45 lakh to be equipped with skills by 2031

Bangla Press Desk:  The incumbent government, led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, has planned to develop about 45 lakh illiterate population, who were deprived of formal education, with life-oriented and technical skills by 2031.

The Bureau of Non-Formal Education (BNFE) under the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has taken the plan aiming to achieve the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, ensure the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and transform the backward population into skilled human resources by utilising the 'demographic dividend'.According to the Economic Survey 2025, the literacy rate in Bangladesh is 77.9 percent. The main priority of the incumbent government is to bring the remaining illiterate population under the umbrella of practical literacy, technical skills and pre-vocational education.

State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj told BSS that the main goal of the government is to link education with employment and practical life skills. 

"As instructed by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, we do not want to be limited to teaching only the alphabet. We want to make this 45 lakh working population, aged 25 to 45, self-reliant through practical or skill-based education. 

"If this is ensured, it will be possible to increase the literacy rate in the country to 90 percent by 2031," he said.

Outline under the 'Alpha' programme

BNFE officials said a programme titled 'Adult and Functional Literacy for Ability Enhancement Programme (ALPHA)' has been taken to bring the country's elderly and working people under the pre-vocational education. Based on the global 'Each One Teach One' model, the concept note of this programme has already been included in the 'green leaf' of the Planning Commission.

According to the work plan, in the first phase, a one-year pilot project will be started with 35,000 illiterate people in 40 selected upazilas of 40 districts. After reviewing the outcomes of the pilot programme and the field-level results, 45 lakh illiterate population aged 25 to 45 will be directly brought under the skill-based literacy programme through the main project.

Project officials said if this project is implemented, the country will be on the path to achieve 100 percent literacy by 2031. So, the literacy rate is expected to increase from 86 to 90 percent by this period.

BNFE Director General Monoara Eshrat said the government's plan is not just to teach reading and writing, it is to create lifelong learning opportunities by turning those deprived of education into skilled human resources.

"Realising the demand of the current labour market, we want to make them skilled in technical and digital technology so that they can join their livelihood after training," she said.

She also said the projects taken under the government's 180-day plan are progressing at various stages of approval, including inclusion in the green leaf of the Planning Commission. 

If these projects and outlines are fully implemented, it will be possible to achieve the target of increasing the literacy rate to 90 percent by 2031, Eshrat said.

Education for dropout children, adolescents:

The BNFE officials said the 'Alternative Learning Opportunities for Out of School Children (Alo)' project has been taken not only to improve adult literacy, but also to bring out-of-school and dropout children back to mainstream education. 

Under this project, which is being implemented from 2026 to 2028 involving Taka 158.73 crore, activities will start in 64 selected upazilas of 64 districts of the country.

They said the process of finalising the implementation guidelines of the project and starting the student survey activities is underway. In the first phase of the project, 19,200 out-of-school children aged 10 to 14 years will be provided quality non-formal primary education. 

In the second phase, another 19,200 adolescents aged 15 to 24 (who dropped out before passing class-VIII will be provided pre-vocational training.The BNFE officials said 4,312 dropout students in 58 districts have been successfully trained in 11 technical and vocational trades under a 180-day priority-based programme, while 4,198 students have passed the assessment conducted on the international standards of the Bangladesh National Qualifications Framework (BNQF). 

Of them, 3,882 or 92.47 percent of the students have been able to ensure 'future linkage' to direct jobs, apprenticeships or self-employment. Following this successful model, the proposed Alpha programme prepared for 45 lakh people will include technical and vocational training.

Skill-based model 'Skillfo':

Under the 'Non-Formal Education Act, 2014', there is an opportunity for age- and need-based education, life skills and pre-vocational training for out-of-school children and illiterate people. 

Under the 'Skillfo' pilot project in Cox's Bazar, an employment model has been created by providing basic literacy and technical training to 6,825 adolescents. In continuation of this success, an initiative has been taken to start the second phase of the Skillfo project to bring one lakh youth under training in 64 upazilas of 16 more districts.

Hiraman Kumar Biswas, Deputy Director (Implementation) of the Bureau of Non-Formal Education, said integrated programmes like Alo, Skillfo and Alpha are at various stages of approval by the Planning Commission. 

If these projects are fully launched at the field level, the path to achieving the set literacy rate target by 2031 will be smooth, he said.

The International Literacy Day is being observed today across the globe in befitting manner. 

Education stakeholders believed that the far-reaching initiatives, taken by the government based on the theme of this year's Literacy Day-'Literacy for People, Planet and Prosperity', will make it possible to build an illiterate-free Bangladesh by 2031.