Poor literacy rates in many regions must be overcome

Many specific regions of the country are lagging behind in literacy rate compared to the other regions. According to the preliminary report of the Population and Housing Census 2022, the national average literacy rate is 74.66 per cent.

It is a spike from 2011 when the average literacy rate was only 51.77.

This is a remarkable development. Worryingly, all districts of the country could not catch up with this development.

At present the lowest literacy rate is found in Jamalpur district which is 61.50 per cent.

While the country’s highest, 78.09 per cent, is recorded in the Dhaka division, the Mymensingh division has the lowest 67.09 per cent.

The other places where the literacy rate is lagging conspicuously behind are Sherpur (63.57 per cent), Bandarban (63.64 per cent), Sunamganj (64.77 per cent) and Kurigram (64.99 per cent).

The government, however, does not acknowledge its failure in this regard and points out that poverty, short-term literacy projects, the Covid pandemic, various forms of discrimination and the absence of awareness are the reasons for the lower literacy rates.

The State’s negligence is crucially responsible for the existing literacy gaps as there is no accountability for the relevant organisations.
The huge literacy gaps among places in the country, like uneven economic development, do not augur well for the country. This lopsided development not only creates restlessness; ethically speaking, it is social injustice also.

The government can take up various steps to augment the literacy rates. Firstly, besides motivation, incentives can be offered to poor families for sending their children schools so that these families do not think of engaging them to work, child labour to be precise.

Also, literacy rate could be increased in the low-performing districts, if a long-term non-formal education development programme approach was undertaken for these places. It is also necessary to minimize the gaps in families created by factors such as economic and digital divide.

Even development of the country is not possible, if the gaps of literacy rate continue to persist between districts to districts, regions to regions.