Manzoor Ahmed

Most of South Asia (with the exception of Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka) is not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal education target of equitable, inclusive, quality primary and secondary education for all children by 2030.

The Yidan Prize 2019 (for education) is the latest of many global awards and recognitions earned by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder of Brac, for his lifelong contribution to education and development in Bangladesh and 10 other countries, from Afghanistan to Uganda.

In April 2010, when the draft of the National Education Policy 2010 was under discussion, five of the most distinguished and respected academics of the country issued a joint statement titled “Banish mal-politics from the education sphere:

In Sariakandi upazila of Bogura district, there are 168 primary schools, 44 of which are in char or sandy shoals created by the shifting and temperamental Jamuna River. The Daily Star reporter Mostafa Shabuj visited 16 of the char schools recently.

In the run-up to preparing the budget for the financial year 2019-2020, consultations are being held, like in the previous years, by the finance minister and his senior colleagues with various stakeholders.

Leave no one behind” is the guiding spirit of the education agenda to be achieved by 2030 under the global Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015.

On March 22–24, a three-day conference on visualising Bangladesh in the next 30 years was organised at Yale University by Bangladesh Development Initiative (BDI), an organisation of academics of Bangladeshi origin in North America. It was an occasion to share and debate progress and challenges of development in Bangladesh.

The release of the World Development Report (WDR) 2018 of the World Bank subtitled “Learning to Realize Education's Promise,” on

“Is it a problem of not enough jobs in the national economy, or not enough people with the right skills for them?” This is a question that is often asked, but looking at only one side of the coin provides a partial or even misleading answer. Besides jobs and skills, young people also want to look at the future with hope, confidence and pride in their country.

First launched in 1995, by the Berlin-based organisation Transparency International (TI), the annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) has put the issue of corruption on the global agenda.

Dr Dipu Moni has been named the minister of education in the new Cabinet led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the third consecutive term. Md Zakir Hossain is the new state minister responsible for primary and mass education.

The Awami League and partners led by Sheikh Hasina won a stunning victory in the 11th parliamentary election on December 30 bagging over 95 percent of the seats. Is it a victory for the people also? If not, can it still be turned into a people's victory?

In his famous novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez, the Nobel Prize winning Colombian writer, writes about

The cover story with a full front-page spread on the Straits Times of Singapore on September 29 was headlined “Fewer exams for students, less emphasis on grades”.

After almost three decades, the election of the Dhaka University Central Students Union (DUCSU) may be held under pressure due to public demand and nudging by a rule of the High Court.

Our vision and aspiration as a nation is expressed in Vision 2021, marking 50 years of independent Bangladesh, and objectives set for 2041, when Bangladesh aims to become a developed nation.

Raleigh, North Carolina. In the mixed neighbourhood of Oakwood in this capital city of the state of North Carolina, where this writer was on a visit recently, in a front-yard among the myrtle grove, a handwritten poster hung with the words:

There is an expectation that school is the setting where young people can learn and practice ethics and values. The reality is that society sets the boundaries of what schools can do. Does society make teaching values and morality through school a fool's errand?

An Economist Intelligence Unit and British Council survey in 2014 reported that Bangladesh had the lowest employability among university graduates in South Asia—nearly half (47) of graduates out of a hundred were unemployed compared to 30 out of 100 in India and Pakistan. There are methodology issues about the calculation. Even then, they indicate a serious problem.

Children who are in grade one today will be in grade twelve, the final year of high school, in 2030. The Sustainable Development Goal number 4 (SDG4 out of 17 global SDGs) is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning for all by 2030. Where do we stand in reaching the education goals to which Bangladesh is committed?