Dhaka, June 28 (IANS) Though Bangladesh’s Constitution recognises education as a fundamental responsibility of the state and a key social necessity, citizens of the country have only limited legal avenues to hold the government accountable for failing to provide equitable and quality education, according to a recent article in the local media.
The opinion piece, authored by Shahariar Sadat, Executive Director of the Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ) at BRAC University, and Prantick Chowdhury, Lead of the BRAC University Access Programme at the same institution, and published in the leading Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo, argues that while Bangladesh possesses a progressive Constitutional and policy framework on education, a substantial gap persists between official commitments and the actual condition of the country’s education system.
“Twelve years of schooling in Bangladesh is equivalent to seven years of schooling internationally. It is sad and disappointing that we send our children to school with hope. Yet, in reality, they are experiencing a significant loss of learning,” it stated.
According to the article, Bangladesh’s Constitutional and policy framework reflects an ambitious vision for education, but the country’s learning outcomes indicate that these commitments have not translated into meaningful improvements on the ground.
“While policies and frameworks repeatedly promise equity, inclusion, and quality learning, the system in practice continues to reproduce quantity rather than quality, social inequality, class division, and unequal futures,” the article observed.
The authors argued that the contradiction begins within the Constitutional framework itself.
They pointed out that Article 17 of the Constitution commits the state to establishing a “uniform, mass-oriented and universal” education system, extending free and compulsory education and eliminating illiteracy. However, they noted that education has been placed under the Fundamental Principles of State Policy rather than being recognised as an enforceable fundamental right.
“As a result, although the Constitution establishes education as a core state obligation and social necessity, citizens have limited scope to hold the state legally accountable for failing to ensure equitable, high-quality education,” they said in the article.
The authors further highlighted that while Article 19 guarantees equality of opportunity and obligates the state to reduce social and economic disparities, Bangladesh took 18 years after adopting its Constitution to enact the Primary Education (Compulsory) Act of 1990.
The report also questioned the pace of educational reforms in the country, noting that although the National Education Policy of 2010 recommended extending free and compulsory education up to Grade VIII, implementation has remained limited.
“Although the Education Policy of 2010 recommended extending free and compulsory education up to Grade VIII, in practice, compulsory education is effectively limited to the primary level, generally up to Grade V. This places Bangladesh behind much of South and Central Asia in terms of educational commitment and continuity,” the article said.
Drawing on UNESCO data, the authors stated that 155 countries worldwide have made education compulsory from pre-primary through at least the lower secondary level.
They added that several neighbouring countries, including Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and the Maldives, have already extended compulsory education beyond Bangladesh’s current practice.
The article also examined changing enrolment trends across different educational streams, citing a recent report published by The Daily Star.
According to the authors, Alia madrasas are increasingly attracting students because their curriculum has become more aligned with mainstream education, while Qawmi madrasas continue to appeal to economically disadvantaged families due to lower costs and the provision of food, accommodation, discipline, and supervision.
The writers further referred to a 2024 report by Bonik Barta, which noted that enrolment in Alia madrasas reached its highest level in two decades, rising to around 40.2 lakh students in 2022 from approximately 38.06 lakh in 2019. During the same period, the Qawmi madrasa board reportedly registered an increase of nearly one lakh students.
The authors concluded that these trends have resulted in a deeply stratified education system in Bangladesh, where access to quality education increasingly depends on socio-economic status.
According to the report, the country’s education landscape has evolved into a socially divided structure in which affluent families are able to access globally competitive education, while much of the urban middle class relies on the national curriculum with limited English-language adaptation.
However, economically and socially marginalised communities often remain dependent on under-resourced government Bangla-medium schools or madrasa institutions with comparatively fewer opportunities for upward mobility.
–IANS
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