Despite decades of educational reform, millions of students still struggle with basic literacy and numeracy. In Bangladesh, where a significant proportion of children lack foundational skills, the pursuit of ‘quality education’ raises an urgent question: can we truly achieve it without first addressing the fundamentals?
The concept of quality education is ubiquitous, with most countries setting it as a primary objective in their education systems. However, the challenge lies in its measurability, inclusivity, scalability, and achievability. Excellence in student learning is a continuously evolving pursuit, making quality education seem elusive, immeasurable, and intangible.
The reality is that quality education cannot be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ concept as students’ needs and learning environments vary widely. Within a single classroom, students come from diverse backgrounds, influenced by their family’s economic and educational status, home and community learning environments, nutrition and well-being, intellectual abilities, and access to digital and technological resources. These variations create distinct learning needs, not only within the same institution but also across urban, rural, and hard-to-reach areas. Given such disparities, it is unrealistic to set quality education as a universal target without addressing these fundamental inequalities. Moreover, the ongoing debate on whether quality education is truly measurable and achievable underscores the complexity of this issue.
Numerous dynamic and interdependent factors influence quality education, including socioeconomic status, geography, family support, nutrition, technological access, climate vulnerability, and overall student well-being. These factors change over time, making quality education a moving target rather than a fixed destination. Additionally, infrastructural and teaching-learning facilities, the availability of qualified teachers, and sufficient funding are critical determinants of education quality. Due to inequities, uncertainties, and limitations related to these factors, it is neither rational nor realistic to set quality education as the ultimate target or objective in education.
Instead of chasing an abstract notion of ‘quality education,’ a more practical and achievable approach would be to establish minimum proficiency levels of learning or minimum competency levels of learning for different grades. These should focus on foundational literacy — reading skills in Bangla and English — numeracy, critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving. Unlike the elusive concept of quality education, minimum proficiency levels are measurable, inclusive, scalable, and adaptable to diverse learning environments.
A 2021 survey on children’s education in Bangladesh, conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF, highlights the concerning state of foundational learning. Among children aged 7–14 years, only 62.3 per cent could correctly read 90 per cent of words in a given story, while just 52.8 per cent and 52.9 per cent correctly answered comprehension questions involving three literal and two inferential queries, respectively. Overall, only 49.8 per cent of children demonstrated foundational reading skills, with urban students (56.8 per cent) faring slightly better than their rural counterparts (47.7 per cent). Foundational numeracy skills were also at low levels, with only 25.8 per cent of children successfully completing all four numeracy tasks. Among them, 59.1 per cent completed number reading, 59.6 per cent completed number discrimination, 53.5 per cent completed addition, and 37.5 per cent recognised patterns in numbers. Urban children performed slightly better than rural children in each numeracy task. Furthermore, in 2023, over 26.2 million children and youth—41 per cent of the population aged 5–24 — were out of school in Bangladesh.
Considering this stark reality, setting quality education as the primary goal for primary and secondary education is impractical. Instead, the focus must shift towards ensuring minimum proficiency levels in literacy, numeracy, communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Without these fundamental skills, broader educational aspirations remain unattainable.
However, the successful implementation of minimum proficiency levels of learning or minimum competency levels of learning depends on the collective efforts of teachers, communities, parents, the government, and development partners. Strong collaboration is needed to provide the necessary technological, financial, and infrastructure support. Bangladesh’s education system must first lay a solid foundation before striving for excellence. If we fail to ensure that all students acquire basic proficiency, the dream of quality education will remain just that — a dream.
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Md Bayazid Khan is a primary education analyst
