Bangladesh has succeeded in getting most children into classrooms, but a nationwide survey has exposed a deeper crisis: millions are progressing through school without mastering the basic reading and mathematics skills on which the rest of their education depends.
More than six in 10 children aged seven to 14, 60.8%, cannot demonstrate foundational mathematical skills, while 49.8% fail to meet the minimum standard for reading and understanding a simple, age-appropriate story, according to the Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2025.
The findings from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS)-Unicef survey expose a stark disconnect between school participation and actual learning.
The problem begins early.
Among children in Grades 2 and 3, only 28.2% demonstrated foundational reading skills, while just 20.8% could perform basic mathematical tasks such as recognizing and comparing numbers, addition and identifying patterns.
Even by Grade 5, only 62% demonstrated foundational reading skills.
The survey also reveals that being able to read words does not necessarily mean children understand them.
While 61.6% of seven- to 14-year-olds could correctly read at least 90% of the words in a story, only 50.2% could also answer the required comprehension questions.
Recent National Student Assessment findings reinforce the concern: 91% of Grade 5 students were classified at the “novice” level in mathematics and 65% in Bangla.
Staying in school is another battle
Learning deficiencies are compounded by a sharp decline in attendance as children grow older.
Net attendance falls from 85.1% at primary level to 60.1% at lower secondary and 50.8% at upper secondary. By upper-secondary age, 33.9% of children are out of school.
Only 43.9% complete upper secondary education, compared with 83.7% completing primary.
Economic inequality compounds the problem.
Only 33.6% of children from the poorest fifth of households demonstrate foundational reading skills, compared with 67.4% from the richest fifth.
At upper-secondary level, just 21% of children from the poorest households complete their education, against 69.3% among the richest.
Urban children also outperform their rural counterparts in foundational reading, 55.6% to 48%.
Foundations weak even before school
The weaknesses begin before children enter primary school.
Only 16.6% of children aged 36–59 months participate in early childhood education, while just 8.5% of seven- to 14-year-olds have at least three books at home besides textbooks.
Girls outperform boys in foundational reading, with 54.5% meeting the standard compared with 45.6% of boys.
Delayed entry also remains widespread: 38.4% of children do not begin Grade 1 at the appropriate age.
Educationist Professor Anu Muhammad said inadequate classroom teaching, dependence on coaching and private tuition, guidebooks and memorization were preventing children from developing genuine understanding.
“As a result, children are failing to properly master two of the most fundamental areas of early learning, language and mathematics,” he told Dhaka Tribune.
He also pointed to inadequate public investment, teacher shortages, infrastructure and curriculum weaknesses.
The MICS findings are based on 62,980 households and assessments of 34,990 children aged seven to 14 across all 64 districts.
Taken together, the numbers point to a challenge beyond enrolment: Bangladesh is keeping many children in school without ensuring that they learn the fundamentals needed to progress through it.