relationship between education and addressing inequalities. According to the Human Development Index, Bangladesh's mean years of schooling are only 7.4 years, though better than India's, 6.6 years but behind Maldives' 7.8 years. Bangladesh's expected progress to the 'high human development group' requires an extended education period.
The Government of Bangladesh recently made a fresh move to extend primary education up to class VIII. During a joint meeting among the education and primary and mass education ministries in May, Farid Ahmed, secretary of primary and mass education ministry stated, "we would work together to make education up to class-VIII compulsory and free of cost and this extension was a recommendation of the National Education Policy-2010."
We appreciate the initiative and expect implementation of the plan without further failure. Alongside that, the proposed enactment of the Education Act should be completed immediately to fulfill the objectives of the National Education Policy. Therefore, to achieve all the policy commitments and overcome all the socio-economic challenges, the most important things to do are to ensure the quality and relevancy of education and extend compulsory education up to class VIII. It is believed that this will contribute to the younger generation being better prepared to face the new challenges. On the other hand, education is a tool for social inclusion. It is also reflected in this year's theme of International Women's Day, "Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress." Education is the most significant way to invest in women and girls to address exclusion and develop them into an active workforce, eventually helping them become a part of social transitions that are inclusive, just, and transformative.
Authors:
1. Farah Kabir,
Country Director, ActionAid Bangladesh
2. Nazmul Ahsan,
Lead, Young People, ActionAid Bangladesh