A SIGNIFICANT number of underprivileged children continue to suffer from what is now recognised as learning poverty — particularly in developing foundational literacy and numeracy skills — despite the government’s considerable annual investment in primary education through the Primary Education Development Programme and additional efforts by non-governmental organisations and international development agencies. While development partners have made notable contributions in the education development programme framework to promote inclusive, qualitative improvements in children’s learning outcomes, the country has not achieved its desired benchmarks. Worse, much of this large-scale investment is debt-financed, with the lion’s share of PEDP-4 funds derived from loans taken from institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
Bangladesh, along with many other countries across South Asia, Africa and Latin America, is now facing a compound crisis: global cuts in education aid, a weakening local education infrastructure, and persistent gaps in foundational learning. The ongoing reduction in global education funding has had disproportionately harmful effects on nations already grappling with learning poverty. This decline in international support demands a pragmatic redirection towards low-cost, high-impact strategies that can still yield measurable improvement in foundational literacy and numeracy skills outcomes, even within constrained financial environments.
Several urgent and locally implementable measures can be considered in this regard. First, partnerships with corporate entities and willing non-governmental organisations could be leveraged to initiate community-based catch-up programmes targeting underprivileged children, school dropouts, children with disabilities and those needing supplementary learning support. These programmes could be held in local primary schools, community or religious centres, or any suitable, no-cost venues that allow for regular attendance. Facilitators may include retired or former teachers, or even secondary and tertiary-level students, who could receive modest honorariums financed through corporate sponsorship or philanthropic contributions. Local education authorities or nearby schoolteachers could provide support to maintain quality and ensure that such efforts remain inclusive.
Second, companies may be encouraged to operate learning centres within or near street children’s shelters or communities with high concentrations of out-of-school children. These learning centres would offer foundational education in literacy and numeracy, along with tailored technical training that aligns with the sponsoring industry’s needs. In return, learners could be contractually bound to serve in those companies for a specified duration upon completion of their education. Such an approach falls squarely within the remit of Corporate Social Responsibility, and, if designed with appropriate safeguards, could support both social mobility and workforce development without violating child protection standards.
Third, ensuring the long-term commitment of primary teachers is imperative. Teachers who see the profession as a vocation rather than a stopgap should be systematically recruited. This calls for a complete overhaul of current recruitment policies. Only those with pre-service training in primary education should be considered eligible to apply, which would necessitate a transformation of the training frameworks and curriculums across the 67 primary teachers’ training institutes. Moreover, all teacher training colleges and universities offering degrees in education must incorporate compulsory modules on primary education within a standardised national curriculum.
Fourth, nationwide baseline and endline assessments of students’ foundational literacy and numeracy skills must be conducted annually at each primary school. Teachers should be trained not only to administer these assessments but also to design relevant monitoring tools. Importantly, they must be held accountable for using these assessments to provide remedial or supplementary support, whether during class hours or through additional sessions. This must be paired with an equitable distribution of teachers so that no school is disproportionately under-resourced.
Fifth, based on foundational literacy and numeracy skills proficiency data, primary schools may be brought under a national grading system. Headteachers and education officers at cluster, upazila and district levels should then be held accountable for ensuring that schools identified as underperforming show measurable progress within a set timeframe. However, such accountability must follow, not precede, adequate resource allocation and equitable staffing. Targets without tools will only exacerbate the dysfunction.
Sixth, duplication in reform efforts must be avoided. Some recommendations, particularly regarding teacher commitment and recruitment, have already been noted above but bear repeating for emphasis. Pre-service training, rigorous curriculum reform in PTIs, and standardisation across institutions offering degrees in education are essential prerequisites for any long-term transformation in learning outcomes.
Seventh, rampant corruption and misuse of public funds must be decisively addressed. Far too often, funds earmarked for teacher training, research, procurement, and digital infrastructure are syphoned off or misappropriated through unethical practices. Unless stringent financial oversight mechanisms are put in place, and unless there is a political will to end impunity, no reform can hope to sustain itself. Monitoring bodies must be empowered, and transparent audit trails must be mandated for all major expenditures in the education sector.
Finally, the large number of vacant teaching and supervisory posts must be filled without delay. Special recruitment drives may be required for remote and hard-to-reach areas, where vacancy rates are highest. Additionally, the entire system of teacher deployment, transfers, and adjustments must be digitised and shielded from political interference and favouritism. Without fair and transparent posting systems, the promise of equity in primary education will remain unrealised.
In conclusion, as global education funding declines and domestic debt grows, Bangladesh must turn to cost-effective, equity-based strategies that draw on local resources, social responsibility frameworks and rigorous accountability. Ensuring foundational literacy and numeracy is not merely a technical task, it is a moral and political commitment to future generations.
Without immediate, honest, and targeted reform, learning poverty will not only persist, but deepen, undermining decades of progress and ambition.
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Md Bayazid Khan is a primary education analyst.