study the prose and poems studies by the Board Curriculum students; they have no idea about Bangla culture and literature. They do not study Bengali grammar. The general subjects they study have no particular reference to Bangladesh. Therefore, they study history but have a poor idea of Bangladesh’s history, they study geography but have no idea about the geology, demography or climatic conditions in Bangladesh, they have Islamic studies ( only suras, they do not study Islamic theology as comprehensively as the Board students in the textbooks of NCTB) but have no idea about the religious diversity in Bangladeshi. They feel they are detached from the national culture. They feel they do not know the country (emphasis added). They are more interested about international events than national incidents. Mostly the solvent and well off families send their children to English medium schools. Because English is now more than compulsory (emphasis added), parents think English medium schools provide better opportunities. National curriculum students do not learn good English. Most of the English medium students opt to settle abroad, so they have no urge to know about national issues or national curricula. The English medium schools in Bangladesh follow the Edexcel curriculum for the O levels and A levels. Under the curriculum, Bangladesh Studies is a general subject which is optional; and not compulsory. The students get the preliminary idea about the demography, history and geography about Bangladesh, but the amount of information is often less than the SSC level. This shows that the system as it is gives very little significance to making the students familiar with their own nation and culture, thus creating segregation of the whole student community from the mainstream Bangladeshi people. 4.4 The Realization of Right to Education in Bangladesh The realization of the RTE in Bangladesh can be assessed under the standards set by the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, a scheme known as the four “a” scheme115 that distinguishes between four interrelated and essential features of education, namely: accessibility, availability, adaptability and acceptability.116 While analysing the RTE, we shall be discerning the 115 This scheme has been used for the first time by the then UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, KatarinaTomasevski, in her preliminary report. See UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/49, chapter II, cited in Fons Coomans, ‘Identifying the Key Elements of the Right to Education: A Focus on Its Core Content’ <http://www.crin.org/docs/Coomans-CoreContent-Right%20to%20EducationCRC.pdf> accessed 9 June 2014 Ibid, 3 116 Page | 44