The State Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, let it be known recently that the government plans to announce its National Women’s Development Policy soon. The revival of the post-Beijing, CEDAW-inspired 1997 policy, for which progressive women activists have been struggling over the past many years, seems most likely. Hopefully, that would [...]

The draft National Education Policy 2009 underscored the importance of female education as it adopted several strategies to ensure women empowerment as well as their overall development.
The policy recommended brining out women from the cocoon of household chores, including family welfare, child rearing and housekeeping and ensuring their active participation in poverty alleviation and socio-economic [...]

WHEN I first heard of the Asian University for Women, I immediately identified with its mission and dream. I had seen too many bright young women in Phnom Penh complain about the low quality of their education, and seen too many girls in rural areas drop out of high school because they didn’t see opportunities [...]

The government’s decision to reduce women’s quota for primary school teachers cannot be supported. When we speak of women’s empowerment, do we really mean it? A visit to educational institutes, will show women’s posts are lying vacant. Why is it so?
As primary school teachers, WOMEN, we think, are more efficient than men. So, there is [...]

Demand for Bangladeshi women workers abroad in nursing, house management and garment sectors is increasing by the day.
Over 20,843 Bangladeshi women immigrants are now working abroad, according to statistics provided at a training programme on household work management organised by International Organisation for Migration (IOM) at its office in Dhaka.
The training manual prepared with the [...]

THERE is no way to disagree with the need for technology. In several instances, the need for technology have been discussed but so far progress is not at all appreciable. NSAPR II, in its supporting strategy-V on enhancing productivity and efficiency through science and technology mentioned that the country will be made a poverty-free and [...]

The government has reduced the quota for female teachers in non-government schools. It is mandatory to appoint 40 per cent female teachers in city or pourashova and 30 per cent in village schools. For non-compliance, non-government institutions would lose official recognition and cease to receive the money the government pays as teachers’ pay. Out of [...]

The underprivileged children and women of tribal communities have started to reap the benefits of Para Kendra (centre) in the remote hilly areas of Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban. Para Kendra is the local pre-school education and healthcare centres set up under the Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP) in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). Set up under [...]

Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in terms of improving its literacy and is one of the very few countries which are on track for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. However, women are still discriminated against in the intra-household allocation of resources, in terms of education. Till today, parents prefer spending more for [...]

The inauguration of the Asian University for Women (AUW) in Chittagong is a happy augury not only for the women of Bangladesh but also for their counterparts in Asia who are presented with the unique opportunity of studying under the same roof. It will bring together different cultures and values in a wonderful melting pot [...]

A civilization could never be thought of without the active participation of women. But unfortunately their contribution is neither properly recognized nor widely appreciated. Let women’s horizon be enlighten by the light of education-that were the main focus of the discussants of the seminar held on March 8, 2005 on the occasion of International women’s [...]

The roundtable on ‘Women falling behind field of education — reasons and solutions’ was held at Sylhet City Corporation. Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Badruddin Ahmed Kamran was present at the roundtable as the chief guest while Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal was the special guest. The roundtable was organised to commemorate the launching of a nationwide [...]

The chapter on women and education is an analysis of female education in Bangladesh, national education policy and state intervention in female education. Needless to mention that education for women should be of supreme importance as it is a vital ingredient for the advancement of multi-sectoral development and especially in the context of women’s dismal [...]

When the Saron Lower Primary School in Saron village, Assam, was burnt down by militants during an ethnic clash in 2003, Bimala Hmar, an assistant teacher there, took it upon herself to ensure that the education of the children would not suffer. She let the school be run from her home, one of the few [...]

As recently as 1991, the educational attainment of Bangladeshi women was among the lowest in the world.  Eighty percent were illiterate.  Equipped with few skills and uninformed about health care, family planning, and nutrition, they were trapped in a cycle of dependency.
To ensure that school-age girls, especially those in rural areas, receive an education, the [...]