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Bangladesh is a small country with a large but hard-working and
resourceful population. It shares borders with India in the west, north
and east, Myanmar on the southeast and has the Bay of Bengal to the
south. Ninety-eight percent of the population speaks Bangla with varying
and rich dialects. The other two percent includes ethnic groups, having
their own language with rich cultural heritage. Bangladesh gained its
freedom through a short but intense war of liberation in 1971. The
struggles for liberation began earlier with the Language Movement of 21st February, 1952 when students and people rose as one to protect the
dignity of the mother tongue.
UNESCO has recently proclaimed 21 February
as the International Mother Language Day,
in honour of the language movement martyrs, which is observed globally
every year in recognition of the native languages of peoples of the
world.
Start of formal primary education in the Bangladesh region dates back to
1854 and literacy activities at individual initiatives to 1918. At
liberation in December 1971, the literacy rate in the country was only
16.8 percent. Bangladesh has since made remarkable advances in
championing the causes of education and making it a serious public
purpose. Historically, education had been the exclusive preserve of the
elite and, mostly the male. As time passed, female education was
encouraged by allowing co-education as well as by setting up some
separate institutions for girls. However, progress and participation in
education remained limited. It fell on the Government of Bangladesh,
after independence, to lay the foundations of an extensive education
system. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, adopted
in 1972, acknowledged education as a basic right of the people and
enjoined on the State to ensure the provision of universal and
compulsory free primary education to all children, relating education to
the needs of the society and removing illiteracy.
The Government nationalized and took over 36,165 primary schools in
1973 and regularized it under the Primary Education (Taking Over) Act of
1974, and declared 157,724 primary school teachers as government
employees. Primary education was free and made compulsory under the
Primary Education (Compulsory) Act 1990, implemented initially in 68
upazillas (sub-districts) in 1992 and extended to the rest of the
country from 1993.
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