| Bangladesh - An Introduction |
 The People’s Republic of Bangladesh is a country in south Asian region. The country is surrounded by India from all sides; Myanmar borders Bangladesh to the southeast and Bay of Bengal to the south. When India got Independence on August 15 1947, Pakistan as a separate country was separated and Bangladesh was part of eastern Pakistan. There were regional frictions between West Pakistan and Eastern Pakistan, which resulted in separation and Bangladesh was born under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1971. Political conditions in Bangladesh still not very stable, in the past country have witnessed 13 changes in government and four military coups. Bangladesh is a member country of SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation), BIMSTEC, and a member of the OIC and the D-8.Bangladesh is a Parliamentary Republic. The head of the state is President; the position of president is mainly ceremonial and all the state affairs are addressed by the Prime Minister. The highest judiciary body in Bangladesh is Supreme Court. The President appoints the Chief Justice of Supreme Court. There are six administrative divisions in Bangladesh; Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi,and Sylhet. Each division named after its’ respective divisional headquarters. Geographically, Bangladesh is situated in low-lying region of Ganges Delta, also called Ganges-Brahmaputra delta. The delta is formed here as the three rivers comes together, Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna. The alluvial soil deposited by the three rivers makes the land highly fertile. Bangladesh receives good rainfall but frequented by floods and cyclones. The climate in Bangladesh is tropical with mild winters from October to March and hot humid summer from March to June. Bangladesh receives good rainfall from June to October. The economy of Bangladesh is not in good shape, as the nation is highly populated, most of the population is illiterate. Though national and international efforts are being continuously made in this direction. Jute industry once accountable for 70% export earning has declined due to widely used polypropylene products. More than 75% Bangladesh’s people work in garment industry of whom, about 90% is women. Foreign reserves largely come from Bangladesh people living and / or migrated to other developed countries. Muhammad Yunus who has received Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 is one of the major contributors to Bangladesh’s economy through Grameen Bank. To boost country’s economy, Bangladesh government has set up export processing zones to attract foreign investors. Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority manages these zones. Education System in Bangladesh |
The Ministry of Education - Government of Bangladesh is Apex body of government for taking decisions on education and education policies. The ministry is responsible for governing education beginning from pre primary to higher, higher technical and vocational education. The ministry also looks after the education provided by Madrasahas. There are about 30864 post primary secondary schools/colleges/madrasahs and 26 public and 56 private universities.The System education in BangladeshThe education in Bangladesh has three stages-
- Primary education lost for five years, and meant for children age between 6 to 11 years.
- Secondary education is distributed into three years of junior secondary, 2 years of secondary and 2 year of higher secondary. A child starts taking secondaryeducation at 11 years of age and completes at 16 / 17 years of age.
Primary level education is provided in two major categories - (a) General, and (b) Madrasha.
Secondary level education has three major streams - (a) General, (b) Technical - Vocational, and (c) Madrasah.
Similarly, higher education has three streams- (a) General (inclusive of pure and applied science, arts, business and social science), (b) Madrasah and (c) TechnologyEducation.
Technology education includes agriculture, engineering, medical, textile, leather technology and ICT. Madrashas (Arabic for educational institution), functional parallel to the three major stages, have similar core courses as in the general stream (primary, secondary and post-secondary) but have additional emphasis on religious studies.
For students who wish to pursue specialization in specific disciplines, there are colleges / universities both self supported and supported by governments. Seeing theeducation opportunities in Bangladesh, foreign educators also started setting their bases here.