Bangladesh has achieved remarkable success in gender parity in school enrolment with more girls in school than boys. Undoubtedly, the country has huge potential to create a globally competitive workforce by investing more in education. But despite Bangladesh’s notable success in bringing nearly all children across the country to primary school, the quality of education remains a concern.
Question leak, unskilled teachers and inconsistency between the education system and job sector, low budgetary allocation are the main factors overwhelming our education sector for long. Many young students in Bangladesh, as in other low and middle-income countries, find it hard to get good jobs because of the sheer inconsistency between the education system and job market. The country should address this crisis by investing more in education and ensuring effective utilization of the investment.
Despite Bangladesh’s notable success in
bringing nearly all children across the
country to primary school,
the quality of education remains a concern
Reports tell us that over 40 per cent of our high schools cannot prepare creative questions and 55 per cent of teachers of primary schools do not understand critical education methods. Such a huge number of unskilled teachers are deteriorating the quality of education being imparted to students across the country. Ministry of Education must address the urgency of incorporating new training institutes and improving the functions of the existing ones.
To ensure quality education and create a skilled workforce Bangladesh needs to invest more. Low budgetary allocation is one of the main reasons hindering the country’s sustainable development in education sector. According to educationists, the ratio of the education budget to the GDP should be increased to six percent. Hence, it is saddening that over the past 15 years the ratio has hovered around merely two percent. Bangladesh’s share of spending on education is lower than that of South Asian average and about half of Malaysia’s share of spending on education. Considering this, Bangladesh should look forward to attaining a higher budgetary allocation for the education sector.
