Bangladesh is celebrating the 50th anniversary of victory with significant achievements in the field of education. However, according to academics, despite the great progress in education, more work is required to be done in some of the fields to achieve the desired success.
The achievements in the sector of education include almost hundred percent admission in primary, gender equality in terms of receiving education, distribution of free new textbooks up to 10th class or equivalent on the first day of the year, and many more.
In the 50 years of victory, illiteracy in the country has also decreased at an expected pace.The number of female students at the higher education level has increased significantly. Students are getting more interested in science and technology.
According to the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, in 1971 the literacy rate of the country was 16.8 percent and at present it stands at 75.6 percent.
Rasheda K Choudhury, Executive Director of Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) and former primary education adviser to a caretaker government highlighted three points regarding the country’s progress in the education sector in the last 50 years.
She told the Bangladesh Post, “The first achievement is that a demand for education has been created among people of all walks of life. Most of the people of our country now understand the necessity of education. Secondly, we have achieved parity in terms of imparting education, despite being a least developed country. The number of boys and girls in primary and secondary levels is now almost equal.”
She further said that the distribution of free books on the first day of the year is definitely a significant achievement.
“There has been considerable progress in the education of minorities and persons with disabilities. However, we could not implement Qudrat-e-Khuda Education Commission. Some of the National Education Policy 2010 has been implemented, but most of them were not. Work need to be done to reduce the commercialization of education,” she said.
Former vice-chancellor of the University of Dhaka Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique told the Bangladesh Post that although significant infrastructural development has taken place in the education sector, more needs to be done to implement Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s dream.
“The history of the country and the subjects of the liberation war should be made compulsory from primary to higher education so that the students could acquire knowledge on these subjects from the very beginning,” he said.
He stressed the need for including subjects like culture, sports, history and heritage of Bangladesh, etc. in the curriculum for the humanitarian development of the students along with the infrastructural development.