The document discusses the role of civil society in influencing Bangladesh's National Education Policy of 2010. It outlines how civil society organizations advocated for reforms to the education system and helped shape the new policy. Some key ways civil society contributed included calling for a unitary education system, advocating for secular and poverty-friendly policies, and ensuring provisions for madrasa education, disabled students, and technology-based learning. The new policy extended compulsory education in response to civil society demands and incorporated other reforms supported by organizations.

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National Education Policy 2010
(Role of Civil Society)
Submitted To :
Dr. Ferdous Arfina Osman
Professor,
Dept. of Public Administration
University of Dhaka
Submitted By :
Md. Ahasan Uddin Bhuiyan
Session : 2008-2009
Dept. of Public Administration
University of Dhaka
Submission Date : 19 December 2012
Department of Public Administration
University of Dhaka

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Introduction : Bangladesh civil society is internationally recognized for its effort for
poverty alleviation and social development. They always play an important influential
role in national policy process. In this assignment , the role of Civil Society and Civil
Society Organizations (CSOs) in influencing The National Education Policy (NEP) 2010
are illustrated.
Background: The National Education Policy (NEP) 2010 (“the Policy”) comes in a
series of education policies dating back to the very inception of the country in 17577. The
review process for the National Education Policy 1998-2010 was initiated in 2005 and
the first document, the White Paper was finalized in March 2007. The White Paper
became the basis for development of the Policy document. Before it’s independence ,
Bangladesh got about 14 commissions regarding education which includes 9 in British
period and other 5 in Pakistan Period Which mentioned below :
Nine education commissions of British period (1757 - 1947) are : Charles Grant
education commissions (1792), Company charter (1813), Lord Macaulay committee
(1835), William Adams committee (1838) , Woods education dispatch (1854), W W
Hanter education commission (1882), M E Sadlar education commission (1919), Sa Pru
education commission (1934) and John Sargent education commission (1944).
Five commissions of Pakistan period (1947 - 1971) are : Maulana Mohammad Akram
Khan education committee (1949), Ataur Rahman khan education reform commission
(1957), S M Sharif education commission (1959), Judge Hamoodur Rahman education
commission (1964) and Air Marshal Nur Khan education commission (1969).
After independence, the government of Bangladesh has also formed several education
commissions (10 commissions) and task forces in different times to recommend for the
improvement of education system of Bangladesh which include , Qudrat-e-Khuda
education commission (1974), Kazi Zafar Ahmad/Abdul Baten, interim policy (1979),
Abdul Mazid Khan commission (1983), Mafiz Uddin Khan education commission
(1986), Abdullah Al-Muti Sharfuddin, task force for PMED (1993), Shamsul Haque
education commission (1997), National education committee (2000), M. A. Bari
commission (2002), Mohammad Moniruzzaman Mia commission (2003) and Kabir
Chowdhury education committee (2009).
Besides these commissions and committees, Bangladesh adapted National Plan of
Action-1991 (NPA-I) was also prepared to meet the goals set by the World Conference
on Education for All(EFA).In this action plan, the government fixed Bangladesh’s target
towards education for all by 2000 AD. The government has prepared the post-Dakar
National Plan of Action (NPA-II) for ‘Education for All’ (2003-2015). PRSP and Five
year plans are also mentioned several clauses and issues regarding the promotion of
education in the country.

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The national education policy-2000 which was formulated in 1997, and which
recommended compulsory education for children between grades 1 to 8 grades has not
been approved nor implemented. Finally, the National Education Policy 2010 which is
the latest initiative came into existence in the year 2010.
Conceptualization :
Public Policy : There are numerous definitions of public policy. Following are some
examples:
Whatever governments choose to do or not to do.. (Dye, 1972)
A proposed course of action of a person, group or government within a given
environment providing obstacles and opportunities which the policy was proposed
to utilize and overcome in an effort to reach a goal or realize an objective or
purpose.. (Frederich, 1963)
Commitment to a course or plan of action agreed to by a group of people with the
power to carry it out.. (Dodd et al., nd)
According to Stephen Brooks: .Public policy is the broad framework of ideas and
values within which decisions are taken and action, or inaction, is pursued by
governments in relation to some issue or problem.. (Brooks, 1989, p. 16)
Briefly stated, public policy is a choice or decision made by government that guides
subsequent actions in similar circumstances.
Civil Society and Civil Society Organizations : Contemporary definition of civil
society by Susan Pharr (2004), referring to that section of the society consisting of
sustained, organized social activity that occurs in groups that are formed outside the state,
the market and the family. However, civil society is not confined within a non-political,
non-market, non-family atmosphere; rather, a constant interaction between the state,
market and civil society is taken for granted. That is a sort of function within the political
system which is at the same time separate as well as interrelated with the different sectors
of the system.
Civil Society Organizations are considered as the basic units of civil society. The
definition used for the present research includes a variety of organizations as civil society
organizations (CSOs), such as, clubs, local cooperatives, labor unions, sports
associations, trade organizations, business groups, charity groups, social welfare groups,
religious groups, citizens’ organizations, professional groups etc. Civil society
organizations are considered active in both types of functions—service providing and
advocacy.

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Civil society in Bangladesh consists of elite and non-elite civil society groups. Naturally,
intellectuals, large development NGOs, apex organizations and their leaders form the
elite section of civil society. At national level, active civil society elites are group of
intellectuals related to the think tanks and citizens groups– like, Centre for Policy
Dialogue or shujon, democracy watch, FEMA; different advocacy organizations like
human rights groups, environment groups formed mainly by lawyers practicing at the
capital and divisional towns; leaders or chairman of the Large NGOs like Grameen Bank,
BRAC, Proshika.
National Education Policy (NEP) 2010 at a glance : The Government of Bangladesh
published its national Education Policy in 2010 with ambitious goals for the benefit of
human development. Among the commitments are to increase posts for teachers and
number of classrooms in every school to facilitate pre-primary schooling, to extend the
duration of primary education from five to eight grades nationwide while achieving a
1:30 teacher-pupil ratio by 2018, to make all the adult citizens of the country literate
through adult and nonformal education by 2014, to ensure adequate training for all
teachers in secondary education, to establish a minimum of one technical education
institute per Upazila (subdistrict) for the expansion of the TVET sector, to ensure
equivalency between different streams, gradually redesign madrasah courses so that their
duration corresponds with those in other streams and to award scholarships to students in
higher education according to their merit and the financial means of their families.
In order to finalize the NEP 2010, an 18-member Education Policy formulation
committee started working with National Professor Kabir Chowdhury and Dr. Qazi
Kholiquzzaman Ahmad as the chair and co-chair respectively which was responsible for
reviewing education commission reports (1974, 1997) and education policy (2000).
Duration of the committee activities include May – September 2009 who hold 23
Committee meetings and 56 stakeholders meetings.
The new policy paper includes 29 chapters with total 24 goals and objectives including :
– morality, creativity and production oriented education
– technical and vocational education
– inequity regarding gender, religion and ethnicity
– ICT and math-science
– same curriculum and syllabus for all streams
– environmental education and research
– importance on disabled, street-children and extreme-poor children’s
education
The salient features of this new education policy which is set to be enacted this
December:
 Increase primary education from 5th to 8th class.

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 It will integrate Madras education and vocational education into the general
education
 It will establish mandatory core subjects for primary-level education: Bangla,
English, mathematics, Bangladesh Studies, social environment and climate
change, and information technology and science.
 Every School will have a mandatory library equipped with necessary books
 More scholarships for the poor
 No physical punishments
 Arrangement of lunch for the students
 Education for indigenous students in their mother tongues
 Facilities for the disabled
 Standardization of teachers qualifications
 More training for the teachers and promotion will be connected with experience
and training and many more
Role of Civil Society in influencing public policy process : Policy does not just
magically happen. We can state five stages that a policy goes through before it is enacted.
These stages include problem formation, agenda setting, policy formulation, legitimating
and adoption, implementation and administration, and policy evaluation. Civil society is
deeply involved in each of these policy stages.
First of all, Civil society influence in the problem formulation stage is enormous. The
media brings many types of issues to the forefront of the Bangladeshi conscious by
various meetings, seminar and conferences . This is crucial because when the Civil
society began talking on the issues of importance to Bangladeshi people the policy
makers tend to start listening. This is what starts the ball rolling, so to speak.
We are standing at agenda setting and formulation stage. In this stage now and the policy
makers are trying to appeal to the people through the media. This relationship is crucial in
the process because it is how politicians tell if their policies are being well accepted by
the people or if they are ineffective or if they make them look bad.
Next is the legitimation and adoption stage of the policy making process. This stage
mainly happens in the legislature and determines what will happen to a proposed policy.
Naturally, what happens to a policy is greatly determined by what kind of intellectual
support, relevant documents and researches are available .To get so policy makers have
to depend on civil societies.
This step is the implementation and administration stage of the policy making process.
This is the stage in which policies are put in to effect and used. For effective
implementation tools and trainings policy elites has to relay on CSOs.

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The final stage in the policy making process is the evaluation stage. During this stage
feedback is sought to determine the overall effectiveness of newly enacted policies from
research based CSOs .
CSOs engage with policy processes in many different ways. They can:
• Identify the political constraints and opportunities and develop a strategy for
engagement.
• Inspire support for an issue or action; raise new ideas or question old ones; create new
ways of framing an issue or ‘policy narrative’.
• Inform the views of others; share expertise and experience; put forward new
approaches.
• Improve, add, correct or change policy issues; hold policymakers accountable; evaluate
and improve their own activities, particularly regarding service provision.
Analysis of Role of Civil Society in influencing National Education Policy
(NEP) 2010:
Civil society has been described by political theorists as playing a key role within the
democratic polity, primarily by representing citizen interests, enhancing civility and trust,
acting as a government watchdog, and introducing transformative, oppositional, or
innovative ideas and models. Civil society organizations have also long been the direct
providers of social services within communities, and especially of education.
National Education Policy (NEP) 2010 is the fruit of enormous struggle and initiative
taken by Civil Society. Different influential roles of Civil Society in NEP are described
below :
Reengineering education system : As educationist and other civil society organizations
continuously highlighted that the existing education system should be modified, which
they identified as the main reason of educational inefficiency in Bangladesh. Their
demand is fulfilled with NEP 2010. In accordance with the new policy , Compulsory
primary education extended up to class-VIII from class-V and secondary education to
class-XII with uniform curriculum and syllabus will be followed in general, madrasa and
vocational levels. At the higher-level studies, duration of all degree courses has been
made four years instead of the previous three years.
Announcing “Secular” policy : In consistent with the demand of various CSOs , the
policy dropped the word “secular” from its draft to make it acceptable to all segments of
the society. It also ensured Religious and moral education, Value education from
religious centers Building morale/good character Upgrade curriculum of Islam, Hindu,
Christian and Buddhist religion subject new curriculum for indigenous religions is also
proposed (Ibid).

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Unitary education system : As a result of various seminars and conferences where Civic
population asked for a unipolar and equal education for all citizens of all classes, races
and casts, the new policy announced that “The policy seeks to bring all students of the
country, irrespective of their religions, genders, and physical limitations, socio-economic
and geographic locations under one system. ”
Advocacy : Various civil society organizations provided government with consultancy
facilities regarding a education policy
Ensure techno-based education system : To comply with it’s election manifesto
Awami League oriented civil society influenced policy makers to ensure a technology
based education policy. That’s why the NEP claims that Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) and Bangladesh Studies have been introduced to primary and
secondary levels.
Poverty reduction friendly education policy: With the influence of civil society the
present policy mentions that free education should be provided up to class-VIII from the
previous class-V in phases at government and government-funded institutions. Besides,
The policy says technical education institutions would be established in every upazila and
the number of educational institutions on polytechnic, textile and leather will be
increased.
Revised higher education system : With suggestion of Civil society, new policy advised
turning all three-year graduation courses into four-years honors courses in phases. A
student completing a four-year honors course will be entitled to all professions in his
field. It alsoproposed decentralization of the National University with centers in all
divisions. These centers will later turn into universities and colleges in its jurisdiction will
be affiliated to it.
Some important influential initiatives taken by CSOs :
The Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) : conducts research on basic education
issues in Bangladesh, and is active in public engagement and policy dialogue. Its annual
Education Watch reports have at times been controversial when they highlight
government failure or contradict official statistics, but the reports are widely circulated
and cited by donors and viewed by NGOs in other countries as a model for education
NGO advocacy work. They were demanding for a compact education policy for a long
time which finally brought to light.
Dhaka University : As a CSO, the University of Dhaka through it’s administration
process drew back attention of policy makers regarding Madrasha Education system in
Bangladesh. Which is reengineered through the newly adapted education Policy. In the

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NEP we can see “On Madrasa education, it said the students of primary and secondary
level must study uniform curriculum and syllabus of general education (NEP, 2010)”
BRAC : BRAC itself has begun to focus more of its energies on changing its relationship
with the ministries of education, moving away from primary service provision and direct
advocacy and seeking towards greater influence through new initiatives on the margins of
the formal school system such as the opening of preschools and the development of in
service teacher training programs. It is also ensured through NEP 2010.
TIB: One advocacy strategy which has been successful is the “Report Card” of the
formal primary education system undertaken by Transparency International Bangladesh.
Based on this process, new marking and result system is introduced.
CPD : arranged several conferences and dialogue regarding a sound education policy.
Teachers Union : Different teacher organization were demanding various facilities
including training. In NEP 2010 it is clearly mentioned that “Teachers will be given more
facilities alongside more and modern training, the policy said. It said steps would be
taken to frame an integrated education law and form a permanent education
commission.”
Bangladesh Protibondhi Kalyan Shangstha (BPKS) and other organizations working for
People with disabilities : They demanded a special provision for people with disabilities
(PWDs). The new policy conform with their demand ensuring special facilities for
disabled.
Besides above CSOs, A donor consortium led by the Asian Development Bank and
including the World Bank, NORAD, SIDA, CIDA, the European Council, DFID, the
Netherlands, UNICEF, Aus-Aid and JICA has played a part in the evolution of the sub-
sector program that strongly emphasizes the enhancement of government ownership and
capacity to deliver universal quality education.
Conclusion : Civil Society includes NGOs and as well as a larger number of important
players of vital importance in the implementation of public policies. New efforts to
revitalize and expand basic education systems have become central to the national
development plans of Bangladesh over the past decade. These new education sector plans
now routinely recognize an important role for civil society in the realization of Civil
society organizations (CSOs) are increasingly expected to be partners in the formulation,
implementation and monitoring of national educational plans and policies. In the
formulation process of NEP 2010, Civil Society in Bangladesh potential influenced it’s
different clauses including reforming education structure, secular education system,
restructuring madrasha education, right based education for marginal and minority ethnic
groups etc..

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References :
Ahmed, M., (edited), 2011. Education in Bangladesh : Overcoming Hurdles to
Equity with Quality. Dhaka: pulished by BRAC University.
Hoque, N. M. Sajjadul, 2012 , Reviewing Education Policy of Bangladesh: Is the
Present Education Policy Adequate for Countering Terrorism, Religious and thnic
Intolerance?, South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF), Belgium
Khan, Mr. Nayeemul Islam, 2012, The Role of Media in Influencing Education
Policy in Bangladesh, Dhaka
Ministry of Education , 2010,National Education Policy 2010, Government of the
People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka
Khatun, Mahmuda,2012 , Higher education and civil society: Compatibility re-
examined, Educational Research and Review Vol. 7(5), pp. 121-126, 5 February,
2012
Poulson, Natalie, Civil Society Participation and the Governance of Educational
Systems in the Context of Sector-Wide Approaches To Basic Education Reportof
the UNRISD Geneva 2000 Seminar,
Newspapers :
9 June 2012. The Bangladesh Pratidin. Dhaka
7 May 2011, The Independent, Dhaka