Access with quality in primary education: re-inventing iInter-organizational synergy

During the last two decades, Bangladesh has made significant progress in improving access to primary education, especially for girls and poor children. In recent years, there is a growing awareness among various stakeholders that Bangladesh should focus not only on quantitative expansions of primary education, but also on improvement in the quality of education. This paper examines three main issues: 1) the performance of Bangladesh in primary education based on selected quantitative indicators; 2) the state of the quality of primary education in Bangladesh; and 3) development of inter-organizational synergy involving government and other organizations to promote quality education. The paper highlights the fact that the performance of Bangladesh has been impressive in gender parity compared to other South Asian countries. However, based on several criteria, Bangladesh appears to be lagging behind other countries in the quality of primary education.