Bangladesh trails South Asia in share of qualified teachers

Bangladesh has the lowest percentage of minimum-qualified teachers among South Asian nations, according to the latest Global Education Statistics report published by UNESCO. 

The data paints a grim picture of the country's secondary education sector, revealing that nearly half of its teachers fail to meet essential proficiency standards.

The report evaluates teacher quality based on two primary criteria: professional pedagogical training for the relevant education level and academic qualifications suited for that level. 
Under these benchmarks, only 54.7 percent of lower secondary teachers and 55.2 percent of upper secondary teachers in Bangladesh meet the minimum standards.

In contrast, other South Asian countries have performed significantly better. the Maldives leads the region with a staggering 98.5 percent of qualified teachers. 

Bhutan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan also outrank Bangladesh, occupying the second through sixth positions respectively.

Data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics for 2024 further highlights severe subject-specific gaps. Only 16.99 percent of English teachers in secondary schools hold an undergraduate or postgraduate degree in the subject.

The situation is even more critical for mathematics, where only 14.66 percent of teachers possess a relevant academic degree. These findings underscore a profound shortage of subject-matter expertise within the country’s education system.