This is excellent news. The Awami League government is moving to standardize primary education at all levels. The Education Policy Formulation Committee, tasked with establishing a viable education system in Bangladesh has already submitted a proposal that is getting funneled through the appropriate channels.
As The Daily Star reports:
“The prime minister pointed out that the government is implementing multifaceted programmes to ensure access, retention and qualitative improvement of primary education under the Second Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP-II).”
“She said 40,000 additional classrooms, 397 upazila resource centres, and 398 school-cum-cyclone shelters are being constructed under this programme. Recruitment of 45,000 teachers in primary schools will also significantly reduce the existing teacher-student ratio of 1:49, she added.”
‘”Teachers’ training has also been given immense importance under the project,” while special attention is focused on children belonging to vulnerable groups and indigenous communities, she said.”
This move would go a long way toward establishing genuine equality of opportunity in Bangladesh. As I’ve written before, an individuals preferences and beliefs are quite likely formed and structured at a very early age. Quality education that seeks to promote individual well-being and healthy intellectual habits will begin to cut through the tangle of misinformation and exclusionary beliefs that run through the private and publicly run educational system in Bangladesh.