Manzoor Ahmed

The history of literacy in Bangladesh suggests a confusion about what literacy skills mean and how these are taught.

Effective schools and learners through decentralised governance may make a difference in primary school education.

A clear sense of direction and strategy for the education system is lacking, as it has been under past political governments.

Primary school assistant teachers began an indefinite work abstention for higher entry-level pay.

The interim government need not be too apologetic for its record, but it would be a shame not to make the best of the opportunity history has bestowed it.

The primary and non-formal education sub-sector reform initiative is a positive but partial move that leaves major education sector concerns unaddressed.

Are policies and actions regarding preparing young people for work and livelihood influenced by myths and misperceptions about the problems and their workable solutions?

Now, the youngsters have embarked on a campaign to reach out to the people in preparation for forming a new political party.

Public and media discourse overwhelmingly favours the idea of a reform commission for education.

The education authorities under the interim government have decided to revert to the curriculum introduced in 2012.

The interim government must prioritise reforms to elections.

An education commission, chosen with care, can advise the interim government and serve the nation by identifying key areas that need reforms.

A ban on campus politics seems to be an easy answer. But what does it mean and how will it work?

The interim government has to decide guidelines for the minimum reform targets to achieve, and where to begin.

Students should have the right to have a role in managing the education and co-curricular activities of their institutions

If the ruling party leaders don’t understand or pretend not to understand why students are not staying back at home (their campuses and dormitories remain shuttered), we are in much deeper trouble than one could imagine

The cloud of dystopia thickens as public perception connects the dotted line between pervasive corruption, greed, inefficiency and ineptitude.

We cannot continue to keep primary and secondary education in discrete boxes and try to plan and manage these separately.

The new budget can be described as a “crisis response”

Two observations are pertinent here. Primary education up to class VIII as a compulsory and universal stage of education is a 50-year-old idea broached first in 1974 Qudrat-e-Khuda Commission report and reiterated in Education Policy 2010.