ARAFAT RAHAMAN

In a Narsingdi village, Ahmed Mia faces a paradox common to millions of Bangladeshi parents. His daughter, Rafia, has completed the second grade at the local government primary school, yet she struggles to read Bangla.

“Nearly 90 percent of students here pass, but many cannot properly read,” observes Ahmed from Bakharnagar.

In the neighbouring village of Satpara, Sonia Akter worries that the emptiness of the classrooms will soon translate into crowded local factories and marriage registries. “If school closures continue, boys could be drawn into crime, and early marriages may increase,” she says.

Their anxieties are well-founded. For Bangladesh’s education sector, 2025 was a year of disruptions, signifying major flaws in governance. From the primary level to the universities, the academic calendar was shredded by prolonged teacher agitation, government crackdowns, and indecisions on curriculum policies.

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