Through various international rankings such as the Times Higher Education and the QS Ranking, it can be gauged where Bangladesh’s universities stand on the global stage. Since this data is updated annually, it clearly reflects how the country’s universities perform and whether the quality of education is improving or declining by international standards. However, from primary to secondary levels, Bangladesh is not linked to any such international rankings. This means there is no regular way to know or compare the quality of education in Bangladesh’s secondary level with global standards.
The latest picture of Bangladesh’s education quality up to the secondary level against international standards came from the World Bank’s Human Capital Index report. According to this index, after 10 years and 2 months of schooling—that is, by grade 11—a Bangladeshi student’s learning achievement is equivalent to that of a sixth grader internationally. The most recent data in this index for Bangladesh is from 2020.
Comparing this with earlier reports of the Human Capital Index shows a decline in the quality of secondary education over time. In the 2017 index, after 10 years and 2 months of schooling, a Bangladeshi student’s skills were equivalent to a seventh grader internationally. Education experts say the quality of secondary education in Bangladesh has further declined since then.
Professor AKM Elius, Principal of Dhaka College, said, “There isn’t a big difference between the 2020 results and the current situation. Rather, decisions like ‘auto pass’ and ‘syllabus shortening’ have caused further decline in education quality. Over the last decade and a half, education in our country has been simplified, which has reduced the importance of education from the primary level onward. Students are passing to the next grade without acquiring proper skills, and that is why they can’t keep up with international standards. Another major reason we can’t ensure quality education is our failure to provide enough skilled teachers. The teacher-student ratio required by international standards does not exist in our country.”
Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19, the then-government gave an auto-pass in the 2020 Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams. From 2021 to 2024, the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent exams, as well as the HSC and equivalent exams, were held with a shortened syllabus. Most recently, in response to student demands and following the July movement, the interim government gave an auto-pass in the HSC exams for the subjects whose exams had been postponed. This year’s HSC exams are also being held according to a reorganized syllabus.
After nearly four years, this year’s SSC and equivalent exams were held on the full syllabus. The pass rate in these exams was the lowest in the past 16 years.
This time, 68.45 percent of students passed the SSC and equivalent exams. Analyzing the results further shows that among those who passed, about 17 percent barely passed with less than 40 percent marks. In other words, nearly 48 percent of students did not achieve any competitive marks.
Reacting to the results, CR Abrar, the Education Adviser, said, “In the past 16 years, the governments in power inflated students’ grades to show government’s success by increasing the number of GPA-5 achievers and publishing inflated results. This time, our interim government has instructed education boards to properly evaluate exam scripts, and that’s why the true results have been revealed. This practice will continue in the future as well.”
The issue of the quality of education has also been highlighted in domestic reports. To determine students’ skill levels, the National Student Assessment (NSA) Report is prepared every two years, based on Bangla and math skills of third and fifth graders. The Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the Directorate of Primary Education produces this report. The latest report was made in 2022. According to the report, in 2022, among third graders, 51 percent achieved the desired proficiency level in Bangla and 39 percent in math. For fifth graders, the figures were 50 percent in Bangla and 30 percent in math.
According to the 2011 NSA report, 67 percent of third graders achieved the desired proficiency level in Bangla, and 50 percent did so in math. For fifth graders, the figures were 25 percent in Bangla and 33 percent in math. Comparing these, over nearly a decade, the number of third graders achieving the desired proficiency in Bangla has dropped by 16 percent, and in math by 11 percent. For fifth graders, performance in Bangla improved, but proficiency in math declined by 3 percent. This means nearly 50 percent of fifth graders lack the desired proficiency in Bangla, and 70 percent do so in math.
Professor Dr. Md Abdus Salam of the Institute of Education & Research at the University of Dhaka said, “Most of the initiatives taken in the education sector over the past one and a half decades have been political. Improving the quality of education requires enhancing the quality of teaching and learning. However, in our country, emphasis was placed on infrastructure development. There was little focus on how much students actually learn in the classroom. There is no monitoring at the grassroots level regarding how much students learn or what skills they acquire. Moreover, the long break during the coronavirus pandemic, followed by auto-pass policies and syllabus shortening, have caused a significant decline in the quality of education over the last five years.”
Earlier, the latest NSA Report for Secondary Students was published in 2019, evaluating students’ skills at the secondary level. The report divides student performance into five levels, with band 2 being the lowest and band 6 the highest. It shows that only 9.3 percent of sixth graders, 26.4 percent of eighth graders, and 40.4 percent of tenth graders achieved band 6 proficiency in English. In math, only 5.1 percent of sixth graders, 14.5 percent of eighth graders, and 28.4 percent of tenth graders reached band 6 proficiency. However, in this report, students performed comparatively better in Bangla. The figures for band 6 proficiency in Bangla were 25.8 percent for sixth graders, 47.7 percent for eighth graders, and 64.3 percent for tenth graders.
Rasheda K Choudhury, former Adviser to the caretaker government and Executive Director of the Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), told Bonik Barta, “The picture shown in the World Bank report is not encouraging; the quality of education has actually declined further after the corona period. This decline has also appeared in various government and non-government research reports over time. However, no effective steps have been taken to improve education quality based on these reports. While emphasis was placed on infrastructure development and digitalizing classrooms, improving the quality of teaching and learning did not receive attention. Funds meant for teacher training were embezzled. Because of these reasons, we have gradually fallen behind international standards.”
She added, “Through this government, we had hoped for positive changes in the education sector, but nothing of the sort is visible in their actions. No commission was formed for education reform, nor have any significant initiatives been taken to address the core problems in education. Instead, some steps like scholarship exams have been introduced, which will only increase inequality. Our goal should be that every student achieves the appropriate skills by the end of fifth grade to qualify for sixth grade. A system like scholarship exams only allows a limited number of students to participate. So, this method can’t achieve that goal. Rather, if those funds were spent on underprivileged or lower-middle-class struggling students, it would be a positive step. Because those left behind mostly come from low-income families. The wealthy ensure their children’s skills through expensive schools or private tutors. So, if we want to improve education quality overall, we must invest in all stakeholders, including the students. And we must take effective initiatives to raise teaching and learning quality by considering research findings and recommendations.”
Regarding the state of education quality, the interim government’s Education Adviser, Professor Dr. Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar, told Bonik Barta, “For various reasons, the quality of our education is in a crisis, and most people know the causes. Internationally, we are not yet linked to any standard that clearly shows our position. Since we believe it is necessary to know this, we have already made a policy decision, which we will implement. There are several international methods through which we can find out our standing. One of them is the TIMSS standard. We have been in talks with them, and starting this September, we will be connected with them. They will assess our fourth and eighth graders and tell us where we stand in the international ranking. Previously, various national-level assessments were done, but these involved only government institutions. So, instead of relying heavily on those results, if we assess students with an international standard, it will be more reliable. Another advantage is that, along with assessment reports, they also provide recommendations on what issues need correction. We are connecting with them for the first time and expect results by 2027. Hopefully, this will play a positive role in improving education quality.”