Reforming education, keeping the promises

Bangladesh is the youngest nation among its South Asian neighbours. Its war of independence against Pakistan started with a massive revolt by Bangladeshis from all walks of life—but without the necessary arms and trained soldiers to fight against Pakistan's professional military forces. Similarly, its journey toward economic growth started without any reparation from Pakistan. In effect, Bangladesh experienced an additional quarter century of colonial rule compared to Pakistan and India. Despite that, Bangladesh will celebrate higher per capita income than India and Pakistan on its 50th anniversary. Better health and education outcomes are two important factors that have contributed to this exemplary economic growth.

The economic growth could have been greater if we had been able to keep Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's promise to allocate 4 percent of GDP to education, a promise that he could not keep due to post-war reconstruction priorities. Formation of the Qudrat-i-Khuda education commission is one of the exemplary actions that I would like to recall on this auspicious golden jubilee occasion.

Bangabandhu also took full responsibility for over 36 thousand primary schools to offer universal and free primary education to all Bangladeshi children. Forty-two years later, his daughter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also took a bold step by nationalising another 26 thousand primary schools in 2013. Bangladesh now enjoys 98 percent enrolment rate in primary education. It has achieved gender parity both in terms of enrolment in primary and secondary education and teacher recruitment in primary schools, and 80 percent completion rate in primary education. Bangladesh is on track to reach the developed country status by 2041 when it will celebrate its 70th birthday, which Pakistan and India celebrated three years ago.

Since independence, education enjoyed the highest budgetary allocation, with only a few exceptions, by various governments. The general education project in the 80's and compulsory primary education programme in the 90's were two significant milestones that brought more children to school. Female secondary school stipends had been a big encouragement for parents and their daughters that helped break many barriers and overcoming vicious cycles; thus girls outnumbered boys both in primary and secondary schools. Expansion of social safety net programme to schools in the form of stipend, food for education, and mid-day meals directly contributed to the quantitative achievements in primary and secondary education. At the policy advocacy level, special initiatives by the Prime Minister's daughter, Saima Wazed, will definitely help bring the last child to school who would otherwise be deprived of education due to disabilities; but, someone needs to translate policies into action

The critical question that we need to answer now is—should we feel complacent just by bringing children to school? Government reports show that only one in every four children are able to read at their grade level competencies. Similar performance is seen in basic mathematical skills in primary school. With these weak foundational capabilities, it will be extremely difficult for Bangladesh to maintain a steady economic growth, let alone accelerating it to a level needed to reach a high-income status by 2041—from just over USD 2,000 to USD 12,000.

Had Bangladesh remained East Pakistan, the cost today would have been an additional four million child and maternal deaths—a higher number than the Pakistani militaries and their collaborators killed during the Liberation War. This estimate is based on Bangladesh's under five mortality, which is 45 per 1,000 live birth and maternal death of 196 per 100,000 live births as opposed to Pakistan's 74 under five and 251 maternal death. The Demographic Health Survey and Maternal Mortality Survey in Bangladesh are the two most sophisticated studies conducted periodically by the government. These studies consistently revealed that investment in education results in significantly better health outcomes. Teenagers without primary education are twice as likely to begin childbearing, mothers with secondary or higher education seek medically trained personnel to perform deliveries, and ensure antenatal and postnatal care visits, that reduce under five child mortality and maternal deaths.

At this glorious historical moment for the nation, we cannot just feel complacent with impressive numbers. Instead, we should revisit our plans and programmes and revitalise our quality improvement initiatives at all tiers of education. Primary education is foundational and a constitutional obligation of the government. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should pledge at least 4 percent of the GDP for education to keep the promise of her father—the father of the nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. A substantial amount of the resources is needed to be invested in teacher preparation. An immediate step could be adding education as a subject to be studied in college i.e., at the undergraduate level along with other subjects like physics, math, Bangla, English, etc. The aspiring teachers then can begin to specialise in education at graduate level to choose teaching as their profession instead of considering it as the last option or as an after-thought.

In order to promote meritocracy in teaching, the entry level positions in primary school teaching should be equivalent to ninth grade in the civil service which is popularly known as first class officers in Bangladesh. Teachers as a second- or third-class employee of the republic cannot produce first class citizens. Our children deserve better.

In addition to lifting the status and income of teachers, we need to create a strong evidence base of success in primary and secondary education. Public and private universities can work hand-in-hand with the education ministries and line directorates to initiate rigorous research on nationally representative samples with district level disaggregation. This research will lead to evidence-based policy dialogue to determine the best options and interventions.

We should not forget that the Qudrat-i-Khuda commission report had recommended eight years of primary schooling and four years of secondary education. The founding father had endorsed this report. The education policy 2010 recommended the same two-tiered school system that his daughter, the prime minister of Bangladesh, had endorsed a decade ago. These promises need to be converted into action. The first 1,000 days in school (grades 1-3) are extremely crucial for a child to build foundational skills (reading and math) to excel in later grades as a student or as an adult to remain a lifelong learner. Similarly, special education for the children disabilities needs repositioning in policy priorities for Bangladesh to ensure that no child is left behind. These education reforms would make the 50th birthday of Bangladesh truly meaningful.

Shahidul Islam is a Policy Analyst, Toronto, Canada. Email: shahidul.islam@mail.utoronto.ca