A recent UNESCO report on global education has shown a worrying situation for Bangladesh, placing it at the lowest position among South Asian countries in terms of minimum skilled teachers.
The report says that only about 55% of secondary school teachers in Bangladesh meet the required teaching skill standards. UNESCO measured teacher skill based on two key points: whether teachers have proper training for their teaching level and whether their academic qualifications match the subjects and levels they teach.
According to the findings, Bangladesh has a 54.7% skilled teacher rate at the lower secondary level and 55.2% at the higher secondary level. In comparison, the Maldives is at the top in the region with a 98.5% skilled teacher rate. Other South Asian countries like Bhutan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan are also ahead of Bangladesh.
Data from BANBEIS 2024 also shows serious subject-wise gaps in Bangladesh’s education system. Only 16.99% of secondary English teachers have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in English, while the figure for Mathematics is even lower at 14.66%, pointing to a major shortage of subject-qualified teachers.
