Dhaka, Sep 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) Nearly half of children in Bangladesh aged seven to 14 failed to read and comprehend a simple story, with educationists saying that the recent findings reveal a widening gap between literacy progress on paper and actual learning outcomes, local media reported.
They warned that the higher literacy figures would have little significance unless children develop basic reading and comprehension skills.
Citing the 2025 Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), the country's leading newspaper The Daily Star reported that only 50.2 per cent of children in the age group between seven and 14 met the foundational reading benchmark, compared with 48.8 per cent in 2019, marking a marginal 1.4 percentage-point increase.
The situation remains concerning among Class V students, with only 62 per cent meeting the criteria, meaning around two in five fall short. The figure also represents a decline from 63.5 per cent six years ago.
The findings come as Bangladesh joins the global observance of International Literacy Day on Tuesday, with the theme 'Literacy for people, the planet and prosperity'.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Manzoor Ahmed, emeritus professor at BRAC University in Dhaka, said, "The foundation of literacy has yet to be built in our country."
He said that official literacy figures largely rely on people reporting that they can read and write, while assessments of actual reading, comprehension and numeracy skills often present a weaker picture.
"We first need to determine where we actually stand and then set a target," he added.
Conducted jointly by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF, the MICS survey assessed 31,859 children aged seven to 14 in 64 districts. Although 61.6 per cent correctly read at least 90 per cent of the words, only 50 per cent managed to complete all the tasks.
Among children attending classes II and III, just 28.2 per cent met the foundational reading skills benchmark, compared to 24.6 per cent in 2019.
According to a UNICEF-backed study released in May this year, 91 per cent of class-V students were at the "novice" level in mathematics and 65 per cent in Bangla, meaning they failed to correctly answer half of the grade-level questions.
Referring to national student assessments, Manzoor Ahmed said that children continued to reach classes 3rd and fifth without acquiring the Bangla and mathematics skills required for their respective grades.
"The issue is not only whether children are in school, but also whether they are learning in school," he noted
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz