Teaching a third language to our students and our budget!

With a view to providing students with additional language skills so that they can enhance their employability and global outlook, a special plan has been proposed by the government which has been revealed in the budget 2026-27.

According to the proposed plan, a major transformation will be brought to the existing curriculum. Special emphasis will be given to developing ethics, social responsibility, leadership qualities and human values among students.

Technical and vocational education, technology-based curricula, and sports and cultural activities will also be made part of mainstream education. There is also a proposal to make technical education compulsory from Class VI onwards.

Alongside Bangla and English, multiple third languages including Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Arabic, French and German are proposed to be included in the curriculum.

Additionally, loan facilities of up to Tk 10 lakh will be provided for students wishing to pursue higher education in these countries. The main goal of this initiative is to develop skilled manpower for the global labour market.

Education based news portal ‘Dainikshiksha’ conducted a survey on the issue of teaching a third language to the students, that has been supported by 72 percent people who think it necessary for the students to manage job easily and enrich our foreign exchange reserve.

This plan evokes appreciation initially and then constructive feedback because of our existing dismal situation of teaching just one foreign language.

We have taught English as a foreign language for 55 years in Bangladesh and another 24 years during Pakistan time. During this long period, we could not have employed real language teachers who can teach English effectively.

As a result, it has assumed a business shape without giving our students a strong basis on this language and this business continues from KG to higher education, from the remotest parts of the country to the lanes and bi-lanes of big cities and obviously in posh areas in the form of coaching, teaching spoken English etc. and this business is run by social welfare teachers, religious teachers, history teachers, agricultural teachers to English teachers, from student to professors, from novice teachers to experts but for which English is taught as a compulsory subject remains still elusive.

All try to teach English just as a subject not to develop skills of the learners to accrue direct benefit from acquiring it. That means, the purpose remains far away from its real objective.

Additionally, there is a plan to introduce the concept of ‘Learning with Happiness’ in the education system, aimed at ensuring a stress-free and joyful learning environment for students.

To expand women’s education, plans are in place to extend free education up to the bachelor’s level. The budget also includes plans to provide school uniforms, shoes and bags for poor students, and to further strengthen inclusive education for students with disabilities and special needs.

The ESA (Education Sector Analysis) 2026 is a comprehensive, evidence-based review of Bangladesh’s education sector, covering all levels from pre-primary to higher education, as well as cross-cutting areas such as teacher development, governance, financing, inclusion, and the use of technology.

The ESA is actually a critical tool for guiding education policy, planning, and investment in Bangladesh. It is expected to support efforts to improve learning outcomes, strengthen equity, and inform longer-term system reforms in response to evolving national priorities and emerging development challenges.

The Government of Bangladesh, in collaboration with UNICEF and development partners under the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), held a high-level validation workshop on the Bangladesh Education Sector Analysis (ESA) 2026 at Hotel Sheraton, Banani, Dhaka on 14 June. The workshop brought together over 100 participants, including senior government officials, development partners, education experts, academics, researchers, civil society representatives, and media.

It has detected the learning crisis of primary level students, with half of the children do not have foundational literacy and one in every three children not having foundational numeracy, requiring critical attention: Strong emphasis on foundational skills, such as reading, writing, and math skills, teaching quality, and relevant competencies is required.

I am afraid they have not revealed any report on the status of English taught in the primary level as a compulsory and important subject. If they had conducted an analysis on it, that would definitely show a far grimmer picture as my own observation and study shows. In this perspective what can we say about the plan and proposal to teach them another foreign language?

Finally, we appreciate the thoughts of the government to perceive the importance of teaching several languages to our future generation in this age of globalization. However, the government cannot make it successful as it has failed to teach English to our students making it a compulsory subject and employing several lac teachers who actually don’t get the point of teaching it.

Our assessment system also does not talk about developing the practical skills of our students in this subject. When this is the case, can we expect anything fruitful from the government effort to teach another third language? How will teachers be managed if another third language is introduced? If it is really introduced in the schools and colleges, it will be just a white elephant. In the name of teaching a third language, many news projects will be launched at the cost of people’s money with no benefit as is now happening in terms of teaching English.

If the government really want to do it, they can get it implemented either in the private sector or through private public partnership deal by establishing several language institutes where students will learn some important foreign languages for a certain period of time, not through an impractical idea that in the school and college they will learn it as a subject. If it is done, they will learn neither another foreign language nor mathematics, science and social science.

(The writer is President- English Teachers’ Association of Bangladesh- ETAB. Also former faculty member of Ghatail Cantonment College, Sylhet, Cumilla and Mirzapur Cadet College, Rajuk Uttara Model College, BOU, Education Expert- BRAC Education and Country Director- VAB Bangladesh)