Every childhood window deserves unitary education

I like to begin with a story that lingers in the memory, drawn from Sunil Ganguly's Itihasher Swapno Bhongo (Breaking the Dream of History), set against the backdrop of the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

Two houses facing each other across the Berlin Wall were home to two little girls. One day the girl from the West showed an electronic toy and asked, "Do you have this?" The girl from the East displayed a handmade doll and replied, "What if we do not have that? We have these beautiful dolls."  Their exchange continued with shoes, scarves and finally a banana. The Eastern girl had never seen one. Bewildered, she asked her mother why they did not have bananas. "What is wrong with us not having bananas?" her mother replied. "We have communism." The Western girl, raised in a consumer society, innocently said, "Then my father can buy communism for me too." The Eastern girl's mother replied, "If he buys communism, he will not get bananas anymore."

This story mirrors the experience of children in Bangladesh, who grow up amid multidimensional divisions from the very beginning of life. As they grow older, society often blames them for conflicts, crimes and anti-social behaviour. Yet the responsibility lies elsewhere. Parents, the state and society share the burden, but the most decisive factor is the education system, particularly primary education.

Globally, most countries maintain a unified primary education system where all children study the same curriculum and textbooks, ensuring equal foundational learning. Bangladesh remains an exception. At least 11 types of primary institutions operate in the country, including government primary schools, private schools, kindergartens, primary sections attached to high schools, Ebtedayi madrasas, NGO run schools and learning centres, Child Welfare Trust schools, Qawmi madrasas and English medium schools.

These institutions follow different curricula and evaluation systems. Government schools follow the national curriculum. Ebtedayi madrasas follow madrasa curriculum emphasizing religious education. Qawmi madrasas and English medium schools operate independently. English medium institutions generally follow foreign curricula, while Qawmi madrasas prioritize Quranic and Hadith studies.

The structure also functions through informal, semi formal and formal systems, further divided into Bangla medium, Bangla version, English medium, technical, Alia and Qawmi streams. While this diversity shapes students with different intellectual orientations, it also entrenches social hierarchies. English medium students may develop a sense of superiority, government school students may internalize disadvantage, and madrasa students often view worldly success as secondary to spiritual preparation. Madrasa education, frequently lacking modern skills and quality assurance, limits socioeconomic mobility, while English medium education reinforces elitism. Poor children confined to marginalised streams face unemployment and social exclusion, and in extreme cases frustration may drive some toward radicalization. Despite the state's capacity to provide free education, meals and accommodation for all children, policy inertia allows these divisions to persist.

These early inequalities later translate into disparities in social mobility, skills and economic opportunities.

Educational inequality is thus widening. The mainstream public education system is gradually shrinking, while English medium institutions and madrasas expand. In many rural areas a single government school exists alongside several madrasas, encouraging financially vulnerable families to send their children to religious schools. The government itself lacks reliable data on the number and distribution of English medium schools and madrasas.

Education is therefore increasingly determined by financial capacity. English medium education has effectively become the domain of the affluent while madrasas largely serve poorer families. The influence of foreign consultants in shaping education policy has further widened this socio educational divide.

Such fragmentation weakens social cohesion and national unity. A multilayered education system produces citizens with divergent cognitive frameworks and cultural outlooks. Students grow up observing divisions reflected in schools, textbooks, language and teaching methods. These disparities foster inferiority complexes, social disunity and political alienation. The fundamental purpose of education to cultivate unity, patriotism, critical thinking and equal opportunity is thus undermined.

If children grow up within such discriminatory systems, expecting a just, harmonious and meritocratic society becomes unrealistic.

The history of education policy in Bangladesh reflects repeated missed opportunities. The conventional education framework was introduced in 1962 while the multi-track secondary system dividing students into science, humanities and commerce began in 1961 during the Pakistan period. After independence, the Qudrat-E-Khuda Education Commission from 1972 to 1974 recommended a unified education system and emphasized compulsory primary education for all.

The Compulsory Primary Education Act 1991, enacted during the first BNP government led by Begum Khaleda Zia and implemented nationwide in 1993, aimed to ensure universal primary schooling. Article 17 of the Constitution directs the state to establish a mass oriented and uniform education system and provide free and compulsory education for all children up to a level determined by law. Yet the principle of a unified education system remains unimplemented and is not enforceable as a fundamental right.

What should be the framework of unitary primary education? The National Education Policy 2010 explicitly proposed a unitary primary education system up to class-8 where all children, regardless of wealth or background, study the same curriculum. More than one and a half decades later, this policy remains in papers.

The 2023 reforms under the Awami League government, including the education minister's proposal for "diversity of medium," have failed to bring English-medium and Qawmi madrasa education under effective state regulation. Efforts to unify secondary education have also been misrepresented. Abolishing departmental divisions in classes 9 and 10 has been presented as "one-way education," though factual unification does not require abolishing academic streams at the secondary level. Rather, it requires integrating the Bengali, English and madrasa streams under a common national framework with the same curriculum, resources and standards rooted in the mother tongue while respecting cultural diversity.

Primary education must be unified with a common curriculum, equal resources, fair fees and instruction in the mother tongue. Schools should support holistic development, including emotional growth, empathy, civic responsibility and global awareness. A true unitary system would bring all primary institutions under the public framework, embracing diversity while eliminating inequality. These reforms align with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 for inclusive and equitable education for all.

Political discourse increasingly recognizes this challenge. The BNP's 31-point reform agenda proposes allocating 5% of GDP to education, ensuring universal pre-primary education, expanding technical education, eliminating social and geographic disparities and establishing an Education Reform Commission. It is therefore expected that the new government must take firm action to ensure unitary primary education, securing a future Bangladesh with meritocratic, harmonious, and co-existential citizens. 

Unitary primary education is not merely a policy option but a constitutional, social and moral necessity. Only through an integrated and equitable education system can the country reduce inequality, strengthen national unity and prepare future generations to confront global challenges with confidence and competence.

The story of the two girls across the Berlin Wall is therefore more than a historical anecdote. It is a mirror. Without reform, the children of Bangladesh will continue to face invisible walls erected not by ideology but by systemic neglect. It is time for the state and the society to ensure that no child grows up deprived of the opportunities education should guarantee.