Literacy rate down

The literacy rate in Bangladesh now stands at 61 per cent, according to Primary and Mass Education Minister Mostafizur Rahman, a count lower than the figure he quoted last year. “The figure is based on a survey conducted by the Bureau of Statistics in 2013,” he told a media briefing on Sunday ahead of the International Literacy Day on September 8. The minister had told the press at a similar briefing ahead of the International Literacy Day last year that the literacy rate had reached 65pc. According to the 5th Population and Housing Census 2011, Bangladesh’s population stood at 152 million plus. According to it, the literacy rate in 2010 was 59.82pc. Since then, conflicting literacy figures have been in circulation. Ministers and government officials touted different figures in each year after 2010. In 2013, the then primary and mass education minister Afsarul Amin claimed the rate had climbed to 71pc, but the very next year, his successor Mustafizur Rahman said it was no more than 65pc. Rahman told the media on Sunday that literacy among the population up to the age of five was 54.19pc, while it was 59.82pc for those over 15 and 52.75pc among those over 25, according to bdnews24.com.
- biplab