Primary Education
Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in primary education over last few years. This has been due to introduction of compulsory primary education (CPE) in 1992 along with many other innovative educational initiatives at this level. There are more than 18 million children of primary school age (6-10 years) in Bangladesh out of a total population of 137 million. Almost half of them are girls. Gross enrolment has increased to 97.5 per cent, whereas net enrolment is 82 per cent, and there are equal numbers of boys and girls in primary education. One third of children drop out before they have completed five years of primary education, and of those who do graduate from primary school, most do not acquire the nationally defined basic competencies. The main focus of UNICEF’s activities for this age group, therefore, is to improve the quality of education, to increase the net enrolment and reduce the dropout rate. The Government of Bangladesh has recently initiated the second phase of its Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP), which is due to introduce major reforms between 2003 and 2009.
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