Primary Education | Articles on Education of Bangladesh | Articles on Education of Bangladesh

Research Team: Samir Ranjan Nath, Md. Mahbubul Kabir, Kazi Saleh Ahmed, Goutam Roy, Awlad Hossain, S. M. Nurul Alam, Fazlul Karim Chowdhury, Amina Mahbub

Reviewers: Manzoor Ahmed, Kazi Fazlur Rahman, Jowshan Ara Rahman, Roushan Jahan, Ahmed Al- Kabir

Editors: A. M. R. Chowdhury, Rasheda K. Choudhury

Overview

A. Background
Bangladesh   has   made   progress   in   various   arena   of socio-economic development since its Independence in 1971. Such progress has been possible due to continuous and collective effort of common people, the government and the development partners. However, sadly, after four decades of Independence, a high rate of poverty with huge income and wealth inequalities are the realities.

Education is a key to address the challenges of development. The country has improved much in various aspects of educational attainment. Major improvement has occurred during the past two decades. An unfortunate feature of educational development in the country, however, is the inequity. Inequities exist in terms of school type, streams of education, geographical locations and socioeconomic status. Coexistence of development and inequity does not match with the spirit of our Constitution or the new Education Policy 2010. Elimination of inequity from education in Bangladesh is urgently needed. In-depth studies are required to understand the nature of such inequities, formulate policies for an equitable educational provision and proper implementation of such policies.

Geographically, Sylhet division is a low performing region. This study explored the reasons behind the slow progress of Sylhet division in school education. This can be considered as a case study on Sylhet division in the broader context of regional deprivation in education.

My wife was asking me to find a government primary school adjacent to our home (Rampura) to get the boy who works as a domestic helper of our house enrolled to receive education comparatively a cheap rate. I failed to give her the exact information which finally led her to get the boy enrolled in a NGO run school in class four. This incident coupled with the request of a journalist friend to write an article on the government primary school situation of this mega city. I started searching for the necessary information on the website but no such recent information is available there. However, I inserted some old information regarding the government primary school situation of the city spiced with my comments, ideas and recommendations.

The education that facilitates the children of 6-11 years age group to amplify their mental behavior and attitude is called Primary Education. This primary education is the fundamental of all education (Source Universalizing Quality Primary Education in Bangladesh by Jalauddin K.A. and Chowdhury R.M. Mustafa.) According to UN a person aged 18 years or less is termed as a child. In Bangladesh it is 16 or less. But in this country, access to all kinds of education is still a’ chance not yet rights. The system, quality and advancement of education are not enhanced according to the needs of the citizens.  According to the Child Education and Literacy survey 1997, conducted by the Primary and Mass Education Ministry, the overall literacy rate of 7 years or above in Bangladesh is about 47.3 percent (Female 41.5prcent and male 50.6 percent). The gap between urban and rural areas is very significant, rural 41 percent and urban 59.9 percent. The reasons of lower literacy rate in rural areas are poverty, lack of awareness, lack of interest in education and superstition and no definite aim or gain lying before them through education. Though the rate of education is higher in urban areas, this is limited within the higher and middle income group. The people living in slums still prove lower literacy rate. A joint study of Asian Development Bank and Planning Commission, GoB in 1995-96 revealed that 61.3 percent of urban population is below poverty line and out of them 40.2 percent are staying below the hard-core poverty line.  As a result the poor families are more willing to engage their children in jobs rather than sending to school.

It is a fact that the status of government primary schools is very poor and negligible in Dhaka city, which is renowned as the most resourceful area for all sorts of education of the country. Baker (2007) reports that 26 percent of slums in Dhaka have a government school and 27 percent have an NGO school operated According to the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MOPME)  Dhaka city accommodates 295 government primary schools. We know about one crore and thirty lac people live in this mega city. So, only 295 government primary schools prove to be extremely poor number comparing to the huge population. Giving education to the citizens is the sacred responsibility of any democratic government. We cannot expect to go ahead avoiding this solemn responsibility or to rest on other entities. Even if other entities like NGOs or private sectors try to spread primary education among the poor and slum dwellers government should have a strong mechanism to coordinate the whole affair. But unfortunately it remains quite absent which has created scope for getting kindergarten schools commercially to extend education facilities only for the affluent people. What about the middle income and low income group who find it extremely difficult to get their children educated in the primary level.