HSC Pass with only Class 7 Knowledge, World Bank Warns

The quality of education for Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) passers in Bangladesh is equivalent to only the seventh grade level according to international standards, as revealed by the World Bank's 2018 Human Capital Index. This finding points to a significant gap between the years of schooling completed and the actual learning outcomes achieved by students.

According to the World Bank's 2018 Human Capital Index, a child in Bangladesh who begins school at age 4 is expected to complete 10.2 years of schooling by their 18th birthday. However, when factoring in the quality of education, the "learning-adjusted years of schooling" is only 6 years, indicating a 4.2-year deficit in effective learning. For HSC passers, who complete 12 years of schooling (5 years primary, 5 years secondary, and 2 years higher secondary), this suggests their learning outcomes align with roughly the seventh grade level internationally.

The report further notes that students in Bangladesh score 368 on a harmonized test scale where 625 represents advanced attainment and 300 represents minimum attainment. This score reflects limited proficiency in foundational skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics, contributing to the reduced learning-adjusted years.

The World Bank's Human Capital Index, launched in 2018 as part of the World Development Report 2019, measures the productivity of the next generation of workers based on health and education outcomes. For Bangladesh, the HCI score was 0.48, ranking the country 106th out of 157 economies. This score indicates that a child born in 2018 is expected to achieve only 48% of their potential productivity due to limitations in health and education.

The finding that HSC passers' education quality is comparable to the seventh grade level internationally serves as a critical wake-up call for Bangladesh's education system. While the country has made strides in increasing access to education, with near-universal primary enrollment and significant progress in secondary education, the quality of learning remains a challenge. The report emphasizes that simply increasing the number of years spent in school is insufficient without ensuring meaningful learning outcomes.

This educational gap has implications for Bangladesh's workforce competitiveness in a global economy. The World Bank's report suggests that deficiencies in foundational skills could hinder economic growth and poverty reduction, areas where Bangladesh has historically performed well. The 2018 report highlights that human capital—the knowledge, skills, and health accumulated over a lifetime—has been a key driver of economic progress in many countries, particularly in East Asia.

While the 2018 data provides a baseline, subsequent reports indicate ongoing challenges. The 2020 Human Capital Index reported Bangladesh's HCI score at 0.5, a slight improvement, but the COVID-19 pandemic likely exacerbated learning losses. A 2021 World Bank analysis estimated that the learning-adjusted years of schooling may have dropped to 5.3 years due to school closures and disruptions, further widening the gap.

The World Bank's findings underscore the need for targeted reforms to enhance educational quality in Bangladesh. While the report does not prescribe specific solutions, it emphasizes the importance of focusing on learning outcomes rather than just school attendance. Stakeholders, including policymakers and educators, are urged to prioritize initiatives that improve teaching quality, curriculum relevance, and assessment systems to bridge the learning gap.