Bangladesh has no accurate statistics on the literacy rate in the country due to alleged data manipulation by the previous government, according to government officials, researchers and campaigners.
Against the backdrop, Bangladesh is observing International Literacy Day today, highlighting this year鈥檚 theme 鈥楶romoting literacy in the digital era鈥�.
The government officials, researchers and campaigners have observed that the interim government lacks the actual data on the literacy rate as the ousted Awami League-led government manipulated the statistics as it did to the other data, including those on the economy.
When the Awami League regime was ousted on August 5, 2024, in a mass uprising, the literacy rate among the population aged over seven years was about 80 per cent while the rate was below 60 per cent in 2009 when the party came to power.
In the past 15 years till 2024, the quality of education also declined despite excessive pass rates in the public examinations.
According to the World Bank鈥檚 Human Capital Index 2020 report, in Bangladesh after 10 years and 2 months of schooling from the pre-primary to upper secondary level, a Bangladeshi student鈥檚 learning achievement is equivalent to that of a sixth grader internationally as per the report鈥檚 鈥� Learningadjusted years of schooling鈥� index.
The interim government鈥檚 adviser to the primary and mass education ministry, Bidhan Ranjan Roy Poddar, told 抖阴精品 on September 4 that as per his assumption, the actual literacy rate in the country was below 50 per cent.
鈥業 have made this assumption by considering the standard of education,鈥� he said.
To a question whether the literacy rate data were manipulated by the Awami League-led regime in the past years, he answered in the affirmative.
On Sunday, at a press conference marking International Literacy Day, he said that usually the trend of the past government was to hide the statistics that went against it.
鈥榃e are the interim government and we are working with a very limited mandate,鈥� the adviser said, adding, 鈥榮o we have no intention to cover up the fact.鈥�
Rasheda K Choudhury, executive director of the Campaign for Popular Education, a platform for education campaigners, observed that the international standard and the Bangladesh standard of literacy did not match.
In this connection, she mentioned the Education Watch Household Survey 2013, conducted by education-related coalition Education Watch, which found that the literacy rate for all population (seven years or above) was 52.7 per cent in 2013 after applying the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation鈥檚 definition of literacy.
The UNESCO has by now taken the definition of literacy beyond its conventional concept as a set of reading, writing and counting skills, conceiving it as a means of identification, understanding, interpretation, creation, and communication in an increasingly digital, text-mediated, information-rich and fast-changing world.
According to the statistics division of the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics, in Bangladesh literacy is defined by the ability of reading, writing and doing simple mathematics like addition and subtraction.
At Sunday鈥檚 press conference held by the primary and mass education ministry at the Bangladesh Secretariat in the capital Dhaka, quoting the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and Bangladesh Economic Review 鈥� 2024, officials said that the literacy rate among the population aged over seven years was now 77.9 per cent.
In 2023, the literacy rate among the population aged over seven years was also 77.9 per cent, according to the 鈥楤angladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2023: key findings鈥� report published by the BBS in March.
The then Awami League-led government had a plan to end illiteracy by 2030 under the United Nations鈥� sustainable development goals programme after it had missed the goal in 2014.
In 2014, the literacy rate among the population aged over seven years was 58.6 per cent, which was 56.7 per cent in 2009 when the Awami League-led government came to power after its previous tenure in 1996鈥�2001.
During the three consecutive terms of the now ousted Sheikh Hasina-led government, the literacy rate increased by 21.2 percentage points 鈥� from 56.7 per cent in 2009 to 77.9 per cent in 2023.
Rasheda K Choudhury also said that over the gap between the definitions of the literacy by the then government and the UNESCO, the country鈥檚 education campaigners had a disagreement with the previous government.
If only writing and signing own name is the standard, the literacy rate could be over 70 per cent, she said.
鈥業f the international standard was applied, we would see different statistics on literacy,鈥� she said, mentioning the Education Watch Household Survey 2013.
She also observed that the rate increased in the country, thanks to the primary-level students.
The rate is lower among the older people 鈥� 15 years and above 鈥� which is alarming, she added.
Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2023 showed that the literacy rate among population aged over 15 years was 75.6 in 2023, 74.4 per cent in 2022, 74 per cent in 2021, 75.6 per cent in 2020 and 74.7 per cent in 2019.
As per Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics reports, the literacy rate among population aged over seven years was 76.8 per cent in 2022, 76.4 per cent in 2021, 75.2 per cent in 2020, 74.4 per cent in 2019, 73.2 per cent in 2018, 72.3 per cent in 2017, 71 per cent in 2016, 63.6 per cent in 2015, 58.6 per cent in 2014, 57.2 per cent in 2013, 56.3 per cent in 2012, 55.8 per cent in 2011, 56.8 per cent in 2010, 56.7 per cent in 2009, 55.8 per cent in 2008, 56.1 per cent in 2007, 52.5 per cent in 2006 and 52.1 per cent in 2005.
