Education in Bangladesh: Changing Contexts and Emerging Realities

Abstract

The recent decades have seen major—and in some cases unprecedented—changes in Bangladesh’s education sector, sometimes in ways distinct from other countries in the region and globally. Given its history of nearly two centuries of British colonial rule, as well as a religion- and language-based national identity that eventually saw the country transition from being a province in the British-ruled Subcontinent to an independent country, influences of such political histories can often be felt unmistakably in the way education is understood and enacted in current day Bangladesh. In addressing some of the persistent trends of education, this book presents, as much as it critiques, educational practices across a range of sectors—from primary to higher education, from formal to the informal and the on-demand, and looks into practices in teaching and pedagogy, curriculum planning and assessment, policymaking, administration and leadership. This chapter sets the scene for the studies showcased in this volume, first by giving an overview of education in Bangladesh, and introducing the structure of its education. It then discusses the roles of the various stakeholders in education, highlighting issues and topics that have been picked up by chapter authors as the themes in the book. This chapter is primarily intended for international readers to familiarise them with some of the basics of Bangladesh’s education today and the emerging realities in this context in recent times. In doing so, the chapter presents the most persistent interests of education researchers all of whom have had many years of teaching and research training and experience both nationally and internationally.