Progress on literacy goes slow

Although the literacy rate has reached 73.9 percent in 2018 (up from 48.8 percent in 2008), there is much work still to be done. The Awami League (AL) 2008 manifesto had promised to lift the country from the scourge of illiteracy by 2014, but things did not pan out as planned. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data, literacy rate for people aged 15 and above is nearly 74 percent. Experts tell us that there is absence of proper planning, lack of political will and financing coupled with capacity deficiency of the implementing agency, the Bureau of Non-Formal Education (BNFE).

In a country, where it had been the custom of one government to trash the programmes of the preceding government in power, it is not difficult to understand why non-formal education didn't go anywhere after 1997. Yet, we have had one government in power for more than a decade now, so that excuse doesn't wash. In 2009, the present government allocated Tk435 crore project under BNFE to lift 45 lakh people (aged between 15 and 45) out of illiteracy. That target was not reached because there has been a lack of foresight, at policy level, that non-formal education concerning literacy cannot be a time-bound exercise, but an ongoing process.

We have to move out of our project-based mentality. Eradication of illiteracy, as educationists contend, is a continuous process. The government has made some progress, but more needs to be done. And this requires not just guaranteed finance but manpower too. The BNFE itself is short of staff at the upazila level and unless the implementing agency is brought up to strength, one cannot expect better results any time soon.

the literacy rate has reached 73.9 percent in 2018 (up from 48.8 percent in 2008), there is much work still to be done. The Awami League (AL) 2008 manifesto had promised to lift the country from the scourge of illiteracy by 2014, but things did not pan out as planned. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data, literacy rate for people aged 15 and above is nearly 74 percent. Experts tell us that there is absence of proper planning, lack of political will and financing coupled with capacity deficiency of the implementing agency, the Bureau of Non-Formal Education (BNFE).

In a country, where it had been the custom of one government to trash the programmes of the preceding government in power, it is not difficult to understand why non-formal education didn't go anywhere after 1997. Yet, we have had one government in power for more than a decade now, so that excuse doesn't wash. In 2009, the present government allocated Tk435 crore project under BNFE to lift 45 lakh people (aged between 15 and 45) out of illiteracy. That target was not reached because there has been a lack of foresight, at policy level, that non-formal education concerning literacy cannot be a time-bound exercise, but an ongoing process.

We have to move out of our project-based mentality. Eradication of illiteracy, as educationists contend, is a continuous process. The government has made some progress, but more needs to be done. And this requires not just guaranteed finance but manpower too. The BNFE itself is short of staff at the upazila level and unless the implementing agency is brought up to strength, one cannot expect better results any time soon.