Discussants at a programme on Wednesday observed that despite remarkable success rates in public examinations, the country's education system still lacks job-oriented curriculum.
The country also needs to invest more in education sector to avert the risk of middle-income trap and sustain the development growth, they noted.
They were addressing a session titled 'Fostering quality education and skills for employment and promoting innovation in education and ICT' on the first day of Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF).
Economic Relations Division (ERD) organised the of two-day conference at a city hotel.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid chaired the session, while Minister of Primary and Mass Education Mostafizur Rahman attended it as the guest of honour.
Secretary and Higher Education Division secretary Md Sohorab Hossain and Country Director of ActionAid, Bangladesh Farah Kabir spoke on the occasion, among others.
Nurul Islam Nahid said despite some limitations, the country has achieved great success in education in terms of pass and enrollment rates.
Underscoring the need for increased enrollment in technical and vocational education, he said: "Around 14 per cent students are involved in technical education. The government has an aim to raise the figure to more than 20 per cent by 2021".
In the keynote presentation, Sohorab Hossain said education enrollment in the country at all levels has increased in recent years.
"Net enrollment rate in primary level education increased to 98 per cent in 2015 from 87 per cent in 2005", he said.
He identified inadequate fund, quality of teaching, institutional capacity and teaching learning facilities as some of the key challenges for the country's education system.
Chief executive officer (CEO) of Underprivileged Children's Educational Programs (UCEP) Tahsinah Ahmed said the number of students getting GPA 5 in examinations is increasing but the quality is not being ensured in the current curriculum.
"Besides academic achievement, education needs to focus more on some other issues like social values, morality and creativity," she said.
She also said the education system needs to adopt curriculum to enhance social values, communicative capability and creativity among the students.
Anir Chowdhury, policy advisor of Access to Information (a2i) programme under Prime Minister's Office (PMO), said the education system needs to adopt a job-market oriented approach as the globe is on the verge of fourth industrial revolution.
"It high time we came to the realisation what are we teaching at the educational institutions?" he said.
He also underscored the need for a time-befitting change of content and assessment procedure in the educational system.
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