The International Literacy Day was observed in the country on September 08 last through programmes put up by the government as well as many social and development organisations. The UNESCO proclaimed the day to be observed on the 8th of September from 1966. Since then it is being celebrated globally under various themes. The theme for the day this year was 'Literacy and Sustainable Development'.
The crux of the day's many-faceted significance comprises the varying rates of literacy now prevailing in the country. Primary and Mass Education Minister Mostafizur Rahman has put the literacy rate in the country at 65 per cent. As per the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) estimate, the percentage is 59.82 as has been found in 2010. Many pessimists, however, put the rate at a figure far below the two mentioned. According to non-government sources, the country's literacy rate hovers at around 57 to 58 per cent.
In the thick of these figures, the general people get stuck in a web of mathematical riddles. Putting aside the confusing figures for the time being, we had better turn to the ground realities. As part of the act, we can make short trips to the social segments susceptible to the varying rates of achievements in the literacy sector.
When it comes to personal experience vis-à-vis literacy among the common people, this writer recently conducted a random survey of the female domestic help in order to learn about their literacy attainment. Most of the ladies, a sizable segment from the rural areas in northern Bangladesh, said they could not read or write. A lot of them cast vote in local and national elections. In the polling booths, they used thumb impressions. Surprisingly, the offspring of a number of them have gone to primary schools in the village. Some mothers, now living in roadside slums, have enrolled their children with NGO-run, non-formal schools. In sharp contrast to this section, one would come across a young or a middle-aged rickshaw-puller engrossed in a Bangla daily newspaper on his vehicle. This writer has also found house maids, though negligible in number, who can write their names, though with a lot of efforts.
We cannot take much solace from the latest literacy data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. It is mainly because the data is quite far from Awami League's 2008 pre-election prediction on literacy rate, and its later performance. Ahead of the national polls that year, the party pledged attainment of 100 per cent literacy by 2014. To make good on the promise, the grand alliance government framed the National Education Policy 2010. But all these pledges and efforts still remain elusive.
However, according to the recent report on meeting the millennium development goals (MDGs), Bangladesh has made impressive progress in the Universal Primary Education sector. Here the country has proved its worth in increasing the 'equitable access to education'. At present, the Net Enrolment Rate in primary education in the country is 97.3 per cent.
In spite of this heartening development, nearly one-fourth of the country's population, from age 11 to 45, remains illiterate. The adult literacy rate is outshone by that in the primary education sector. With these confounding figures popping up at regular intervals, the actual rate of the country's literacy gets lost in a labyrinth. Making the matter worse, the government reportedly is yet to muster the capability to create a fund large enough to impart literacy to the country's vast population. A considerable chunk of the population still lacks the day-to-day functional literacy. Many remote areas in the country do not have a single person who can read a letter or a Bangla newspaper with ease. When it comes to complicated counting, a section of cunning persons fill in the void thus cheating the illiterate folks.
We do not need survey results or data to conclude that the general situation of literacy in the country has changed remarkably. Many villages take pride in their having almost hundred per cent literacy rate. Some areas boast of dozens of college-going students and even a few graduates. The students include studious young women too.
As for the lacunae standing in our way of having a true literacy picture, we can do away with those by adopting the right and scientific process of collecting data. Before that we have to decide what we actually mean by literacy in the Bangladesh context.
The point to be kept in mind is that to the outside world we are known as one of the low-literacy countries in southern Asia.
shihabskr@ymail.com
Myth and reality of our literacy
Shihab Sarkar | Published: September 12, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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