Literacy rate nears 78%, but ‘true figure may be lower’, advisor says

He alleges that previous governments often tried to suppress information that contradicted their publicised data

Primary Education Advisor Bidhan Ranjan Roy Podder has said while the government's official literacy rate is 77.9 percent, the figure could be inflated.

He made the comment on Sunday at a briefing organised by the Directorate of Primary Education marking International Literacy Day, observed on Sept 8.

In a written statement at the press conference, the directorate’s Secretary Abu Taher Md Masud Rana said, "The current literacy rate among the population aged seven and above is 77.9 percent in the latest report from the Bangladesh Economic Review 2024 conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. This means approximately 22.1 percent of the population is still illiterate.

"This population mainly consists of children who are out of school or have dropped out, and adults deprived of educational opportunities. It is crucial to transform them into skilled human resources through literacy and vocational training. The non-formal education bureau, under the directorate, is working on this along with other relevant government departments."

Later, in response to questions from journalists, Advisor Bidhan said: "Just when our dropout rate was decreasing, it suddenly rose. This is an alarming thing. The statistics show that our illiteracy rate is around 21 percent. But if you study further, the literacy rate could be even lower in reality. That is my observation."

He noted that unlike previous governments that often tried to suppress information that contradicted their publicised data, the interim government is not doing so.

"We are working with a very limited mandate. Therefore, we have no desire to suppress the truth."

The advisor mentioned that there are ongoing discussions about reducing the number of holidays for primary schools.

"We have many unnecessary holidays. We are trying to see if the holidays can be reduced a bit. We are making this effort in a unified way with the education ministry," he added.