Bangladesh – education
The school system consists of a five-year primary school, a five-year middle school and a two-year high school. The primary school is for children up to 10 years. It is free, but not mandatory; the drop-out rate after 1-2 years of schooling is large. approximately 3/4 of the boys and 2/3 of the girls in the age group 6-10 years in school; for the age group 11-17 years will be 1/4 of the boys and 1/8 of the girls.
The country’s overall goal for education is to eradicate illiteracy by increasing the number of teachers, improving technical education in particular and educating both sexes. 80% of women and 50% of men over the age of 15 were illiterate in 1990. In addition to poverty and population growth, the goal is hampered by the fact that village communities do not themselves experience a great need for schools. Buildings, equipment and books are generally of a low standard and there are many students per. teacher. Teaching is teacher-led and authoritarian. There is an English language school for the rich, a Bengali language school for the middle class and a Bengali language Koran school for the poor. The high schools and higher educations have to a large extent preserved the spirit, curriculum and examination forms from the colonial schools.
Pupil numbers in the higher education equivalent to 6-7% of the population aged 20-24 and only 1/6 of these are girls. The country has seven universities (1990) with affiliated specialized colleges. The oldest and largest is the University of Dhaka from 1921.
OFFICIAL NAME: Ghana Prajatantri Bangladesh
CAPITAL CITY: Dhaka
POPULATION: 142,300,000 (Source: COUNTRYaah)
AREA: 130,170 km²
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE (S): bengali, English
RELIGION: Muslims 88%, Hindus 11%, others 1%
COIN: taka
CURRENCY CODE: BDT
ENGLISH NAME: Bangladesh
INDEPENDENCE: 1971
POPULATION COMPOSITION: Bengal 98%, tribal people (chakma, santal, marma etc.) 2%
GDP PER residents: $ 415 (2007)
LIFE EXPECTANCY: men 63 years, women 64 years (2007)
INDEX OF LIVING CONDITIONS, HDI: 0.530
INDEX OF LIVING CONDITIONS, POSITION: 137
INTERNET DOMAIN NAME: .bd
Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, is a Republic of South Asia. Most of the country lies in the vast deltas of the three rivers Ganges’, Brahmaputras and Meghna.
- AbbreviationFinder.org: Find two-letter abbreviation for each independent country and territory, such as BD which stands for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh – religion
More than 85% of the population are Muslims, and Islam became a state religion by a government decision in 1988. Hindus make up about 12% of the largest minority. Buddhists, Christians and followers of tribal religions together number over one million people.
When the first Muslims came to Bengal in the 1200’s, they met a majority of Hindus, while a smaller part of the population were adherents of Mahayana Buddhism or tribal religions. Despite a massive Muslim advance, the Hindus retained the majority in the area until the late 1800’s. In addition to Muslim immigration, Sufi teachers were an important factor in the development process. They went from city to city preaching Islamic ideals of equality and social justice and converted many Hindus on their journey, especially from the lower castes. The vast majority of Muslims in Bangladesh are Sunnis. In urban areas, there are smaller Shia communities. Hinduism in Bangladesh has significantly influenced the social structure and religious practices of Muslims.
Among the Hindus in particular, the higher castes worship Shiva, while Vishnu are worshiped by all castes. The Buddhists, who today belong to the Theravada school, are found among the tribal peoples of the Chittagong area. Other tribesmen are Christians. Check youremailverifier for Bangladesh social condition facts.
Bangladesh – Constitution
Bangladesh is a republic and according to the constitution from 1972 – with changes in 1991 – a parliamentary democracy. The head of state is the president, who is elected directly by parliament every five years. The President appoints the Prime Minister from among the Members of Parliament who have majority support in Parliament. This consists of one chamber with 330 members elected every five years.
Bangladesh – health conditions
The country’s high population density and low location in a river delta (home to cholera) near the Indian Ocean hurricanes result in storm surges with hundreds of thousands of drowned and very high incidence of waterborne diseases, especially infectious diarrheal diseases. Only 10% of the population had satisfactory sanitation in the 1990’s, only 40% had access to medical care, and over 50% of young children were malnourished. Respiratory tract infections and intestinal worms are frequent causes of morbidity. Nevertheless, mortality is declining and life expectancy is therefore increasing. Maternal mortality in the 1990’s was 0.6% (approximately 200 times as high as in Denmark). approximately 70% of children are vaccinated against infectious childhood diseases and tuberculosis.
Bangladesh – mass media
Poverty, illiteracy and political instability make Bangladesh one of the countries in the world where the media, especially the print press, has the least circulation. The 128 dailies have a total circulation of approximately 1.6 million; in addition, a few hundred weekly newspapers are published. Most dailies are published in Bengali with Ittefaq (grdl. 1955) as the largest and most influential, followed by Inquilab (grdl. 1986). The others are mainly English-speaking and cater especially to the well-educated middle class in the cities. Among these, the Bangladesh Observer (grdl. 1949) is the best known.
While most newspapers are privately owned, radio and television are state-owned. The radio started broadcasting in 1939, television in 1964. The country’s only television channel, Bangladesh Television, is partly advertising-financed and broadcasts satellite television from CNN and the BBC in addition to its own productions. The number of households with televisions is low, but significantly higher in urban areas than in rural areas.
There is in principle freedom of the press in the country, but restrictions on the part of the government, together with widespread self-censorship, have limited the press ever since independence.
Bangladesh – art
Bangladesh’s art history is part of the art history of the entire Indian subcontinent, see Buddhist art and India (art). Traditional Islamic architecture is represented by many mosques, mausoleums and forts, built by the Mughal emperors in the capital Dhaka. Older examples of Buddhist architecture have also been excavated. The round stupa shape known from the Buddhist monasteries of ancient India is repeated in the finds.
Nowadays, great emphasis is placed on the art of painting in Bangladesh. At the Shilpakala Academy of Art at the University of Dhaka, students practice both traditional and modern abstract painting. The school was founded by Zainul Abedin (d. 1976), who is known for his depictions of the 1943 famine in Calcutta.
