Education is not compulsory in Bangladesh, and by no means all children go to school regularly. Many families can afford to give their children only a limited education. Secondary education is not free. Consequently, many children who start school are unable to go on to complete their secondary education.
Adult literacy in Bangladesh is 38%. The Government is now allocating more money to human resource development through education. Compulsory primary education, free education for girls up to secondary school level, food-for education, total literacy movement and nation-wide integrated non-formal education are some of the major programmes being implemented by the Government.
There are 11 government and 18 non-government universities in the country. The number of government and non-government medical colleges stand at 13 and 5 respectively. There are 4 engineering colleges, 2845 colleges, 20 polytechnic institutes, 12553 secondary schools, and 78595 primary schools. To make higher education accessible to all, an Open University has been set up in the country. |
