Households bear 71pc cost of education, government shares rest: UNESCO

Households in Bangladesh account for the largest share of 71 per cent of total education-spending of while the rest 29 per cent is shared by the government, according to a report disclosed in Dhaka on Tuesday.

The fees and expenses of NGO or private-run schools are three times higher than that of government schools.

According to the "UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2022," the expenditure in private kindergartens is nearly nine times higher.

It shows that Bangladesh, like some other south Asian countries, spends less than 2.5 per cent of its gross domestic production (GDP) on education while the UN recommends spending at least 4.0 per cent of GDP.

In collaboration with BRAC, UNESCO launched a national launch programme that is the first to investigate the role of the private sector in education in South Asia.

One-third of Bangladeshi households take out loans to pay for their children's private education, according to the report, .

Families in Pakistan bear 57 per cent of the cost of education, in Nepal, families spend 63 per cent while in India; the top 20 per cent of households spend nearly four times more than the bottom 20 per cent on all types of schools, government, private, and unfunded.

Bangladesh has the largest number of students in the private sector in South Asia. 94 per cent of the country’s secondary school students are from private institutions.

Sri Lanka has the highest number of private school students in pre-primary education at 80 per cent, followed by Bangladesh at 55 per cent. On average, Bangladesh has the most private sector dependency in the education sector.

The report found that, despite great progress in access to education in South Asia, investment in education by states remains insufficient.

Except for Bhutan, no other country in the region has ever spent anywhere near 15 per cent of total government spending or 4.0 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on education.

In the decade from 2010 to 2020, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka spent less than 2.5 per cent of their total GDP on education. Quality and relevance of education have therefore become concerns, the report said.

Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni and CAMPE’s Executive Director Rasheda K. Choudhury was the chief guest and guest of honour respectively, in the programme.

Director General of Directory of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) Prof Nehal Ahmed and member of University Grants Commission (UGC) Prof Biswajit Chanda were present as special guests.

Manos Antoninis, the director of UNESCO's GEM Report, presented the research report.

Prof Emeritus of BRAC of BRAC University Manzoor Ahmad presented the background study of Bangladesh. Interactive session was moderated by the chairperson of BRAC Hossain Zillur Rahman.

Dr. Dipu Moni said the number of seats in our private school is 925,780, where 276,000 have applied.

And in government schools, where standards are said to be low, there are 107907 seats for which 534,000 people applied, indicating people's preference for government institutions, she added.

Prof Manzoor Ahmad said, we have made economic progress, but education investment has not increased accordingly. Other South Asian countries are in a better situation than Bangladesh. Teachers have no accountability in many cases.

"More reforms in the Monthly Pay Order (MPO) model are necessary," he suggested.

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