Time for a third language in Bangladesh’s schools?

In compliance with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-BNP’s Election Manifesto 2026, the newly elected government’s minister of education has expressed, among 12 key points, a plan to introduce a third language (L3) at the secondary level. Whether Bangladesh should have an L3 is no longer a matter for discussion; it seems the government has already decided. Instead, the question is how we can implement it in a realistic, phased, and productive way so it doesn’t turn into a tragic gamble.

In spirit, this is the right move for the new government.

The government is to initiate an all-out reform in education. This is because it matches the scenario of millions of Bangladeshis working or hoping to work abroad. Moreover, with increasing trade and investment opportunities in markets where Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, and other languages are spoken, the economic motivation behind the L3 initiative is clear. The premise is that if our citizens speak the languages our employers speak abroad, Bangladesh will definitely move up the value chain. The challenge now is to implement this high-level intent into a practicable reality in thousands of schools without causing our children, teachers and institutions to feel overloaded, demoralised, or pushed to a new scam of certificates that lack real skills.

The economic logic vs the educational reality 
Given that Bangladesh is a remittance-dependent economy and that global workforce migration is shifting, the government’s rationale appears economically feasible. To realise the vision of human capital development in alignment with Bangladesh's aspirations as an upper-middle-income country, the L3 policy seems appropriate. Nonetheless, the foundation upon which this vision has to be built is found to be shaky. You may ask why and how. Consider the state of Bangla and English language education and their outcomes. Although these two subjects are compulsory from primary to higher secondary levels, students’ proficiency is alarmingly low. We have seen many reports stating that Bangla language proficiency is very poor, let alone English. 

Since the inception of the English Language Teaching Improvement Project, which introduced communicative language teaching in 1999, teachers have raised their voices to introduce Listening and Speaking tests at the secondary level, only to meet with utter failure. For more than 25 years, we have failed to introduce a real language testing system by ignoring teachers’ voices. How do we now become confident in teaching a third language that secondary students will use in practice? The valid question is why we assume that we can successfully teach the third languages, some of which have entirely different scripts and phonetic systems, on a mass scale. The risk is that the L3 might become just another subject to pass, adding more burden to students without producing any real communicative competence. This again points to ivory-tower approaches that ultimately fail. Among all these tragic and ignored backdrops, the One Teacher One tab, an easy-to-use online app and setting of realistic phased goals, might turn the tables by equipping teachers with suitable listening and speaking resources that really work.

A long-term goal, not an overnight kill switch
When we accept this policy move, we can learn from Europe, the Gulf Countries, and Asia’s experiences as instructive. Since the Barcelona European Council in 2002, the European Union has been implementing a “mother tongue plus two” goal. However, it may be noted that their overall progression in the teaching-learning of the second foreign language is slow and uneven. This should operate as an awakening for Bangladesh. If the European Union, with its rich, well-resourced systems and long traditions of language teaching, still finds this challenging, Bangladesh should be wise to develop the policy implementation pathways for its L3 policy. It should aim for a long-term national goal rather than something that can be achieved across Bangladesh in one term of the government.

The GCC countries are still the major destinations for Bangladeshi migrants, and their reality is a bit different. Recently, countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been integrating Mandarin Chinese into their school curricula to keep pace with ever-rising China. An estimate suggests that the UAE began with 100 schools in 2018 and has gradually expanded to 158 schools and 54,000 students to date. Saudi Arabia is following the same path. When we look at Singapore from an Asian perspective, we see that students are required to learn English as the medium of instruction and their respective mother tongue, such as Mandarin, Malay, or Tamil. A third language is not compulsory yet; rather, languages such as French, German, or Japanese are offered as optional choices. Thus, Singapore chose depth over breadth, prioritising solid bilingualism to reach L3 status by investing decades in bilingual curricula. Our neighbour, India, has a peculiar multilingual scenario in which mother tongue and English are present almost everywhere, with a third layer of Hindi in some states. The idea of national integration and linguistic diversity largely drives India’s third-language policy. India’s L3 policy continues to face political and practical opposition in some states.

Insider experience from Foreign Language Training Centre (FLTC) project in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has already experimented with L3 learning and teaching through the Foreign Language Training Centre (FLTC) Project, with slightly varying names at different phases of its implementation. This project, under the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, set up 32 centres in 29 districts, mostly in government colleges. In all of its centres, it offered English language courses. It also offered Arabic, Korean, Japanese and French courses, while the Bangladesh Navy or the Bangladesh Police sometimes received other language services through this project. The Korean Volunteers led Korean courses that delivered the most value, as many trainees subsequently migrated to Korea after taking them. The English language courses were the most popular among the trainees. However, the interesting fact is that though many Bangladeshis go for work to Arabic-speaking countries, the Arabic course was less in demand- a fact that tells us about making the right policy. The project sought to develop a national testing system and establish linkages with BMET to promote motivation among migrating Bangladeshis, but failed. Note that Korean course takers had to take the international test organised by South Korea, which is why the course was so effective.

The challenge now is to implement this high-level intent into a practicable reality in thousands of schools without causing our children, teachers and institutions to feel overloaded, demoralised, or pushed to a new scam of certificates that lack real skills.

The use of FLTC experience can help the L3 initiative. The FLTC centres can be used to run after-school or weekend classes in major third languages, so schools do not have to find a full team of specialised L3 teachers straightaway. The L3 initiative can set FLTC centres as the primary venue for initial teacher training and continuous professional development for school-based L3 teachers. Wherever possible, its existing infrastructure and experience can be used.

Phase One: The roadmap
While we start implementing the L3 plan, English must remain the immediate priority. The third one can become a reality only when students are already reasonably well-balanced in Bangla and English. Otherwise, students, teachers and institutions will suffer great burnout. 

That is why, in the first phase over the next two to three years, four pillars can be developed. First, consolidate communicative English teaching with a practical emphasis on listening and speaking, while reading and writing continue. Introduce simple, low-stakes speaking tests at the lower secondary level. This is how both students and teachers will get used to assessing oral skills well before they face a full-blown L3 rollout. Second, strategically map target languages to labour markets. Then identify upazillas that send the most migrants to different destinations. From this data, select languages and upazillas. At the same time, like FLTC’s success with the Korean language, connect with national volunteers from Korea, Japan, the USA, the UK and other countries. Also, map existing entrepreneurial efforts that leverage familiarity with Chinese and other languages. Third, during this phase, select only one, or at most two, priority L3 languages. The materials can be integrated with the One Teacher One Tab initiative. Ensure adequate audio-visual materials beforehand. Then start the trainer training. Fourth, launch limited L3 pilot programmes based on data and research from above. The initial number may be 50 to 100 while existing FLTC centres are accommodated into this system. Since FLTC centres are mostly based at government colleges, some of these may serve mostly as ToT centres.

This pilot phase, with four stages of implementation scaffolding, will tell us whether the system is working. It will tell us which teaching methods are working well, what preferences students are revealing and what additional support teachers need. This is when necessary corrections can be made from this experience.

Phase two: Selective scaling up through regional clusters
While the first phase ends, the monitoring and research authority will know what works and what does not. Using the learnings from standalone L3 learning centres, regional clusters will be formed. This will be a nationwide rollout.

The language clusters can be based on geographically based destinations and business opportunity-based languages. The number of migrants working in different countries will help in forming the clusters. The Gulf Cluster districts should be those from which most migrants go to Arab-speaking countries. The East Asia cluster can accommodate upazillas from which most migrants leave for Japan, Korea, and other countries in East Asia. The Urban Europe and Global Cluster for French, German, and Spanish (or other target L3 languages) can accommodate upazillas from which Bangladeshis mostly go to European countries and to China. The last cluster to form targets African countries with mainly English- and French-speaking populations.

The individual clusters should be interconnected with centres and schools. For this, both a website and a mobile app are required. The cluster-based approach will help identify and mitigate similar problems across any specific language-learning scenario. The One Teacher One Tab initiative must be linked to the L3 initiative phase by phase.

Phase three: Indigenous and international assessment system, certification and mapping with migration pathways
Unless employers at different corners of the world recognise our students’ L3 language skills, the whole initiative may bear little positive outcome. Also, entrepreneurs with no real-life L3 skills will not be successful in their business efforts.

This is why, in the third phase, establishing an assessment system is a must. At the beginning, the assessment system should be teacher-friendly, using set rubrics and sample tasks which can be distributed centrally through a website or the One Teacher One Tab initiative. A peer-review monitoring system has to be developed and implemented. This will ensure consistency throughout Bangladesh. Over time, teachers and students will become familiar with levels of international language testing like A1-C1 or CEFR, etc. Students may be encouraged to sit for international certification, but they must not be forced to do so. In the meantime, an indigenous testing system can be developed. By this time, migration pathways have to be chalked out so that when a portion of students move to technical or vocational education, they can make a specific decision about migration to specific destinations. By this phase, the selected schools of selected upazillas will start to see the impact of L3 learning, which will motivate the whole nation to engage in the L3 programme.

A central implementation unit and teacher strategy
Without a practical, dedicated implementation structure and a real-world teacher strategy, the L3 initiative would definitely fail. It is a good sign that the government's education reform wants to address teacher training, including subject knowledge and testing skills.

Three specific strategies might help. First, an implementation and monitoring unit connecting DSHE, the former FLTC, the technical education wing and BMET has to be established. Second, at the beginning, existing FLTC language trainers, part-time teachers from universities and popular language centres, and foreign volunteers, such as KOICA and JAICA, can be utilised. Gradually, scholarships for talented students can be arranged so they can study third languages at home and abroad. Third, model classes must be uploaded online so that both teachers and learners can learn from them. Opportunities for peer-learning visits for teachers need to be implemented to improve teaching quality. Language clubs have to be promoted with reasonable government subsidies.

Equity, access, transparency and feedback
Bangladesh's education reform has consistently favoured the urban elite, while rural schools remain disadvantaged. To mitigate this for the L3 initiative, uniform digital content must be distributed through One Techer One Tab and across both a website and an app. If necessary, dedicated internet services must be provided to the centres. Language clubs have to be incentivised to motivate learners to use the language after school hours. Concrete pathways have to be developed in rubrics and samples to help students who lag. This is how equity and access can be ensured. Implementation should be open and adaptive. A simple feedback mechanism must be established so schools and teachers can flag urgent problems, such as a lack of materials, misaligned exams, etc. There has to be a teacher assessment mechanism that involves learners and schools. These will ensure transparency and effective feedback.

Though the third language policy for secondary education is truly ambitious, given Bangladesh's past language education experiences, it is entirely aligned with the economic realities of a globalised market economy and a migrating workforce. Countries in other parts of the world are walking this path, even though some are still struggling to implement a ‘mother tongue plus two’ policy. 

The success lies not in a big budget but in patience and discipline as the policy rolls out. It can start with lessons learnt from FLTC centres, tying language choices to labour-market needs, phasing in carefully chosen pilots and clusters, developing truly skilled language trainers, equipping the One Teacher One Tab initiative with meaningful language-learning resources, and building language assessment tools, systems, and certification systems that employers trust.

Hasinul Islam is an Associate Professor of English (OSD, DSHE) currently pursuing a PhD at IBS, Rajshahi University. He can be reached at abuhasinul@gmail.com

Send your articles for Slow Reads to slowreads@thedailystar.net. Check out our submission guidelines for details.