Are teachers failing, or is the system failing them?
20 April 2026, 09:00 AM
Recently, Education Minister Ehsanul Haque Milon told the parliament that 60,295 teaching posts are currently vacant in about 26,000 MPO-listed (government grant-receiving) secondary schools and colleges in the country.
20 April 2026, 09:00 AM
A rebuttal to the rebuttal: ‘Evidence, not assumptions, should guide education reform’
30 March 2026, 11:00 AM
I am happy that Dr Shamsul Arifeen Khan Mamun has taken the time to read my op-ed piece on education reform (“We need education reforms that actually work,” The Daily Star, March 15) and wrote a rebuttal (“Evidence, not assumptions, should guide education reform,” The Daily Star, March 19).
30 March 2026, 11:00 AM
We need education reforms that actually work
15 March 2026, 00:32 AM
People’s expectations about real reform in education have been raised by the busy round of meetings and expression of resolve seen in Minister of Education Dr Ehsanul Haque Milon and State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj.
15 March 2026, 00:32 AM
Decisive action is needed to deliver on education pledges
19 February 2026, 00:51 AM
The overwhelming support of voters received by the BNP thrusts upon the new government a special responsibility and a challenge to meet people’s expectations.
19 February 2026, 00:51 AM
An education law – does it matter?
11 February 2026, 01:38 AM
The point is that complex and diverse education services operate under a variety of legal provisions, and their requirements can hardly be met by a single umbrella law.
11 February 2026, 01:38 AM
Faltering education is a national emergency, fix it now
25 January 2026, 00:13 AM
When the foundation of governance of the state is shaky, public services such as education and healthcare also become weak and tottering.
25 January 2026, 00:13 AM
After decades of failure, can we finally fix our education system?
22 January 2026, 01:09 AM
Arguably, the most consequential failure of political leadership in independent Bangladesh has been in the field of education.
22 January 2026, 01:09 AM
Education reform: Too little, too late under the interim regime
4 January 2026, 03:00 AM
The tenure of the interim government (IG) since August 2024 has not been particularly comforting for the country's education community.
4 January 2026, 03:00 AM
Is a policy directive enough to stop school bullying?
This isn't the first time that regulations and directives have been issued by education authorities regarding bullying. The question is if and how the new directive can make a difference.
8 May 2023, 16:00 PM
Are there any lessons for Bangladesh in Ashoka Mody's ‘India Is Broken’?
Both countries have had a single-minded focus on GDP growth, with not enough attention to jobs, climate, the distribution effects and the destructive impact of crony capitalism.
25 April 2023, 14:00 PM
Is research university an oxymoron?
Cultivating research mindset and critical thinking among students is important, but does this require foregoing the necessary academic routine of “teaching a course, administering tests, and grading students”?
10 April 2023, 16:00 PM
Protecting a generation in danger
Two recent studies under government auspices have confirmed the warnings given by Education Watch.
25 March 2023, 19:30 PM
The textbook debate: Managing the politics
Curriculum and textbook renewal is not and should not be something that has to start from scratch.
12 February 2023, 17:59 PM
Education and growth: Are we asking the right questions?
Economists and policymakers, influenced by economists, tend to look at education as a homogeneous and highly aggregated category.
10 February 2023, 18:00 PM
Graduate unemployment: Who's to blame?
The populist remedies for youth and educated unemployment will not work without a coherent and coordinated plan from the government.
12 January 2023, 18:00 PM
‘New year, new curriculum’ cannot transform our school education
Throughout 2022, education authorities focused on returning to a “normal” routine, making minimal adjustments mostly in organising public examinations.
28 December 2022, 16:01 PM
A rudderless education policy is leading us astray
Is there a pattern of incompetence, inefficiency, lack of accountability, and impunity among the education personnel and institutions in this country?
16 November 2022, 14:00 PM
Inflation is yet another blow to education recovery
A 200-page notebook that cost Tk 40 four months ago now costs Tk 50
2 November 2022, 16:00 PM
Can teachers be the pivot of change in education?
To ignore the special role of a teacher in society is to place the future of the nation at peril.
5 October 2022, 14:00 PM
Ailing Democracy: Rx Intensive Care
Biden’s “inflection point” applies to Bangladesh, too.
15 September 2022, 18:00 PM
Is education another commodity in the market?
The important issue that must be discussed is whether school education should continue to be another commodity subject to the vagaries of the market.
12 September 2022, 16:00 PM
Democracy on life support
The political division regarding how to deal with the attack on the US Capitol Building does not augur well for democracy in the US. What does this tell us about the fate of democracy in the world?
3 July 2022, 18:00 PM
Can a new law solve our educational problems?
The National Education Policy 2010 anticipated a comprehensive education law that would bring together existing laws and regulations under an umbrella to facilitate implementation of the policy.
26 June 2022, 18:00 PM
Education in budget 2022-23: Small mercies and dashed hopes
Educators and concerned citizens have been urging a major increase in public allocation for the education sector.
12 June 2022, 18:00 PM
Put education back on track
Educators in these columns have been asking for recovery and remedial actions to overcome the pandemic-induced learning losses that threaten a generational learning disaster.
24 May 2022, 18:00 PM
Building social cohesion: How can education help?
French sociologist Emile Durkheim described social cohesion as organic solidarity arising from peoples’ dependence on each other in a modern society.
9 May 2022, 18:00 PM
The playbook of student politics needs an overhaul
The tragedy of two innocent by-standers’ lives squandered, hundreds injured, shops damaged and burnt, and business worth crores of taka during the
22 April 2022, 18:00 PM
Unpacking the story of missing students
The Annual Primary School Census (APSC) 2021 shows that enrolment in primary schools came down in 2021 from the previous year by almost 1.5 million, while the number of teachers decreased by over 83,000.
11 April 2022, 18:00 PM