How is Education for Sustainability understood and applied in Bangladesh?

• In Event: Highlighted session: Education for sustainable development in South Asia

Proposal

What is education for sustainability for a country surrounded on three sides by India, which shares a border with another country from which it recently absorbed a million refugees, a country where the effects of climate change are real, a country leading in the achievement of the SDGs in S. Asia, a country that has enjoyed nearly 7% GDP for the last decade—due mostly to the RMG industry, a country that China embraces as part of its “Belt Road Initiative”, and a country with a goal of becoming both “Digital Bangladesh” and a Middle Income Country by 2021 (its 50th Anniversary)? This research project seeks to answer this question by conducting interviews with those individuals tasked with the education policy in Bangladesh: the Ministry of Education, public as well as private education leaders, NGOs, and other national and international stakeholders. Within the context of international and comparative education where Development has traditionally driven the agenda, it’s time to pause and reflect on where we currently stand – practically speaking – in the educational aspect of the development project in Bangladesh. With the United Nations and every NGO in Bangladesh having education as at least some part of its portfolio, is education for development really supporting sustainability in Bangladesh? Being now in my fifth year in Bangladesh, as both a teaching faculty member and administer in the first private university of Bangladesh, as I review the literature and talk to people in the education sector, I bring a unique set of lenses to the analysis of theory versus practice. I believe that by carrying out this research project, I can perform a gap analysis between that which has driven the development agenda through education and the reality on the ground. As such, my findings could help to inform future educational policy reforms that might help to ensure that education and sustainability are aligned in Bangladesh and perhaps the region more broadly.

Author

• Katherine Li, Director, Office of External Affairs, North South University