Page 70 - IBT Sept 2021 (1)

Education Sector
By Munira Fidai September 2021
Lessons such as the UN’s Education for All (EFA) and
Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
In 1971, the overall literacy rate stood at a
mere 17.6%. In 2020, it was 74.7%. How did a
Learned small country like Bangladesh, riddled with
political crises and economic and climatic
turbulence win this war against illiteracy in a
little less than 50 years? Multiple factors
helped push the country forward with its
goals of poverty eradication, of which
eliminating illiteracy was a big part.
Bangladesh had about 50% of its population
within working age in 1975. In order to
leverage this strength and root out poverty,
Bangladesh needed to educate its youth
population. And so, it set the wheels in
motion right after independence. The results
were bright and shining- by 1981, Bangladesh
had pulled up its adult literacy rate to 29.2%.
Once here, the country never looked back.
A key contributor to this successful rise in the
adult (and later primary and secondary)
literacy rate is the Bangladesh Rural
Advancement Committee (BRAC), an NGO
formed primarily to resettle war refugees into
the country. The NGO has been central to the
Bangladesh Government’s Education for All
(EFA) initiative by setting in motion an
educational campaign in 1985, targeting
gender inequality at school level and ensuring
education for the needy, unemployed,
minority and other disadvantaged groups of
people. For instance, floating schools were
one initiative taken by BRAC in order to
provide learning opportunities to vulnerable
Unpacking 50 years of people in remote areas. Most recently, BRAC’s
education program (BEP) has seen about 14
the Bangladesh Photograph: Unsplash million children graduate from its schools and
has had its learning models replicated by
governments around the world. The country’s
education sector paved with hurdles, but the country has crossed largest non-formal approach to primary
education and various formal programs for
each one with grace and made laudable success overall education through BRAC has managed
in sectors such as primary school enrollment, to tilt the gender parity balance on the side of
especially for the female population and tertiary women, with currently around 55% of its
Bangladesh- a land won through blood and sweat, and education. students being females. Largely thanks to
sheer determination. On the 14th of December, 1971, also Education in Bangladesh is overseen by the BRAC, Bangladesh is on track with 5 out of 8
known as Martyred Intellectuals Day, hundreds of Ministry of Education, currently headed by Dr. Millennium Development Goals, out of which
intellectuals of the country were brutally murdered to Dipu Moni, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, two- primary school enrollment and gender
make sure that the country was crippled for years to Bangladesh. A branch of the above, Ministry of parity in primary education- are directly
come. Almost 50 years later, the net enrollment rate in Primary and Mass Education takes charge of related to education. Figures report that in
primary education has reached 95.5% in 2020. This primary education in the country and maintains 2014, the pass rate for primary school
millennium has also seen a jump in the adult literacy that all children receive state funded and examinations out of almost 50,000 students
rate from 46% in 2001 to a whopping 73% in 2018. Even compulsory primary and secondary education, was an outstanding 99.9% and almost 61.7%
rural literacy among adults stands at 67.3% for both thus keeping true to Article 17 of its constitution of these students were female.
genders. Bangladesh’s road to success may have been and education related international declarations Primary education in Bangladesh gathered
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much speed after the enactment of the Compulsory Primary
Education Law of 1990. Measures such as satellite schools,
community-based education and Food for Education were
carried out across the country. The Female Secondary School
Assistance Program (FSSAP) which was initiated in 1994 by
the Government of Bangladesh, with support from
development partners like the Asian Development Bank, has
also superbly achieved its goal of increasing secondary school
marriages. The program is essentially a conditional cash
enrollment for females and discouraging child or early
transfer agreement- if a girl enrolls in secondary education,
maintains attendance records at 75% or more, achieves a
certain academic score (45% or more in class tests) and
remains unmarried until the end of her secondary school
certificate examination, a certain stipend is transferred to her.
The program also had an ulterior motive- eradicating gender
disparity in education. In 1991, the adult literacy rate for
females was only at 26% versus 44% in men. The program had
a striking range of positive outcomes both in short and long
run, and not just directly impacting education but a host of
other areas of concern in Bangladesh. In the short run, the
program not only encouraged females to join secondary school
but also males, through the sibling spillover benefits. In the
long run, it managed to reduce the gender disparity in school
enrollment by a stunning number- in 1998, male enrollment
was at 43% while the female enrollment rate had shot up to
41%! The figure as of 2018 stands at 61% for males and 72%
for women. It ended up delaying marriages, increased
employment opportunities for women, and even, increasing
female child preference. ”Bangladesh has gained global
recognition for its continuing focus on girls’ education
resulting in “gender parity” at primary and secondary levels.
Since the take over by “elected” government in the early 90s
with female heads of the ruling party and their “positive
discrimination policy” in favour of girls with stipends, fee
waivers and free textbooks for all, Bangladesh has managed to
get more girls and also more female teachers in education
institutions.” - Rasheda K Choudhury- Executive Director,
Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), Member Secretary,
Education Watch and Former Adviser, Caretaker Government of
Bangladesh in 2008." A survey showed benefits of the stipend
program outweigh the costs by 200%. It has proved to be a
“win-win” for individual families and the society at large.
Ongoing government projects to encourage the education of
children in Bangladesh comprise compulsory primary
education for all, free education for girls up to grade 10,
stipends for female students, a nationwide integrated
education system and a food for education program. The
efforts have paid off and Bangladesh’s education system has
paced ahead in leaps and bounds. As of now, national
curriculum books from class 5 to class 12 are handed out free
of charge among students and schools.
After the first decade post war, adult literacy rate for
Bangladesh was a steady climb with few hiccups along the
way. The years 2007 and 2012 saw minor falls but then the
graph gained momentum fast. Although the rate of increase
has declined sharply from the year 2016, it
nevertheless continues to rise. A critical
element for the success of adult literacy rates,
both rural and urban, has been the rise of
tertiary and nonformal education in the
country. At the time of independence,
Bangladesh had only 6 universities. The
country now boasts 44 government, 101
private and 3 international universities, as
per the most recent data. Students have a
choice in pursuing their desired professions
such as chartered accountancy, engineering,
technology, agriculture and medicine, at
institutions of their choice.
Non Formal education, driven largely by the
government to eradicate illiteracy
post-independence, was a 5-year step by step
program. Besides NGO based community
learning centres and clubs, it includes
vocational and technical institutes that the
government of this country has put special
emphasis on ever since its new National
Education Policy 2010. Bangladesh has
always had a robust youth population
(between 10-24 years) and the country knew
how critical it was to their overall goals, to
turn these children into the human capital for
the future. Bangladesh’s answer to this was
vocational and training institutes. According
to the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational
Information and Statistics, upwards of
200,000 children are enrolled in vocational
SSC at almost 3000 general schools and more
than 10,00,000 were enrolled in 16 different
types of technical and vocational institutes in
2018. Currently Bangladesh has a youth
population of about 30%. In order for the
country to be able to convert all that into
human capital, they must invest in
alternative forms of education in order to
build specific skill sets across all industries of
the country. In order to do so, the government
is planning to introduce vocational SSC at
640 more madrasas and schools, by funding
them and providing them human resources if
they willingly come forward to accept this
alternative form of education. While
vocational training for the engineering,
agricultural and medical sectors are already
in place, there is room for still more, in
sectors such as garments, IT and teaching
sectors. Bangladesh also needs to raise the
acceptability of vocational degrees in
universities and devise alternative vocational
skills-based curriculum for universities which
are already offering quality formal education.
The vocational training structure is new and like everything
new, would take time to settle into itself. Although all non
formal education activities were carried out to the T in 2019,
with the government already having enrolled 2.3 million
adults in 134 sub-districts and planning to enroll another 2.1
million in 116 more sub districts, COVID--19 has presented
itself as a big threat, bringing halts and pauses to the
education system as a whole. The government has already
implemented programs to educate 5 million adults through
learning centres across the country, the basic literacy program
aimed to educate 4.5 million adults between 15 and 45 years
and another 1 million former dropouts throughout the country,
by Mujib year 2020. However, ever since March 2020,
educational institutions have remained closed. For over a year
and a half, institutions have coped through online education
where they could but rural institutions have not been able to
take advantage of online teaching structures due to a lack of
resources. While the country struggles to hold on to its
economy, and the working population to their jobs, experts
fear that education would topple down the students’ list of
priorities post pandemic, slowing down the literacy rate.
Joint effort from the government, community initiatives and
involvement of NGOs has collectively made commendable
success possible. More progress will be made if the country
can resolve issues such as escalating education programs in
some areas, battling corruption in the sector, ensuring quality
and equality and eliminating discrimination across all levels
of education. The above is especially important for tertiary
education as universities grapple with issues such as lack of
seats and lack of research and facilities for existing students.
Tertiary education has the biggest role to play if the country
wants to produce the best human resource that will pull the
country out of poverty and it is therefore crucial that emphasis
be given to capacity building in universities, maybe through
collaboration with universities of developed countries.
COVID-19 is an unprecedented challenge and has been so for
many countries around the world, not only Bangladesh. If the
country can hold onto its current rate of progress or be able to
mitigate the damage done due to this pandemic in the post
pandemic era, it is projected that illiteracy in the country will
fall below 10% by 2050, ensuring a much brighter future for
all its citizens.