Bangladesh's education system and an underprepared future

As we mentioned in our previous piece, our children get Grade Seven worth of actual learning once they finish Grade Twelve of education. Here, children are not only facing a learning gap but also a time deficit.

The Global Knowledge Index 2025 measures and compares our performance below the global average; we ranked 122nd among the 195 countries listed. In 2024, we ranked 113th out of 141 countries, and in 2023, 112th out of 133. Where are we lagging? Will future generations be able to tackle the rising global risks and inequalities?

According to the Global Knowledge Index 2025 in pre-university education, the country ranks 119th out of 195 countries, lagging in both access and learning outcomes, despite a relatively better position in the learning environment (73rd).  If we drill down, we will find that, across government expenditure, enrollment, completion, and gender parity in all areas, we are lagging far behind.

Similarly, in technical and higher education, the situation is even more concerning: Bangladesh ranks 156th, with consistently weak performance in access, quality, and outcomes. These figures are not just statistical shortcomings; they reflect a structural failure to convert educational participation into meaningful learning. As investment, enrolment, and attainment aren’t up to the mark for TVET and Higher Education in our country, this results in unemployment and poor learning outcomes and learner retention.

The pass rate of SSC (68.04%)  and HSC (58.03%) of the previous year reflects the evidence of degrading learning and curriculum, while other statistics have shown that the unemployment rate among tertiary-educated youth rose from 7% in 2013 to 31.5% in 2022 (Creating employment opportunities for the youth: Urgent policy imperatives for Bangladesh).

All of these raise serious concerns about how we value and invest in education, and to what extent our academic institutions'' curricula address present and future needs. From 2013 to 2025, Bangladesh’s investment in education reached its highest point in 2021 and 2023, at only 2.1% of total GDP. Undoubtedly, such limited investment contributes to poor educational outcomes.

Graduate employability is under strain, and public confidence in curriculum changes is fragile. The education system continues to expand in scale, but struggles to ensure quality, coherence, and relevance

If we compare Bangladesh with other South Asian countries, the difference becomes even more evident. According to World Bank data from 2013 to 2022, India’s lowest investment in education was 3.8% of GDP. In recent years, it has remained above 4%. Nepal’s lowest expenditure during this period was around 3% of GDP in 2013, and the country has demonstrated a stronger commitment in recent years by consistently investing more than 4% of GDP. Sri Lanka is the only country in the region that has spent less than Bangladesh in certain years. At the same time, Pakistan’s expenditure has remained close to Bangladesh’s level. In contrast, the Maldives and Bhutan have shown significantly stronger commitment to education, investing between 4% and 7.2% of GDP during this period.

The impact of such lower investment is reflected in the World Bank''s Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling (LAYS), which show that Bangladesh records 7.6 effective learning years, performing better than Pakistan, which stands at 6.1 years. However, Bangladesh remains behind India at 8.3 years, Bhutan at 8.6 years, Maldives at 10.2 years, and Sri Lanka, which has the highest performance in the region with 10.8 effective learning years. These differences reflect significant variation, and the consequences are increasingly visible.

Besides, here, graduate employability is under strain, and public confidence in curriculum changes is fragile. The education system continues to expand in scale, but struggles to ensure quality, coherence, and relevance. The budget from the newly elected government didn’t reflect what they mentioned earlier to invest 5% of GDP in education, to eliminate financial constraints and improve the quality of education. But from experience, it still raises the question of whether the impact will be on quantity or on real quality.

Here, as we increase investment and plan for effective, globally relevant education, we should keep in mind the future needs of our youth. With knowledge, education should also focus on building the skills that young people will need to tackle the global and national risks. The core skills for the future, such as analytical thinking, resilience, leadership, social influence, creative thinking, technological literacy, and lifelong learning, are essential to integrate into the education system.

According to the Global Risks Report 2025, unemployment and economic downturn are among the major future risks for Bangladesh. This makes it even more important to rethink how education can better prepare young people for a rapidly changing world. In the current world, our present and future are shaped not only by Bangladesh's internal realities but also by evolving global dynamics and relations. Here, new uncertainty and challenges are continuously emerging due to climate change, conflict, and rapid technological advancement.

All of these have made the cognitive development of the youth more important than ever, as it plays a critical role in developing the 21st-century transitional skills needed for the future. However, the question of whether we are truly preparing our young people with the knowledge, skills, and adaptability needed for the future remains a major concern.

* Shahariar Sadat is currently serving as the Executive Director of the Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ), BRAC University.

* Prantick Chowdhury is working as the Lead, BRAC University Access Programme at the Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ), BRAC University.