The government is visibly in a state of complacency on what it considers a laudable achievement in the education sector. This is prompted by issues not totally innocuous to the public eye. The large number of students coming out with outstanding academic accomplishments in the public examinations at the primary, junior and secondary levels is often found not living up to the desired quality of learning on the one hand and on the other, achieving notable gains in adult literacy and gender parity also remains highly challenging.
A recent UNESCO report provides some thoughtful insight into the state of education in developing countries including Bangladesh concerning attainments and failures in the education sector. The report has reasons to make the authorities in Bangladesh both elated and disillusioned. According to the UNESCO report, Bangladesh has 'more than halved' the number of children who have never been to school since 2000.
However, the report mentions that the country remains one of the 20 countries with the slowest progress towards achieving 'Education for All'. The report also adds saying, while the country is close to achieving the goal of Universal Primary Education, it is 'far' from achieving gender parity in school and 'very far' from cutting its adult literacy rates at the desired level.
On a global level, just one-third of the countries have achieved all of the measurable Education for All (EFA) goals set in 2000 and only half of all countries have achieved the most watched goal of universal primary enrolment. These are the key findings of the 2015 Global Monitoring Report (GMR) on 'Education for All 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges', produced by the UNESCO which has tracked progress on these goals for the past 15 years. According to the report, an additional $22 billion a year is needed on top of the already ambitious government contributions in order to achieve the new education targets now being set for 2030.
There is no denying that governments in most parts of the world are more and more focussed these days in putting their money on education, especially primary education. There is also an increasing importance on programmes exclusively meant for girls' education and adult education. This has been aptly echoed by the UNESCO Director-General. "The world has made tremendous progress towards "Education for All," said Director-General Irina Bokova.
Despite the fact that millions of children are now in school, particularly in the developing and least developed countries compared to the situation prevalent in the 1990s, there is the definite need to reinvigorate specific and well-directed strategies. Needles to say, well-directed strategies can only be managed and sustained in the long run by well-funded programmes. Besides, there is the critical need to prioritise issues such as girls' education and improving the quality of learning and reducing the literacy gap between males and females in order that education becomes meaningful and universal.
The UNESCO report, among other things, highlights government spending around the globe, and observes that since 2000, many governments significantly increased their spending on education: 38 countries increased their commitment to education by one percentage point or more of the gross domestic product (GDP). As for Bangladesh, there has been a slide, down to 2.1 per cent from 2.3 per cent.
In some of the pre-budget meetings held very recently in the presence of the finance minister, this point has been raised from concerned quarters. The key rationale for increased allocation, especially for mass literacy, is based on ground realities that any laxity in the programmes currently being pursued will very adversely tell upon the future sustenance of the programmes. More worrying is the fear that what has been achieved in the past decades may not get repeated in the upcoming decades. That is to say, attainments of the past fifteen years may not be found to yield anything inspiring in the next fifteen years, let alone further improvement.
As has been observed in the UNESCO report, attainment of gender parity in Bangladesh, one of the most challenging tasks worldwide, has miles to go to. No doubt, there has been a noticeable improvement in this field. Government actions by way of free education and accompanied facilities are being well complemented by non-government activities across the country. However, the fact that the country still lags far behind in this respect explains the difficult nature of the task.
There are a few goals set in the UNESCO's agenda on Education for All which may not be easy to realise by many of the poor countries, unless a substantial rise in donor funding makes these happen. Some of these include: expanding early childhood care and education for the most vulnerable children, ensuring equal access to learning and life skills for youths and adults, improving the quality of education and ensuring measurable learning outcomes for all.
wasiahmed.bd@hotmail.com
The long journey to Education for All
Wasi Ahmed | Published: May 20, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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