Institutions worldwide regard good governance as central to delivering quality education. Proper management, the recruitment of qualified teachers, monitoring, anti-corruption measures and many other processes are used to ensure good governance within education systems.
In Bangladesh, however, these areas were neglected across the education sector over the past decade and a half. Long-standing weaknesses in governance have meant that the desired standard is not being achieved in the education system.
According to a World Bank report, although school enrolment has risen in the country, administrative constraints and systemic management problems are undermining education quality at every level.
Primary and secondary education both face a shortage of head teachers, while field-level monitoring posts such as district and assistant education officers lack sufficient staff. Various school management committees face allegations of irregularities and corruption. The country’s public universities have seen cases of teacher recruitment marred by corruption and research fraud. The Financial Reporting Council has brought to light the long-standing lack of accountability in universities’ financial management.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s manifesto ahead of this year’s 13th general election placed particular weight on ensuring good governance, also citing a gradual allocation of 5 percent of GDP to education, greater emphasis on primary education, the recruitment of talented teachers and the creation of an education reform commission. It set out programmes such as One Teacher One Tab, Learning with Happiness, mid-day meals, compulsory third-language education, the establishment of multimedia classrooms and efforts to form an education commission.
Bangladesh currently runs one of the world’s largest primary education systems, yet the system is now facing a serious teacher shortage. Data from the Directorate of Primary Education show 52.18 percent of head teacher posts in government-run primary schools are vacant. Government primary schools currently have 65,457 sanctioned head teacher posts, of which 34,159 are vacant.
The most recent recruitment notice for head teacher posts listed just 1,122 posts, a figure education stakeholders regard as far too small given the vacancies. They say the vacant head teacher posts are hampering administrative discipline and education quality.
The National Student Assessment report has highlighted learning shortfalls among students at primary schools. Its latest findings show that 51 percent of third-grade pupils achieved the expected grade-level competency in Bangla in 2022, and 39 percent did so in maths. For fifth grade, the rates were 50 percent in Bangla and 30 percent in maths.
A comparison with a report published a decade earlier shows that although more than BDT 330 billion was spent on developing the primary education sector over the intervening period, the proportion of students attaining grade-level competency fell.
According to the 2011 National Student Assessment, 67 percent of third-grade pupils then attained the expected grade-level competency in Bangla and 50 percent in maths. In the fifth grade, the rates were 25 percent in Bangla and 33 percent in maths. Over nearly a dozen years, the figure for the third grade fell by 16 percentage points in Bangla and 11 points in maths. Fifth-grade performance improved in Bangla, while maths declined by 6 percentage points.
Mahmuda Habiba, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, told Bonik Barta: “In our country’s reality, no post should be vacant. But long-standing administrative complications have driven up the number of vacant posts and created a large shortfall. According to the education minister’s own information, for instance, there are more than 83,000 cases against the education ministry. These cases are now a major obstacle to filling vacant posts. Even so, the government is trying its utmost to ease the crisis.”
She added: “Education is a priority sector for the current government. Primary education in particular is being given special attention because a student’s educational foundation is laid in primary school. Several plans including school feeding programmes and the providing uniforms have already begun to be implemented. Steps have been taken to train teachers to build skilled leadership and ensure quality teaching. A number of measures including digitalisation are also being taken to ensure monitoring and transparency and to rid the primary education sector of corruption. The crisis that has built up in education over many years won’t disappear overnight. But the government is sincere and working hard to solve these problems.”
In 2010, the government of the day decided to supply textbooks free of charge from primary to secondary level. Allegations of irregularities in the tender process, low-quality paper and inflated prices began to surface as soon as free distribution got underway. Financial irregularities worth more than BDT 27.11 billion occurred in the printing and supply of free textbooks under the previous administration’s tenure, according to a recently published audit report by the Education Audit Directorate. Fifty printing firms and relevant NCTB officials were involved in the irregularities and corruption.
The current government says it will prioritise quality education and good governance in all areas, in line with its election pledges. In practice, however, steps to ensure good governance in education are lacking, according to Rasheda K Choudhury, an adviser to a former caretaker government and executive director of the Campaign for Popular Education.
She told Bonik Barta: “Vacant head teacher posts in schools are having a major negative impact on education quality. Proper monitoring is another essential element of quality education. If field-level monitoring posts stand vacant, good governance in the education sector will certainly be hampered.”
She added: “We have in the past seen large-scale recruitment rackets, admissions trading and corruption in the education sector. These are among the main obstacles to securing good governance in education. But they haven’t been stopped altogether. It’s also a major question why those who were dropped in the latest primary teacher recruitment were dropped, and why police verification is needed for teacher recruitment. Just as appointments have to be made to education management posts, tough action must also be taken against corruption in recruitment and admissions and against politicisation if good governance is to be secured.”
Bangladesh has 702 government-run secondary schools, against just 572 head teacher posts. Of those, 379 stand vacant, or 66 percent of the total. Schools normally have one or more assistant head teacher posts as well. Of 703 such posts, 175 are filled and 528 vacant, or 75 percent of the total.
There is also a shortage of staff in monitoring posts. Under the current structure, regional school inspectors, assistant school inspectors, district education officers and upazila education officers carry out field-level monitoring of secondary institutions. According to the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, all 16 posts each of school inspector and assistant school inspector are vacant. Of 64 district education officer posts, 23 (36 percent) are empty, while every one of the 64 assistant district education officer posts is unfilled. Of 496 upazila secondary education officer posts, 315 (64 percent) are vacant, as are 307 of 496 assistant upazila secondary education officer posts (62 percent).
Vacancies at management and monitoring level are taking a toll on education quality too. The average pass rate in this year’s SSC and equivalent examinations was 62.25 percent, the lowest in 19 years.
Under the World Bank’s Human Capital Index, a Bangladeshi student who completes 10 years and two months of schooling, reaching the 11th grade, has learnt only as much as six years of schooling, or sixth-grade competency, by international standards.
Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Haque Milon has told the Parliament that 1,349 principal and vice-principal posts were vacant at MPO-listed private colleges, and that recruitment was underway for 1,344 vacant teaching posts at such colleges. Government colleges have 656 vacant lecturer posts under the BCS (general education) cadre, while recently nationalised colleges have 2,410 vacant non-cadre lecturer posts.
Professor Md Abdus Salam, of Dhaka University’s Institute of Education and Research, said filling the key posts in educational institutions was essential if quality education was to be delivered. “The education system has been destroyed over the past decade and a half. The current government must draw up an action plan to rescue it. Recruitment to head-of-institution posts and field-level monitoring posts must be ensured first and foremost.”
Corruption scandals in secondary schools surfaced repeatedly over the past decade and a half. Managing committees were meant to play an important role, yet in many places they faced corruption allegations. A recent inquiry by the Directorate of Inspection and Audit laid bare nearly BDT 6 billion in irregularities and corruption at Monipur High School and College in Mirpur. Between 2009 and 2025, the DIA found, construction and repairs at the institution were marred by BDT 4.36 billion in irregularities. BDT 870 million was siphoned off under the headings of academic development and city allowance for teachers and staff, while magazine fees of BDT 50 million collected from students were embezzled without the magazines ever being printed. The managing committee unlawfully drew BDT 20 million in honorariums, and some BDT 480 million in VAT and tax was evaded.
DSHE Director General Professor Khan Moinuddin Al Mahmud Sohel told Bonik Barta that letters were being sent to the ministry to fill vacant secondary-level posts and to grant promotions, and that the ministry would take measures in response.
“We are determined to keep the secondary education sector free of corruption. If allegations are made against anyone and proven after investigation, action is being taken against them in accordance with the law,” he said.
Governance deficits run through higher education as well. According to the University Grants Commission, Bangladesh now has 56 public universities and 117 private ones. Data up to August 2026 show 30 private universities without a vice-chancellor and 89 without a pro-vice-chancellor, while 40 universities had no treasurer.
Professor M Niaz Asadullah, of Dhaka University’s economics department and a visiting professor of economics at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, told Bonik Barta: “The absence of a vice-chancellor weakens academic leadership and decision-making; a vacant pro-vice-chancellor post can create gaps in the distribution of duties and supervision; and without a treasurer, an important layer of financial accountability is weakened. This also risks damaging the balance of power between the board of trustees and the academic administration. Since appointments to a university’s top posts involve questions of prestige, resource distribution and influence, it needs to be examined whether political competition, disagreements with trustees or protracted appointment processes are creating deadlock. But without an institution-by-institution inquiry, it would be wrong to assume a single cause for all the vacancies.”
He added: “The government’s first task should be to publish a full list of vacant posts and announce a specific deadline for merit-based recruitment. Until permanent appointments are made, interim arrangements must be put in place with duties and powers clearly defined. Field-level education offices also need adequate staffing, on-site inspections and effective action against irregularities. Monitoring can’t be limited to attendance and paperwork. How much teaching is taking place and how much children are learning must also be regularly and independently assessed. The ultimate test of good governance in education isn’t whether institutions are open, but whether students are receiving a quality education.”
Politicisation has shaped the recruitment of vice-chancellors and teachers over the past decade and a half. In 2023, Dhaka University’s printmaking department, in the Faculty of Fine Arts, advertised a lecturer post. Applicants needed a minimum GPA of 4.25 out of 5.00 at SSC and HSC, and at least 3.50 out of 4.00, or a first class, in both their bachelor’s degree with honours and their master’s in printmaking. Three successful candidates, Abdullah Al Bashir, Juton Chandra Roy and Swapon Kumar Sana, did not meet those conditions.
More than 1,400 teachers have been recruited at DU, the country’s oldest university, over the past decade and a half. Allegations hold, however, that a large share of them secured their posts on political considerations, through relaxed criteria, financial kickbacks and other irregularities.
Nor were such complaints confined to Dhaka University; teacher recruitment at many other public universities has drawn similar allegations. A TIB study found financial irregularities of up to BDT 2 million per appointment in recruitment to teaching posts, varying from university to university.
The quality of research has also been questioned. Teachers have at times faced allegations of plagiarism in their work. Bangladeshi universities as a result feature nowhere in the top 500 of the QS World University Rankings or the Times Higher Education rankings.
Public universities are financed from state funds, yet their financial accounting shows major structural weaknesses in transparency, accountability and governance. The Financial Reporting Council has highlighted long-standing structural weaknesses and accountability gaps in how they manage their finances. Its monitoring found that not one public university prepares a full set of financial statements in line with internationally recognised accounting standards. Most produce only a basic statement of income and expenditure, which cannot give a complete picture of their true financial position, leaving no clear idea of their total assets, liabilities, capital and long-term financial obligations. Experts say this is not merely a limitation of accounting practice but a serious gap in effective accountability for the use of public money in higher education.
The UGC is meant to play the central monitoring role. But its powers are limited: unable to take direct action against irregularities in universities. Its mandate under the existing structure is confined to approving posts and budgets, issuing directives, and forming inquiry committees.
Rajshahi University’s vice-chancellor, Professor Md Faridul Islam, told Bonik Barta: “For a long time we have lacked the skills and experience needed to teach in a higher education classroom. The main reason is that we turned the teacher recruitment process into blatant political polarisation and left it open to question, and as a result we haven’t been able to appoint quality teachers all this while.”
He added: “Comparisons with other countries also show gaps in our teachers’ professionalism and sense of accountability. I am not saying this about everyone across the board, but I’ve seen it in many cases. A teacher won’t just walk into a class, deliver a lesson and leave; the work of making students understand, grasping their psychology and drawing out the talent latent in them is missing here.”
On research, he said: “Most research was done in the past to secure individual promotions for teachers, calculated by how many papers were needed. All of this really reflected a lack of good governance. From recruitment to the allocation of research funds, everything was opaque. But the current government’s and the education ministry’s recent steps suggest a new horizon is opening up, one in which research will have an impact on society and teaching standards will be maintained. There’ll be accountability over where funds go, how they are used, how recruitment is carried out, and whether teachers’ professionalism and evaluation are being properly handled. This cannot happen overnight, of course. But since it has begun, as an academic I’m optimistic.”
Asked how good governance might be established in the education system, Hossain Zillur Rahman, chairman of the research organisation Power and Participation Research Centre, argued for making the existing structure work rather than launching new projects.
He told Bonik Barta: “We need to tackle the core areas first. Why should the post of head teacher stand vacant? Whenever the subject comes up, the excuse is rules and legal complications. These are really nothing; what’s lacking is a firm decision. In Dhaka we are creating three secretary posts where there was one, so why should a single district education officer post stand vacant? Either nobody wants to go there, or nobody is paying attention to fixing it. There’s a stark lack of a professional approach in our recruitment and postings. All that goes on is bargaining and intrigue. Instead of improving the core system, everyone’s eye is on taking on new projects. Attention to making the existing systems work is very weak. And this isn’t some new problem of today. What we said 20 years ago after researching education, we are still having to say now.”
The former caretaker government adviser added: “We talk a great deal about accountability, but no questions are raised about these matters in the Parliament. Even our civil society is more vocal only about corruption or political issues. Yet strengthening the regular administrative structure and its straightforward solutions, such as filling these vacant posts, get less attention. If we want to stop these posts being held up on the pretext of legal complexity, it’s certainly possible, and the opportunity to take that step exists.”
Bithika Binte Hossain, of the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Education, said the country’s education system had been deliberately pushed into a deep crisis over the past 15 years. She told Bonik Barta: “It was with the aim of leaving a nation spineless that the shortage of experienced teachers, students’ absence from classrooms, the automatic pass system and the practice of handing out blanket GPA-5s were introduced, a poor-quality system of assessment. To emerge from this crisis and build a sustainable education system, the current government has drawn up extensive plans. Genuine assessment is being ensured in public examinations. Special emphasis is being placed on encouraging children in primary and secondary education to study through the ‘Learning with Happiness’ method, on ensuring clothing, textbooks and other necessary materials, and on producing skilled teachers from the primary level onwards.”
On higher education, she said: “To make higher education fit for the times, increase innovative research and produce quality human resources, education has been given the highest priority in this year’s national budget. The current government is emphasising practical steps. Its core aim is to identify every existing problem in the education sector and solve them one by one, to build a strong, inclusive and self-reliant Bangladesh in the future.”