On the 60th anniversary of International Literacy Day, Bangladesh stands at an important point in its education journey. According to the Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2023: Key Findings report, the national literacy rate among people aged seven and above rose to 77.9%, from 58.6% in 2014.
Yet these gains do not tell the whole story. Functional literacy, the ability to read, write, think critically, and apply knowledge in daily life, remains out of reach for millions.
According to the World Bank’s Human Capital Index 2020, 58% of 10-year-olds in Bangladesh are unable to read and understand a simple text by the end of primary school.
That is more than one in every two children.
One important part of this challenge begins even before children enter primary school.
A study by Nirmala, Umayahara, Yang and Ranganathan (2021) shows that up to 80-85% of children from the poorest socioeconomic quintiles enter Class 1 without adequate pre-literacy exposure, structured storytelling, or formal early childhood education.
When children enter primary school without these foundations, they are expected to cope immediately with a fast-paced curriculum. This can lead to early frustration and poor comprehension.
Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are three times more likely to drop out of primary school than their wealthiest peers. This, in turn, can reinforce an intergenerational cycle of poverty and weaken the country’s human resources.
The gap is even wider for children with disabilities. They often face multiple barriers, including negative attitudes, delayed enrolment, and a lack of adapted learning materials. These obstacles can exclude them from the literacy journey before it has properly begun.
Children do not all learn and develop at the same pace or in the same way. Using fixed developmental milestones to decide whether a child is “ready” for school can unfairly disadvantage children with disabilities. Yet with appropriate support, every child can learn and participate.
Early lessons from the GPE KIX- and IDRC Canada-supported EN-REACH Education implementation research project, being conducted in selected government primary schools in Kushtia and Gaibandha districts, suggest that school readiness cannot be strengthened by focusing on the child alone.
The support surrounding the child, particularly from teachers, parents, and other caregivers, also matters.
Preliminary qualitative findings suggest that children with disabilities who were initially shy or anxious became more confident and engaged when they experienced language-rich, play-based learning at home and in school.
Teachers also reported that inclusive, play-based approaches designed to support children with disabilities benefited other children in the classroom as well.
The research is also showing the value of equipping pre-primary teachers with practical skills for inclusive teaching and of using low-cost, locally-available play materials.
At home, involving fathers, grandparents, and community members in school-readiness activities can broaden responsibility for early learning and help build a more supportive and gender-equitable environment for children.
These emerging lessons point to a wider conclusion: Inclusive pre-primary education works best when the classroom, home, and community reinforce one another, rather than when school readiness is treated solely as the responsibility of the child or teacher.
But promising approaches in a few settings will not be enough unless quality pre-primary education becomes more widely accessible. Across Bangladesh, access to quality early education remains deeply unequal.
First, Bangladesh needs to invest more in early education. Expanding preschool enrollment in low- and middle-income countries could generate benefit-to-cost ratios ranging from 6.4 to 17.6.
Yet Bangladesh spends just over 2% of GDP on education, well below Unesco’s recommended 4% to 6%. A significant, protected share of increased education spending should go to pre-primary education in marginalized communities.
Second, inclusion and play-based learning need to become central to pre-primary education.
Classrooms should have age-appropriate reading materials in children’s mother tongues, interactive toys, and storybooks. Pre-primary education should also move away from excessive memorization and give children more opportunities to learn through play, stories, interaction, and exploration.
Third, the pre-primary workforce needs to be professionalized. Teaching young children, particularly children with disabilities, requires specialized pedagogical skills. This should receive proper attention in education planning, budgeting and implementation.
Finally, evidence-based inclusive models need to be scaled up. As stronger evidence emerges on effective ways to include children with disabilities and engage fathers in early learning, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, and development partners should consider how these practices can be incorporated into national policy.
If Bangladesh wants a population capable of succeeding in a digital economy, participating meaningfully in society and escaping poverty, investment must begin when the human brain is developing most rapidly.
By ensuring universal, high-quality, play-based and inclusive pre-primary education for every child, Bangladesh can make sure that improvements in literacy are not simply reflected in statistics, but in the knowledge, skills and opportunities of its people.
Utpal Mallick is an Assistant Program Manager at icddr,b and can be reached at [email protected].
