The UNESCO-Institute of Statistics: World Development Indicators-Participation in Education

Gross Enrolment Rates of Primary Education during 2009-2011 (%)

Country	2009	2010	2011
Bangladesh	92%	92%	114%
India	94	94	93
Thailand	96	94	95

Table: 1 (World Development Indicators-Participation in Education)

Education System in Thailand

Primary Education: 

Education in Thailand is largely a government responsibility provided through the Ministry of Education as per the directions of the constitution. Two to three years of kindergarten begins this process, followed by 6 years of primary school. The Thai school year is from May to March for primary and middle school, while secondary schools begin one month later. Uniforms are also compulsory during tertiary education. Allocation to the education sector is 4% of GDP in Thailand.

Middle Education:

Three years of middle school follow, where students continue with core subjects including Thai language, arts and music, math, physical and social science, technology and foreign languages. From here though, vocational students follow a different path.

Secondary Education:

At high school, students who wish to continue academic education move on to elective courses. Of these, the science and math / English programs are most popular – other choices include foreign languages and social science. In this way, they are already preparing for tertiary education that may follow,

Vocational Education:

Thai vocational education system is grounded in high school where students may choose to adopt this more practical form of education. Here they may aspire to two levels of qualification too. These are a certificate in vocational education, and a higher diploma that opens to the door to a university degree. After reaching school-leaving age, a Thai may also enroll for a technical diploma.

Tertiary Education:

Both private and public colleges of higher education and universities are regulated by the Ministry of Education. They offer excellent study programs in arts, medicine, humanities and information technology. However many young Thai citizens still prefer to study subjects like law and business abroad. The oldest and most prestigious university in Thailand is Chulalongkorn founded in 1917. It attracts many of the nation’s best students and enjoys a fine international reputation. 

However, the total education system in Thailand is divided into 5 stages like primary is of 2 steps i.e. primary (prothom-elementary) from 6 to 8 years, primary (prothomelementary) from 9 to 11 years belonging to the same structure with different age groups; vocational from (dual vocational training-DVT) from 12 to 14 years; secondary (modhom-secondary) from 15 to 17 years followed by Tertiary education belonging to the Bachelor degree for 4 years, Bachelor’s pharmacy and agriculture for 5 years, Bachelor’s doctor of dental surgery, medicine and veterinary medicine for 6 years while masters degree and doctoral degree for 2 years.

Education System in India

In the Beginning: 

In ancient times, India had the Gurukula system of education in which anyone who wished to study went to a teacher's (Guru) house and requested to be taught. If accepted as a student by the guru, he would then stay at the guru's place and help in all activities at home. This not only created a strong tie between the teacher and the student, but also taught the student everything about running a house. The guru taught everything the child wanted to learn, from Sanskrit to the Holy Scriptures and from Mathematics to Metaphysics. The student stayed as long as he/she wished or until the guru felt that he/she had taught everything he could teach. All learning was closely linked to nature and to life, and not confined to memorizing some information. 

The modern school system was brought to India, including the English language, originally by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay in the 1830s. The curriculum was confined to “modern” subjects such as science and mathematics, and subjects like metaphysics and philosophy were considered unnecessary. Teaching was confined to classrooms and the link with nature was broken, as also the close relationship between the teacher and the student. Universal and compulsory education for all children in the age group of 6-14 was a cherished dream of the government of the Republic of India. 

This is evident from the fact that it is incorporated as a directive policy in article 45 of the constitution. But this objective remains far away even more than half a century later. However, in the recent past, the government appears to have taken a serious note of this lapse and has made primary education a Fundamental Right of every Indian citizen. The pressures of economic growth and the acute scarcity of skilled and trained manpower must certainly have played a role to make the government take such a step. The expenditure by the Government of India on school education in recent years comes to around 3% of the GDP, which is recognized to be very low.

The School System:

India is divided into 28 states and 7 so-called “Union Territories”. The states have their own elected governments while the Union Territories are ruled directly by the Government of India, with the President of India appointing an administrator for each Union Territory.

 As per the constitution of India, school education was originally a state subject —that is, the states had complete authority on deciding policies and implementing them. The role of the Government of India (GoI) was limited to coordination and deciding on the standards of higher education.

 This was changed with a constitutional amendment in 1976, so that education now comes in the so-called concurrent list. That is, school education policies and programs are suggested at the national level by the Government of India (GOI) though the state governments have a lot of freedom in implementing programs. Policies are announced at the national level periodically. 

The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), set up in 1935, continues to play a lead role in the evolution and monitoring of educational policies and programs. There is a national organization that plays a key role in developing policies and programs, called the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) that prepares a National Curriculum Framework. Each state has its counterpart called the State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT).

The SCERT (s) generally follow guidelines established by the NCERT. But the states have considerable freedom in implementing the education system. The National Policy on Education, 1986 and the Program of Action (POA) 1992 envisaged free and compulsory education of satisfactory quality for all children below 14 years before the 21st Century.

Levels in School System:

The school system in India has four levels: lower primary (age 6 to 10), upper primary (11 and 12), high school (13 to 15) and higher secondary (16 and 17). The lower primary school is divided into five “standards”, upper primary school into two which is in action under the secondary education level, high school into three and higher secondary into two. Students have to learn a common curriculum largely (except for regional changes in mother tongue) till the end of high school. There is some amount of specialization possible at the higher secondary level. Students throughout the country have to learn three languages (namely, English, Hindi and their mother tongue) except in regions where Hindi is the mother tongue.

Main Streams in School:

There are mainly three streams in school education in India. Two of these are coordinated at the national level, of which one is under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and was originally meant for children of central government employees who are periodically transferred and may have to move to any place in the country. These schools follow textbooks written and published by the NCERT. In addition to these government-run schools, a number of private schools in the country follow the CBSE curriculum though they may use different text books and follow different teaching schedules. They have a certain amount of freedom in what they teach in lower classes.

The second central scheme is the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE). It seems that this was started as a replacement for the Cambridge School Certificate. All these are private schools and generally cater to children from wealthy families. Both the CBSE and the ICSE council conduct their own examinations in schools across the country that are affiliated to them at the end of 10 years of schooling (after high school) and again at the end of 12 years (after higher secondary).

Exclusive Schools:

In addition to the above, there is a relatively small number of school that follows foreign curricula such as the Senior Cambridge, though this was largely superseded by the ICSE stream elsewhere. Some of these schools also offer the students the opportunity to sit for the ICSE examinations. These are usually very expensive residential schools where some of the Indians working abroad send their children. They normally have fabulous infrastructure, low student-teacher ratio and very few students. Many of them have teachers from abroad. Apart from all of these, there are handful of schools around the country, such as the Rishi Valley school in Andhra Pradesh, that try to break away from the normal education system that promotes rote learning and implement innovative systems such as the Montessori method.

State Schools:

Each state in the country has its own Department of Education that runs its own school system with its own textbooks and evaluation system. As mentioned earlier, the curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation method are largely decided by the SCERT in the state, following the national guidelines prescribed by the NCERT. Each state has three kinds of schools that follow the state curriculum. These are government schools, private owned schools and grant-in-aid by the government schools. [12] After the higher secondary study there is also a higher education provision following the three streams like General, Medical and Engineering belonging to the undergraduate program (3 years), masters (2 years) and doctoral (3 years) for general education, undergraduate program (5 years), post graduate program (3 years) for medical education, and undergraduate program (4-5 years), masters (2 years) and doctoral (3 years) for engineering education.

Different Streams in Education

Primary level education is provided under two major institutional arrangements (stream)- general and madrasha, while secondary education has three major streams: general, technical-vocational and madrasha. Higher education, likewise, has 3 streams: general (inclusive of pure and applied science, arts, business and social science), madrasha and technology education. Technology education in its turn includes agriculture, engineering, medical, textile, leather technology and ICT. Madrashas (Arabic for educational institution), functional parallel to the three major stages, have similar core courses as in the general stream (primary, secondary and post-secondary) but have additional emphasis on religious studies.

Structure of the Education System

Education in Bangladesh has three major stages-primary, secondary and higher educations. Primary education is a 5-year cycle (classes 1-5) while secondary education is a 7- year one with three sub-stages: 3 years of junior secondary (classes 6-8), 2 years of secondary (classes 9-10) and 2 years of higher secondary (classes 11-12). The entry age for primary is 6 years. The junior, secondary and higher stages are designed for age groups 11-13, 14-15 and 16-17 years.

Source: Google

 Higher secondary is followed by graduate level education in general, technical, engineering, agriculture, business studies, and medical streams requiring 5-6 years to obtain a Masters Degree. In the general education stream,

higher secondary is followed by college/university level education through the Pass (3 years)/Honors Graduate Courses (4 years). The Masters Degree is of one year's duration for holders of Bachelor Degree (Honors) and two years duration for holders of (Pass) Bachelor Degree. Higher education in the technical area also starts after higher secondary level. Engineering, agriculture, business, medical and information & communication technology are the major technical and technological education areas. In each of the courses of study, except for medical education, a 5- year course of study is required for the first degree. 

Reference: NU Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences & Business Studies

Education System in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has a strong commitment to education according to its Constitution and development plans with education being given the highest priority in the public sector investments. Education sector allocations are about 2.3 percent of GDP and 14 percent of total government expenditure during the financial year 2013-14. Maintaining this commitment to the education sector is imperative in order to achieve Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Education System in Bangladesh is being managed and administered by two Ministries, Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Primary and Mass Education Division (MOPME) in association with the attached Departments and Directorates as well as a number of autonomous bodies. Ministry of education is concerned with policy formulation, planning, monitoring, evaluation and execution of plans and programs related to post primary, secondary and higher education including technical & madrasha education. The line directorates, viz. Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education and

Directorate of Technical Education are responsible for management and supervision of institutions under their respective control, while the MOPME is concerned with the primary and much education activities.

Education Systems of Bangladesh, India and Thailand

An effective education system helps a country to build its good nation and that results a sustainable development in the long run. Because, education is well known to all as a back bone of a nation and to make it effective a good education system is very much essential. The objective of the study is to learn about the education systems of Bangladesh, India and Thailand, and compare those in terms of their characteristics. The study finds the similarities and dissimilarities in education systems in different stages of the countries concerned. Despite of all these the effectiveness of education system in Thailand and India is somehow found better compared to the same of Bangladesh. The study suggests for sustainable development in education through communicating and maintaining by-lateral and multi-lateral relationships between or among these countries in keeping with the international standards.

Specific of Education System in Bangladesh

Before getting independence, Bangladesh was part Pakistan and the primary medium of instruction in the schools were English and Urdu. As Bangla is the national and most widely spoken language of the country at present, Bangla and English have become the main mediums of instruction in Bangladesh.

The education system in Bangladesh is characterized by the co-existence of three separate streams. The mainstream happens to be a vernacular based secular education carried over from the colonial past. There also exists a separate system of religious education. Finally, based on use of English as the medium of instruction, another stream of education, modeled after the British education system, has rapidly grown in the metropolitan cities of Bangladesh.

The three main educational systems in Bangladesh, ordered by decreasing student numbers, are:

General Education System
Madrasah Education System
Technical - Vocational Education System

Other systems include a Professional Education System.

Each of these three main systems is divided into four levels:

Primary Level (years 1 to 5)
Secondary Level (years 6 to 10)

Higher Secondary Level (years 11 and 12)
Tertiary Level

Primary Level:

Primary Education has been made compulsory for children aged 6-10 years by an Act (1990). The compulsory primary education means - "Unless there is a valid ground, the guardian of each child living in an area where primary education has been made compulsory, shall, for the purpose of giving primary education, have his/her child admitted to the nearest primary education institution located in that area"

One or two year pre-primary education is imparted in private schools/kindergartens, and informally in government primary schools for six months. Five-year compulsory primary education for the 6-10 age group is imparted mainly in government and non-government primary schools.

In metropolitan cities, however, government and non-government primary schools cater to the educational needs mainly of the poorer sections of the people, as the better-off families usually send their children to Private English Medium schools/ secondary schools that run primary sections as well. There, however, exist some NGO-run non-formal schools catering mainly for the dropouts of the government and non-government primary schools.

Secondary and higher secondary education:

The secondary and higher secondary level is between year 6 and year 12. This level is further divided into two sub-levels - the secondary and the higher secondary. The schools in the lower secondary levels have students from year 6 to year 10. The schools in the higher secondary level are called "colleges".

There are two nationwide public examinations in this level. The first one is the Secondary School Certificate examination, conducted at the end of year 10. The other is the Higher Secondary Certificate examination, conducted at the end of year 12. These examinations are conducted by the seven education boards located in Barisal, Chittagong, Comilla, Dhaka,Jessore, Rajshahi, and Sylhet.

Secondary education:

On completion of primary education, students (11+) enroll for junior secondary education that spans 3 years. At the end of this phase of education, some students branch out to join the vocational stream, offered at Vocational Training Institutes (VTI) and Technical Training Centres (TTC) run by the Ministry of Education (MOE), and the Ministry of Labour and Employment respectively. Students in the mainstream continue in government and non-government secondary schools for a two-year secondary education in their respective areas of specialization (e.g. humanities, science, commerce etc.) At the end of their secondary education, the students sit for their first public examination (SSC) (10th Grade) under the supervision of the six education boards.

The students of "Madrasah Education System" stream also sit for their respective public examinations, Dakhil level (10th Grade), conducted by the Madrasah Education Board.

The students of general education system's English medium streams also sit for their respective public examinations, 'O' level, conducted by London/Cambridge University, facilitated by the British Council.
Students of technical & vocational stream also sit for their public examination, SSC (vocational) (10th Grade) after a two-year period of study, conducted by the Bangladesh Technical Education Board.Madrasah Education System:

The national government supported Islamic education at several levels. In the late 1980s, efforts were being made to modernize the madrasa (school of religious education attached to a mosque) system and to introduce secular subjects in the madrasa curriculum under the Bangladesh Madrasa Education Board. In 1986 there were 4,118madrasas and 638,926 students under the aegis of the government-supervised system. By 1985 forty madrasas had been established for female students.

Unfortunately, the Islamic studies and Arabic teachers in the general stream have no scope for any training. Moreover, the teachers of Arabic language and literature, Al-Quaran, Tafsir, Al-Hadith, Fiqh etc. in the madrasas have no scope or mechanism for any sort of pedagogical and  andragogical training.

Tertiary education in Technical Education System:

In the Technical Education System, students can further pursue their educational carrier for obtaining a Bachelor degree from Engineering & Technology Universities, which offer two and a half to three year long courses for students with a Diploma-in-Engineering degree, to obtain a Bachelor degree (undergraduate degree) (16th Grade) in Engineering. Then they can enroll into post-graduate studies.

The major higher education institutions in Bangladesh include: degree-level liberal arts colleges affiliated to a recently established affiliating university (The Bangladesh National University), publicly supported universities including a University of Engineering and Technology and Agricultural Universities, private Universities established under the Non-government Universities Act (Act 34 of 1992), autonomous institutes of technology, previously called engineering colleges, agricultural colleges,  medical colleges, dental colleges, teachers' training colleges, colleges of physical education, college of textile technology  college of leather technology.

There is, also an Open University established under Act 38 of 1992. While each of the other universities conducts its own examinations, the Bangladesh National University is responsible for conducting bachelor's and master's examinations of the affiliated degree colleges throughout the country.

The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE):

Under the overall supervision and guidance of the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Secondary and Higher education system of Bangladesh is being managed and administered by the Directorate of Secondary & Higher Education (DSHE).The Directorate is headed by a Director General who is responsible for administration, management and control of secondary and higher education including madrashas (institutions imparting religious education) and other special types of education.

Vision and Mission of DSHE:

DSHE is working towards providing educational facilities available to all to produce enlightened people who can contribute to the development of Bangladesh vis-a-vis poverty alleviation and attain the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) by 2015. In order to address the issues at the secondary and higher levels, DSHE is focusing on quality improvements and specific actions to raising the quality of service delivery and improving equity of access in secondary and higher education.

The Role & Responsibilities of DSHE:

The role and responsibilities of DSHE includes the following:

•To implement the education policy of the Government in respect to secondary (Class 6-Class 10), higher secondary (Class 11-12) and higher education (Bachelors and Masters).

•To assist the Ministry of Education in formulating policies concerning secondary, higher secondary & higher education of the country.

•To promote and maintain quantitative and qualitative standard of education.

•To help evaluate and assess the need for changes in curriculum at different levels of education.

•To prepare revenue and development budgets and maintain accounts of all the institutions and making arrangements for auditing.

•To co-ordinate and provide support to all types of educational institutions.

•To administer recruitment, posting, transfer, promotion, retirement, disciplinary cases of the officers and employees working under the administrative control of the Directorate.

•To make proposals of development projects and monitor and supervise the activities under the development projects.

• To arrange training programs both at home and abroad for the teachers and officials working in different educational institutions (DSHE, colleges, schools, training institutes and projects etc.).

•To provide information on educational matters to the related agencies and organizations. 

•To liaise with different departments and organizations of the government.

Tertiary education management:

At the tertiary level, universities are regulated by the University Grants Commission. The colleges providing tertiary education are under the National University. Each of the medical colleges is affiliated with a public university. Universities in Bangladesh are autonomous bodies administered by statutory bodies such as Syndicate, Senate, Academic Council, etc. in accordance with provisions laid down in their respective acts.

While many of the developing countries are trying to spend 6% of their GDP in education, expenditure in Bangladesh education was mere 2.5%of GDP in 2004. In order to put the country in the path of progress and development, it is very important to increase the budget expenditure in education of Bangladesh and undertake important reforms. 

Education System in Bangladesh

It was a tough time for Bangladesh during its initial days, when they were facing a severe problem due to illiteracy. But correct steps from the government and the proper implementation helped Bangladesh get rid of that situation. We should admit that educational system in Bangladesh is far better now. In fact, Bangladesh follows the policies like Millennium Development Goals, and Education for All. Because of all these declarations all the children in Bangladesh of the age group between six and eighteen are eligible to get the primary and secondary education, and that’s too in free of charge.

The educational system of Bangladesh is divided in three broad categories –

• Technical cum vocational education system
• Madrasah Educational system
• General educational system

Among all, maximum of the Bangladeshi students pursue the General Education system. Students in the technical cum vocation education courses in Bangladesh are the least. All of these three educational systems can be divided into five levels of education. They are –

• Primary level education
• Junior level education
• Secondary level education
• Higher secondary level education
• Tertiary level education

These educational levels are created on the basis of educational standards and the age of the student. Tertiary level education is popularly considered as the university education. It is further divided into few categories like Bachelors Degree education, Masters level education, doctoral level education, and post doctoral education etc.

Government keeps a strict vigil in the whole educational system. In fact the ministry of education in Bangladesh provides a huge funding for the educational system in Bangladesh. You can find lots of public school and universities, which are maintained and funded by the government. The fees in those institutes are kept in the lower side. In fact, strict measures are taken in recruitment of teachers.

Reference Source Study in Bangladesh


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Define Education

Simple Definition of Education

 :the action or process of teaching someone especially in a school, college, or university or any other field like training section.

:the knowledge, skill, and understanding that you get from attending a school, college, or university or any seminar or other fields

:a field of study that deals with the methods and problems of teaching

Lecture Deliver

Full Definition of education

1. 1a :  the action or process of educating or of being educated; also :  a stage of such a processb :  the knowledge and development resulting from an educational process <a person of little education>
2. 2:  the field of study that deals mainly with methods of teaching and learning in schools



Education


Examples of education in a sentence

1. The school is devoted to the education of children with reading difficulties.
2. She received her education at private schools.
3. The applicants had comparable educations.
4. She earned her master's degree in education.


4.