Manzoor Ahmed

There is sometimes a jostling about which of the two ministers of education should represent Bangladesh in any international forum for education, such as a Unesco meeting or a UN System consultation in relation to the SDGs.

Innovation and technology are seen as the solutions to the educational deprivation of millions of children in the developing world.

Saleh Chowdhury, veteran journalist, freedom fighter, and president of the Bangladesh chapter of Commonwealth Journalists Association, passed away on September 1, at age 82.

Smoke and mirrors” is an idiom based on illusions created by magicians, where they make objects appear or disappear by extending or retracting mirrors amid a distracting burst of smoke.

Political leaders and political parties professing a vision of a modern and progressive society need to take a stand based on principles and idealism and lead the people, appealing to and awakening their best instincts, instead of giving in to fear and prejudice.

Jagannath University recently appointed 12 leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League as “special officers” without advertisement - a practice that Vice Chancellor Mijanur Rahman justified as the natural right of the ruling party men (April 27, Prothom Alo).

Today, around 40 percent of the population aged between 15 and 24 years in Bangladesh are classified as “not in education, employment or training (NEET)”, according to a recent ILO report. The actual number adds up to 11.6 million youth or about one-fifth of the total working age population.

The opening words of an education blog posted under the auspices of UNESCO Global Education Monitoring report concludes that the

It is hardly a run of the mill event when nine of the most highly populated countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan) get together to discuss the challenges of achieving the goal of Education for All.

That the Sundarbans, the unique world heritage site and a lifesaver for the coastal people, is in grave danger, with or without the planned Rampal coal-based power plant is not in dispute.

Those who have done well in the higher secondary exam results on Thursday (August 18, 2016) have earned the right to show their exuberance as depicted in the media.

The Holey Artisan Café victims in Dhaka were killed by the young assailants apparently because they were foreigners or non-Muslims though three Bangladeshi Muslims were also not spared. The attackers were particularly brutal towards the women victims.

The ill-advised decision taken in 2009 to subject children to a high-stake public examination at the end of class 5 is to continue. The

The Tk. 49,000 crore or US$ 6.3 billion allocated for education, when divided by the estimated 40 million students in the country, amounts to Tk. 12,000 per student public spending for a year or about US$ 150 on average for all levels of education.

On May 19, The Daily Star headline announced, "From now on, primary education in the country will be up to class-VIII". The decision had been taken and made public by the Minister of Education, Nurul Islam Nahid.

On average, a teacher handles 50 students, when it should be no more than 30. Can it be denied that much more should be spent on primary education and at other stages of education?

How important is it to have an overall law for the education system and what can it do to solve the many problems in ensuring the management and quality of the system?

Technical-Vocational Education and Training (TVET), or even a broader concept of Technicals-Vocational Skills Development (TVSD)...

Does the Constitution of Bangladesh recognise education as a right? The plain answer is no.

Mariam, a bright nine-year old girl with dangling ponytails, sat in one of the middle rows in a class of about 50 students in a rural primary school.