Bangladesh

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Bangladesh has a largely rural population of over 171 million (World Bank, 2022).

COL’s work in Bangladesh is primarily in the areas of Empowering Women and Girls, Higher Education, Teacher Education, Lifelong Learning for Farmers, and Technology-Enabled Learning. Bangladesh benefits from programmes under the aegis of the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), with learners from Bangladesh also participating in COL’s free, open online courses and benefiting from other openly available resources.

Participation rate of youth and adults in formal and non-formal education and training in the previous 12 months, 15-64 years old¹
10.2%		13.8%
Female (2017)		Male (2017)

Completion rate, lower secondary education for the school year ending in 2020¹
75.1%		60.2%
Female		Male

Gross enrolment ratio for tertiary education for the school year ending in 2021¹
22.8%		27.3%
Female		Male

Proportion of teachers with the minimum required qualifications in secondary education¹
68.9%		60%
Female (2021)		Male (2021)

1. UNESCO Institute for Statistics Data Centre, retrieved in May 2023

Highlights

More than 550 policymakers and senior officials have been trained in Gender Equality and the prevention of Gender-Based Violence to promote effective policies and strategies to address these issues.
With COL support, 20 universities have developed a draft policy on open educational resources (OER).
COL’s work with the Centre for Mass Education in Science (CMES) has led to the enrolment of more than 27,000 learners in livelihood and vocational courses.
Between 2021-2024, 14,753 learners from Bangladesh enrolled in courses 111,296 times, with 18,185 certificates issued through COL’s partnership with Coursera, Udemy and Grow with Google.
The Empowering Women and Girls project has supported women and girls through vocational and community-based training in 93 villages across Bangladesh.

Partners

Partnerships are fundamental to COL’s work. Strategic partnerships allow COL to broaden its reach and engage at global, regional and national levels, while implementation partners support COL’s work in communities and institutions across Commonwealth Member States. Partners include multilateral organisations, regional bodies, national governments, government agencies, foundations, civil society organisations, public and private (not-for-profit) institutions and the private sector. COL partnerships assist in improving and extending teaching and learning services to people in the developing Commonwealth.

COL’s partners in Bangladesh include:

Ministry of Education
Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology
Aster Innovation Company Ltd
Bangladesh Open University (BOU)
Better Future for Women
Centre for Mass Education in Science (CMES)
CITY University
Daffodil International University
Dhaka Ahsania Mission
Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha
University of Chittagong
University Grants Commission (UGC)

Key Contacts

Focal Point

Mr. A.S.M. Kashem
Senior Assistant Secretary
Secondary & Higher Education Division
Ministry of Education

Notable Mention

Professor M. Aminul Islam, COL Honorary Fellow

Professor Dr Abdul Mannan, former Honorary COL Adviser

The Honourable Nurul Islam Nahid, MP, former member of COL Board of Governors

Literacy rate (2020)¹
72%		77.8%
Female, Adult (15+)		Male, Adult (15+)

Economic Activity – Labour Forces Participation (2017)¹
38.1%		83.8%
Female, Ages 15-64		Male, Ages 15-64

Political Decision Making (2018)¹
20.9%
Share of seats held by women in national parliament

Life expectancy (2029)¹
75.6		73
Female		Male

1. COL gender country profile October 2023

39	110
Individuals using the internet (%)¹	Mobile-cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants¹

6.6	55
Fixed-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants¹	Active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants¹




1. International Telecommunication Union (ITU), retrieved in May 2023.

Bangladesh

Highlights

Partners

Key Contacts

Focal Point

Notable Mention

More Information

News

Reports

Publications and Resources

Country Data Sources