The government and different non-governmental organisations on Monday observed International Literacy Day with different programmes centring on this year’s theme for the day ‘Promoting literacy in the digital era’.
Officials of the primary and mass education ministry at a press conference on Sunday said that the literacy rate among the population aged over seven year stood at 77.9 per cent.
They referred to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and Bangladesh Economic Review 2024 as sources of the information.
However, adviser to the primary and mass education ministry Bidhan Ranjan Roy Poddar told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on September 4 that as far as his assumption went, the actual literacy rate of the country stood below 50 per cent.
Marking the day, the Bureau of Non-Formal Education under the primary and mass education ministry on Monday held a set of events including a discussion, an award ceremony, and a youth festival at its office in the capital, said a press release issued by the ministry.
At the discussion adviser Bidhan Ranjan said that students were dropping out of schools due to poverty mainly.
He urged the bureau to proactively act to prevent dropping out by providing skill-based literacy and life-long education.
The events were attended, among others, by primary and mass education ministry secretary Abu Taher Md Masud Rana, youth and sports ministry secretary Md Mahbub-Ul-Alam, bureau director-general Devabrata Chakraborty and UNESCO representative in Bangladesh Susan Vize.
Campaign for Popular Education, a platform for education campaigners, observed the day IN 17 districts and upazilas through different programmes.
A press release issued by Campe read that as per the UNESCO, 739 million youths and elderly people, especially women and marginalised communities, are still deprived of basic literacy.
Of them around 80 per cent live in 31 countries, including Bangladesh, under the UNESCO Global Alliance for Literacy initiative.
For ensuring literacy, the campaigners urged the government to use digital technology and treat all students equal.
