59.82% for 15+ populations in 2013, 127 which increased from 59.1% in 2008.128 The study found
out that adult literacy rate is strongly correlated with wealth status of the respondent. The higher
the wealth score, the higher is the literacy status.129 This shows that education in Bangladesh has
earned a limited definition even for the State, where the basics of computation and writing one’s
name is enough, while a full comprehension of texts and applying it is often left unaddressed.
•
knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes:
The knowledge imparted at every level is not recognised at the next level. This is mostly
manifested by the admission test procedure followed by the Universities in Bangladesh , where the
University authority declines to have enough confidence upon the assessment standard followed
ion the public examinations. The education is mostly theoretical, leaving the students unprepared
for the practical application; human values and ethical education is not emphasised although the
curricula have religious studies; and the attitudes of the students are not pro-learning rather
focused on earning marks in the examinations.
•
to live and work in dignity, to participate fully in development, to improve the quality of
their lives, to make informed decisions:
The Board Curriculum students often find themselves studying completely different subjects at the
tertiary level; they obtain jobs completely unconnected to their graduation studies, and hence can
never apply their classroom education in their practical fields; the madrassa students find their
opportunities either in the mosques, madrassas or Islamic institutions ( e.g. Islamic banks), very
few actually go for engineering/medical or other professions130, the English medium students make
it a point to settle outside Bangladesh. Thus none of the streams can actually participate fully in
development, most cannot improve the quality of their lives directly by their education (especially
the madrasa students), and the decisions they make most often have nothing to do with what they
study.
Metro/news, ‘Country’s Literacy rate 59.82 pc’,The FinancialEexpress, (6 february
<http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/old/index.php?ref=MjBfMDJfMDZfMTNfMV84OF8xNTkzMTc>
127
2013,
accessed 5 June 2014
BBS, Adult literacy rate of population 15+ by sex (2008) http://www.bbs.gov.bd/PageSVRS_Rpt_4_10.aspx accessed
5 June 2014
BBS (n125) p.XVI
Abul Barkat (n 109)
128
129
130
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