Government and Politics of Bangladesh: 2009

Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban houses the Parliament of Bangladesh.

National symbols of Bangladesh

Anthem	Amar Shonar Bangla
Animal	Royal Bengal Tiger
Bird	Oriental Magpie Robin
Fish	Hilsa
Flower	White Water Lily
Fruit	Jackfruit
Sport	Kabadi
Calendar	Bengali calendar

Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy. Direct elections in which all citizens over the age 18 can vote are held every five years for the unicameral parliament known as Jatiya Sangsad. The parliamentary building is known as the Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban and was designed by architect Louis Kahn. Currently the parliament has 345 members including 45 reserved seats for women, elected from single-member constituencies. The Prime Minister, as the head of government, forms the cabinet and runs the day-to-day affairs of state. While the Prime Minister is formally appointed by the President, he or she must be an MP who commands the confidence of the majority of parliament. The President is the head of state, a largely ceremonial post elected by the parliament.

However the President's powers are substantially expanded during the tenure of a caretaker government, which is responsible for the conduct of elections and transfer of power. The officers of the caretaker government must be non-partisan and are given three months to complete their task. This transitional arrangement is an innovation that was pioneered by Bangladesh in its 1991 election and then institutionalised in 1996 through its 13th constitutional amendment.

The Constitution of Bangladesh was drafted in 1972 and has undergone fourteen amendments. The highest judicial body is the Supreme Court. Justices are appointed by the President. The judicial and law enforcement institutions are weak. Separation of powers, judicial from executive was finally implemented on the 1st of November, 2007. It is expected that this separation will make the judiciary stronger and impartial. Laws are loosely based on English common law, but family laws such as marriage and inheritance are based on religious scripts, and therefore differ between religious communities.

The two major parties in Bangladesh are the Bangladesh Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The BNP is led by Khaleda Zia and finds its allies among Islamist parties like Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and Islami Oikya Jot, while Sheikh Hasina's Awami League aligns with leftist and secularist parties. Hasina and Zia are bitter rivals who have dominated politics for 15 years; each is related to one of the leaders of the independence movement. Another important player is the Jatiya Party, headed by former military dictator Ershad. The Awami League-BNP rivalry has been bitter and punctuated by protests, violence and murder. Student politics is particularly strong in Bangladesh, a legacy from the liberation movement era. Almost all parties have highly active student wings, and student leaders have been elected to the Parliament.

Two radical terrorist organizations, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) and Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), were banned in February 2005. Several small-scale bomb attacks taking place since 1999 have been blamed on those groups, and dozens of suspected members have been detained in security operations, including the heads of those two parties in 2006. The masterminds were tried and executed. The Bangladesh government won praise from world leaders, including Western leaders, for its strong anti-terrorist stance.

The January 22, 2007 election was postponed indefinitely and emergency law declared in January 11, 2007 as Army backed caretaker government of Fakhruddin Ahmed aimed to prepare a new voter list and crack down on corruption. They also assisted the interim Government of Bangladesh in a drive against corruption, which resulted in Bangladesh's position in the Transparency International's Corruption Index changed from the very bottom, where they had been for 3 year in a row, to 147th in just 1 year.

A large alliance led by the Bangladesh Awami League won the December 29, 2008 poll, in a landslide victory. They got 230 seats among 300 seats in the parliament. On 31st July 2009 Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expanded the Bangladeshi cabinet with 6 more Ministers: Shahjahan Khan, Enamul Haq, Mujibur Rahman Fakir, Promod Mankin, Mahbubur Rahman and Shirin Sharmin. Their total cabinet strength is now 44 members.

History of Bangladesh/Bengal

Ancient Bangladesh/Bengal

Bangladesh (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ, pronounced [ˈbaŋlad̪eʃ]; Bangladesh), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh (Bengali: গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ Gônoprojatontri Bangladesh) is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma (Myanmar) to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. Together with the Indian state of West Bengal, it makes up the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. The name Bangladesh means "Country of Bengal" in the official Bengali language.

The borders of present-day Bangladesh were established with the partition of Bengal and India in 1947, when the region became the eastern wing of the newly formed Pakistan. However, it was separated from the western wing by 1,600 kilometers (1,000 mi) across India. Political and linguistic discrimination as well as economic neglect led to popular agitations against West Pakistan, which led to the war for independence in 1971 and the establishment of Bangladesh. After independence the new state endured famines, natural disasters and widespread poverty, as well as political turmoil and military coups. The restoration of democracy in 1991 has been followed by relative calm and economic progress.

Bangladesh is the seventh most populous country in the world and is among the most densely populated countries in the world with a high poverty rate. However, per-capita (inflation-adjusted) GDP has more than doubled since 1975, and the poverty rate has fallen by 20% since the early 1990s. The country is listed among the "Next Eleven" economies. Dhaka and other urban centers have been the driving force behind this growth.

Geographically, the country straddles the fertile Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta and is subject to annual monsoon floods and cyclones. The government is a parliamentary democracy; however, political rule was suspended under emergency law for two years from 11 January 2007 to 17 December 2008. Bangladesh is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the OIC, SAARC, BIMSTEC, and the D-8. As the World Bank notes in its July 2005 Country Brief, the country has made significant progress in human development in the areas of literacy, gender parity in schooling and reduction of population growth. However, Bangladesh continues to face a number of major challenges, including widespread political and bureaucratic corruption, and economic competition relative to the world.

History of Bangladesh/Bengal

Remnants of civilization in the greater Bengal region date back four thousand years, when the region was settled by Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, and Austro-Asiatic peoples. The exact origin of the word "Bangla" or "Bengal" is unknown, though it is believed to be derived from Bang, the Dravidian-speaking tribe that settled in the area around the year 1000 BC.

The kingdom of Gangaridai was formed from at least the seventh century BC, which later united with Bihar under the Magadha, Nanda, Mauryan and Sunga Empires. Bengal was later part of the Gupta Empire and Harsha Empire from the third to the sixth centuries CE. Following its collapse, a dynamic Bengali named Shashanka founded an impressive yet short-lived kingdom. Shashanka is considered the first independent king in the history of Bangladesh. After a period of anarchy, the Buddhist Pala dynasty ruled the region for four hundred years, followed by a shorter reign of the Hindu Sena dynasty. Islam was introduced to Bengal in the twelfth century by Arab Muslim merchants and Sufi missionaries, and subsequent Muslim conquests helped spread Islam throughout the region. Bakhtiar Khilji, a Turkic general, defeated Lakshman Sen of the Sena dynasty and conquered large parts of Bengal in the year 1204. The region was ruled by dynasties of Sultans and land lords Bhuiyan for the next few hundred years. By the 16th century, the Mughal Empire controlled Bengal, and Dhaka became an important provincial centre of Mughal administration.

European traders arrived late in the 15th century, and their influence grew until the British East India Company gained control of Bengal following the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The bloody rebellion of 1857, known as the Sepoy Mutiny, resulted in transfer of authority to the crown, with a British viceroy running the administration. During colonial rule, famine racked the Indian subcontinent many times, including the Great Bengal famine of 1943 that claimed 3 million lives.

Between 1905 and 1911, an abortive attempt was made to divide the province of Bengal into two zones, with Dhaka being the capital of the eastern zone. When India was partitioned in 1947, Bengal was partitioned along religious lines (for the majority Muslims), with the western part going to India and the eastern part joining Pakistan as a province called East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan), with its capital at Dhaka. In 1950, land reform was accomplished in East Bengal with the abolishment of the feudal zamindari system. However, despite the economic and demographic weight of the east, Pakistan's government and military were largely dominated by the upper classes from the west. The Bengali Language Movement of 1952 was the first sign of friction between the two wings of Pakistan. Dissatisfaction with the central government over economic and cultural issues continued to rise through the next decade, during which the Awami League emerged as the political voice of the Bengali-speaking population. It agitated for autonomy in the 1960s, and in 1966, its president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was jailed; he was released in 1969 after an unprecedented popular uprising.

In 1970, a massive cyclone devastated the coast of East Pakistan, killing up to half a million people, and the central government responded poorly. The Bengali population's anger was compounded when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose Awami League won a majority in Parliament in the 1970 elections, was blocked from taking office. After staging compromise talks with Mujib, President Yahya Khan arrested him on the early hours of March 26, 1971, and launched Operation Searchlight, a sustained military assault on East Pakistan. Yahya's methods were extremely bloody, and the violence of the war resulted in many civilian deaths . Chief targets included intellectuals and Hindus, and about ten million refugees fled to neighbouring India. Estimates of those massacred throughout the war range from three hundred thousand to 3 million.

Prior to his arrest by Pakistan army, Sk. Mujibur Rahman formally declared the independence of Bangladesh and directed everyone to fight till the last soldier of the Pakistan army was evicted from East Pakistan. Most of the Awami League leaders fled and set up a government-in-exile in Calcutta, India. The exile government formally took oath at Mujib Nagar in Kustia district of East Pakistan on April 14, 1971. The Bangladesh Liberation War lasted for nine months. The guerrilla Mukti Bahini and Bengali regulars eventually received support from the Indian Armed Forces in December 1971. Mitro Bahini achieved a decisive victory over Pakistan on December 16, 1971, taking over 90,000 prisoners of war.

After its independence, Bangladesh became a parliamentary democracy, with Mujib as the Prime Minister. In the 1973 parliamentary elections, the Awami League gained an absolute majority. A nationwide famine occurred during 1973 and 1974, and in early 1975, Mujib initiated a one-party socialist rule with his newly formed BAKSAL. On August 15, 1975, Mujib and his family were assassinated by mid-level military officers.

A series of bloody coups and counter-coups in the following three months culminated in the ascent to power of General Ziaur Rahman, who reinstated multi-party politics and founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Zia's rule ended when he was assassinated in 1981 by elements of the military. Bangladesh's next major ruler was General Hossain Mohammad Ershad, who gained power in a bloodless coup in 1982 and ruled until 1990, when he was forced to resign under western donor pressure in a major shift in international policy after the end of communism when anti-communist dictators were no longer felt necessary. Since then, Bangladesh has reverted to a parliamentary democracy. Zia's widow, Khaleda Zia, led the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to parliamentary victory at the general election in 1991 and became the first female Prime Minister in Bangladesh's history. However, the Awami League, headed by Sheikh Hasina, one of Mujib's surviving daughters, clinched power at the next election in 1996 but lost to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party again in 2001.

In January 11, 2007, following widespread violence, a caretaker government was appointed to administer the next general election. The country had suffered from extensive corruption, disorder and political violence. The new caretaker government has made it a priority to root out corruption from all levels of government. To this end, many notable politicians and officials, along with large numbers of lesser officials and party members, have been arrested on corruption charges. The caretaker government held a fair and free election on December 29, 2008. Awami League's Sheikh Hasina won the elections with a landslide victory and took oath of Prime Minister on 6 Jan 2009.

Bangladesh at a Glance

People's Republic of Bangladesh গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ Gônoprojatontri Bangladesh
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Amar Shonar Bangla My Golden Bengal
Capital (and largest city)		Dhaka 23°42′N 90°21′E / 23.7°N 90.35°E / 23.7; 90.35
Official languages		Bengali
Demonym		Bangladeshi
Government		Parliamentary republic[1]
-	President	Zillur Rahman
-	Prime Minister	Sheikh Hasina
-	Speaker	Abdul Hamid
Independence		from Pakistan
-	Declared	March 26, 1971
-	Victory Day	December 16, 1971
Area
-	Total	147,570 km2 (94th) 55,599 sq mi
-	Water (%)	7.0
Population
-	2009 estimate	162,221,000[2] (7th)
-	Density	1,099.3/km2 (5th) 2,917.6/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2008 estimate
-	Total	$224.889 billion[3] (48th)
-	Per capita	$1,389[3] (153rd)
GDP (nominal)		2008 estimate
-	Total	$81.938 billion[3] (58th)
-	Per capita	$506[3] (157th)
Gini (2000)		31.8 (medium)
HDI (2008)		▲ 0.524 (medium) (147th)
Currency		Taka (BDT)
Time zone		BST (UTC+6)
-	Summer (DST)	BDST (UTC+7)
Drives on the		left
Internet TLD		.bd
Calling code		880
1	Adjusted population, p.4, "Population Census 2001, Preliminary Report". Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. 2001-08. http://www.banbeis.gov.bd/bd_pro.htm.

Making a Corruption Free Bangladesh

Freedom fighters are the best sons of the soil. We have achieved independent Bangladesh due to their sacrifice and dedication. As such, they must have every right to identify what is right and what is wrong. More over they should have the right to advise government for positive activities in the country. They deserve respects from the present generations for their unique contributions given to the society in the liberation war. The new generations should have the real pictures and history of the liberation war too. After 15th of August 1975, it was very difficult for the real freedom fighters to open up their mouth to tell the truth about liberation movement. A big gap created since then. Very few of the present generation know the real history and background of liberation war and they are in great confusions. This situation is more prominent in urban areas particularly in the capital city. A significant number of highly educated boys and girls engaged in responsible and prestigious professions have requested me to let them know the real history of the liberation war. They have agreed they are in confusion whether it was a war or just a political disturbance. I believe this is the high time to let them know the real history. Other wise the situation will worsen in near future and the new generation will grow up with wrong conceptions about the liberation war and the freedom fighters.

The freedom movement was not a previously set organization before the speech on 7th of March 1971 delivered by Sheikh Mujibor Rahman, the father of the nation at the Shahid Sarwardi Uddan. People from 15 to 50 years started to unite to prepare for fighting. After 26th of March 1971, war started against the Pakistani Army. Freedom movement developed from among the societies for survival or existence of the Bangalees. The freedom fighters were composed of students, teachers, farmers, day labors, officers, doctors, engineers, scientists, journalists, diplomats etc. People came out and joined the liberation war spontaneously taking the risks of death. About ten million people crossed the border and became refugees in India. Bangladesh territory was a risky place for the young people particularly for the students from 26th of March because of existence of the Pak army and their collaborators. The parents were seriously anxious of their kids. They preferred sending their sons in war than hiding them at home. Thousands of young boys and girls got training inside and in India and participated in liberation war. It was a different life for us (the freedom fighters) for nine months with exceptional experience the new generation should know how they have become the proud citizens of an independent country. It did not come automatically. We had to win it.

On 16th of December 1971, through the surrender of Pakistani army, Bangladesh won the respects of an independent country in the world and we became the proud citizens of an independent country. Sheikh Mujib came back to the soil of independent Bangladesh on 10th of January 1972 and congratulated the people of independent Bangladesh particularly the freedom fighters for their excellent contribution and sacrifices in response to his call for freedom on 7th March 1971 from the same place. He urged everybody with the same voice to go back to respective works meaning students and teachers should go back to the respective institutes, the officials and workers to their respective workplaces and others to their respective fields. He stressed- the war not yet ended but to set up the real independent Bangladesh. "I will call you (the freedom fighters) whenever we need your services for our national interest" he said in the huge meeting. The father of the nation must have called us (the freedom fighters) at the present crisis of unlimited corruption if he remained alive.

After the liberation war, a large number of greedy freedom fighters derailed and lost their paths. Another significant number of honest freedom fighters with higher degrees and skills left the country after 15th of August 1975.

They feel very much for the welfare of the country and want to keep contributions for national interests. Still a small portion of the honest freedom fighters lives in the country but they face unlimited tortures of various kinds. In a society of corruptions, an honest person becomes an unwanted laughing element. It is so much painful for a person who hates bribe all through his professional career and tries to maintain honest life within limited resources, to give bribe for a genuine work done.

Good news is that during the last four decades, a significant number of highly qualified, experienced, talented Bangladeshi experts have developed in almost all areas of scientific and technical disciplines who are working at home or abroad. Interestingly some of them are efficient enough to design technology to make Bangladesh a corruption free country and more interesting thing is they participated in liberation war at their young age of 15 to 25 years as students.

Now the responsibility of the respected Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina to give a call to freedom fighters in the name of father of the nation to make a corruption free digital Bangladesh in cooperation of the present government. I believe the patriotic freedom fighters with scientific and technological expertise will surely come up with mindset of full dedication and sacrifice to make the mission a success.

Reforming Primary Education in Bangladesh

Reform and development are often welcome news. Our education system is in severe need of an upgrade, and primary education (PE) cannot be an exception to this. Upgrading PE requires attention to be given to many categories including grades (classes), curriculum, number of schools and their infrastructure, number of teachers and their expertise (and salary!), the teaching-learning process, supervision, assessment methods and so on.
Primary grades
Till the 1950s, primary education was up to grade-4 in the present Bangladesh (till 1971- East Pakistan) as in entire the Pakistan. It was then that it was elevated to grade-5. This continued for the rest of our East Pakistan days, and is still the case today. However our first, and most resourceful Education Commission (of 1972) in independent Bangladesh, headed by the reputed scientist Dr. Qudrat-i-Khuda, proposed the elevation of the PE level to grade-8 in its report published in 1974. The question arises: why did Bangladesh Education Commission propose such a large jump, three grades, in a single go? So far as one can understand, it was to achieve parity with the UNESCO principle of compulsory schooling up to age 14.
Now let us ask ourselves: Why, in spite of the report being submitted in 1974, has this recommendation not been implemented for 35 years? Is it because governments in succession were disregarding the policies and plans of the previous ones and formulating almost everything anew? This might be one of the reasons, but it cannot be the only reason. The Ministry of Education (MOE) under the newly elected government is said to have plans to implement this once the newly appointed 16-member committee gives the go-ahead.
However, one must have serious doubts about the feasibility of this recommendation. An assessment of the education systems of 182 nations reveals that the highest number (87) of countries have PE up to grade-6, while only 28 (mostly cold European) countries have PE up to grade-8, followed by grade-5 in 19 countries, grade-9 years in 16 countries, and others. All the known developed countries of Asia, including Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea. Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have PE up to grade-6. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Iran are still content with grade-5. In the world at large, The USA, the UK, Australia and Germany (Japan was mentioned before) have very developed education systems where many of our students long to pursue higher studies. In all these countries, PE up to grade-6 is the norm; though primary grades in the USA range from 4 to 7 in different states, grade-6 dominates. The question arises, why have these developed countries not elevated PE beyond grade-6? The answer would be many years of education in a single system could create monotony in students' minds, and the desire to study in a different school, especially the feeling of studying in a higher seat of learning, alongside elevation of grade level would be defeated. How have these countries followed the UNESCO principles? The answer is, they developed another level for elevating the level of compulsory education, terming it "BASIC" (not primary), and this level in most countries is grade-9, rarely 8 or 10.
In Bangladesh, we have some added problems in elevating PE up to grade-8. To try that, we would need to develop infrastructure massively in primary schools and also appoint many new teachers; existing high school teachers would fear redundancy in such a situation.
Against this backdrop, Prof. Siddiqur Rahman (a member of the aforementioned 16-member committee) of Dhaka University, proposed in a recent article published in a vernacular daily that grades 1-5 be kept as primary schools as is now, and to rename lower secondary grades 6-8 as "Upper Primary". Such mere renaming signifies 'obedience' to the government's desires, but fails to solve our actual systemic problems.
A better way would be elevating PE up to grade-6 and to declare education up to grade-9 (keeping grades 7-9 in high schools) "basic", and compulsory as in the model followed above. Accordingly, there would be the need for restructuring at the secondary level too, which is beyond the scope of this article. Anyway, for this proposed one-grade elevation, existing infrastructure in most schools should prove adequate (with some improvement) and we could arrange a Primary School Leaving Certificate (PSLC, as in Singapore) examination to make primary teachers more accountable. Two more benefits of a grade-6 primary system can be: 1) to-be dropouts at grade-6 would continue for another year; 2) PSLC holders can study in vocational/technical schools (some mono-techniques would need to be established at union level) as in China.
Curriculum: Fully unified versus "unity in diversity"
Our Constitution provides for equal opportunity of learning for all. In principle, there is nothing wrong in unifying three main streams of primary education based on that constitutional provision. But that might not be wise or feasible. We can't stop English medium schools or Madrassahs; and fully merging them will amount to killing off both of these streams. As a result, the beneficiaries of these streams will refute any such attempt. Therefore, we need to develop a "core curriculum" consisting of some essential subjects including national language Bangla, second language English, mathematics, social studies (which should include our true history) and science. The main point to make here is that all streams follow these core subjects; Qawami Madrassas should be taken under the government's wing. Thus we can establish a unity in diversity that is socially acceptable to all.
Some final points
Alongside upgrading PE by one grade, the number of primary schools and teachers needs to be increased substantially. We have nearly 85,000 villages but only 58,000 primary schools; adding other primary level institutions numbering around 22,000, we get about 80,000 institutions providing primary level education. That is still far too little, less than one school per village. To ensure that at-least every school has a village, the community primary schools can be upgraded to full-fledged schools and be nationalized as early as possible, alongside new projects aimed at establishing schools in every village. The number of teachers in each upgraded primary school should not be fewer than five and the discriminatory admission policy for male and female teachers should be done away with.
A word for the teachers, who deserve to be better rewarded if we are to expect a better job from them. Currently, primary teachers' salaries are at the 16th and 17th national grades, very close to fourth class employees. Before considering any separate scales for all teachers and elevating the status of high school teachers, primary teachers' salaries should be upgraded to the 11th or at least the 12th national grade. Once the nation pays primary teachers a reasonable salary, we could expect 4-6 hours of quality schooling for the children instead of the below-par 2-4 hours that is the norm now.

Working Children of Hard-to-Reach Schools in Dhaka

Out of our population of around 15 crore, nearly 4 crore 24 lakh are children aged 5-17 years. 74 lakh of these children are engaged in earning their own living, out of which 15 lakh are working in urban areas. Of the types of work they are engaged in, many are hazardous, though Bangladesh has ratified both the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 and the Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in 2001. A large number of the working children are engaged as domestic help, of whom three-fourths are girls. They work long hours for 7 days a week. Most of these working children have never attended school.
The government has vowed to take all children to school by 2011, which is unlikely to happen considering the lack of initiatives that ay have been taken thus far. However, it is a tradition in our politics to make a promise in order to break it. The two initiatives that the government has taken in order to bring all children to school are the ROSC (Reaching Out Of School Children) Project and the BEHTRUWC (Basic Education for Hard to Reach Urban Working Children) Project. The latter has been launched by the Bureau of Non Formal Education (NFE) for 2006- 2011 with support from UNICEF, Canadian CIDA and Swedish SIDA. The objective is to provide 120,000 urban working girls and 80,000 urban working boys aged 10-14 years with 40 months long basic education course. This project is now in 6 City Corporations run by 20 national NGOs with 6,664 teachers through 6,646 learning centers.
Whether the future of this project is rosy or grey should be found out through a journalistic investigation that probes both its top and ground levels. Here we can get glimpses of it from the words of some learners from the learning centers in Dhaka. They were gathered at the Bureau of Non Formal Education on 11 June in order to observe the World Day Against Child Labour 2009, which is observed every year on June 12. About 40 children who were selected on the criteria of being more advanced in terms of their maturiy and vocal than others took part in a sharing session with officials from Hard-to-Reach, NFE (Bureau of Non Formal Education) and UNICEF.
Most were happy to see a glimpse of hope in their lives through this project. At the same time many voiced their disappointment and demanded something more and better. Shahnaz Akter (13) said, 'We come to a learning centre from a long distance. Now, it will be helpful if each of us is given a school bag. Again, it takes a major share of our study time to sharpen the pencils that are given to us. We thought that our teachers did not want to give us the quality things. Now I see it is you who are at fault for not providing us with quality education materials. So please give us school bags and quality pencils, which will help us to attain good education.'
Another boy said they did not want airplanes, but would like to have at-least some food at school. Hard-to-Reach provides education up to Class V. But these children want to study more. There are problems that the mainstream schools do not want to accept them when they complete their cycles at Hard-to-Reach schools. Najma Akter (13) said that students of other schools consider them inferior and do not treat them well. Selina (14) said, 'You have made schools only for primary education for us, why not schools for higher grades and colleges too? Quality of these schools should be improved so that children become interested in coming here.'
Some children said that birth registration is a right of every child which many are deprived of; many voiced their concern about child marriage that brings hope for education to an abrupt end. One girl said that education is a right of every child in the country and voiced her concern, 'Are other working children of the country getting a chance to go to school?' All know that the answer is outright negative and may remain so for many years to come. There might be some light glittering, however faintly, at the end of the tunnel in the words of such a child, 'Those of us who are good at reading and writing can teach other working children and thus help spread education across the country.'
It would have been better if elders also had learnt from them. The coming education policy will do enormous good by taking into account the concerns of the working children all over the country.