UNESCO Dhaka

Recognizing the overarching need of reliable data on literacy in Bangladesh, the national statistical organization Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), for the first time, conducted nationwide literacy assessment survey, and found the results very interesting. The literacy assessment survey conducted by BBS, with technical and financial support from UNESCO, found adult literacy rate to be 48.8 percent. Interestingly it also shows that about 50% of the adult literates are female, leading to gender parity.  The test based literacy assessment shows that there is much improvement in the overall literacy situation, compared to the results of similar assessments made by other organizations – namely Education Watch (2002) and UNESCO Dhaka Office (2005). However, a sharp decline of literacy among the urban males is observed. The survey also classified the respondents into four groups, based on their level of literacy skills: Non-Literate, Semi-Literate, Literate at Basic Level, and Literate at advanced level.

  Literacy Assessment Survey 2008 (Full Report) (3.47 MB)

 Following is a summary of the key findings of Literacy Assessment Survey 2008:

•  Adult Literacy Rate (15 years and above aged population) is 48.8 percent for all over the country. However regional variations are remarkable: it is highest in Chittagong Division (49.9 percent) and lowest in Sylhet and Rajshahi Division (42.9 percent).

• Urban-Rural differences in literacy also widening: National literacy rate for rural areas is 46.4 percent, whereas it stands to 56.9 percent for urban areas.
• For the age groups, the literacy rate is highest for 11-14 years age group (58.7 percent) ; which gradually  decreases with age. The literacy rate is nearly 40 percent for population aged 65 and above.
• The adult literacy rate of urban non-Muslims is significantly higher compared to urban Muslims; 65.8 percent as against 56.6 percent. In rural areas the difference is minimum.
• A strong relationship is observed between level of formal education and level of adult literacy. The level increases from 3.8 percent for adults completing grade 1 to 49.4 percent for adults completing grade 4 and 100 percent completing grade 9.
• Increase in adult literacy rate since 2002 has been found encouraging. The adult literacy rate was 38.8 percent in 2002 and that reached 48.8 percent in 2008, increasing annually by 5.55 percent during 2005-2008. If this rate of growth, 5.55 percent per annum, sustains, then the adult literacy rate in 2015 would be 71.21 percent.
• The major contribution to higher growth rate came from the increasingly higher growth rates in female literacy. The rural adult literacy rate has been increasing while urban adult literacy rate has been decreasing due mainly to gradual decrease at urban male adult literacy, which may be explained by less targeted programmes for adult illiterates in the urban areas.
• Regional Variation calls for identification of factors for low level of literacy at many geographic location and implementing interventions for such areas.
• Although some progress has been made, the adult literacy rate is still low for Bangladesh. However, if the present trend continues, then 95 percent literacy rate would be attained by 2020. Although the gender parity has already been achieved, special attention should be paid to adult males in urban areas as they tend to be declining in literacy
• Poverty situation remains a big threat to increases in the literacy rate. The poverty issue has to be addressed as a necessary support to literacy. School environment and facilities need to be up-graded to entice the poor children having apathy to school education.

The annual growth rate was 3.9 percent per annum during 2002-2008. The annual growth rate was 2.3 percent during 2002-2005 and 5.55 percent during 2005-2008. It is clear that the growth rate will be increasingly higher in the coming years. If the annual growth rate continues to remain at least 5.55% then the adult literacy would 71.2% in 2015 a great achievement in improving literacy rate. This implies that more than 70 percent of adult population would become literate and only 30 percent would be remain illiterate in 2015.

The trend analysis of literacy rates shows that the major contribution to overall increase in adult literacy came from the increasingly higher growth rates in female literacy. This may be attributed to recent policies and activities promoted to the promotion of female participation in all economic activities, particularly in education. New programmes and policies are needed to accelerate the growth of male literacy so that male and female literacy remain equal and move faster so that 95% literacy is achieved by 2020.