Literacy rate nears 78%, but ‘true figure may be lower’, advisor says

Primary Education Advisor Bidhan Ranjan Roy Podder has said while the government's official literacy rate is 77.9 percent, the figure could be inflated. He made the comment on Sunday at a briefing organised by the Directorate of Primary Education marking International Literacy Day, observed on Sept 8. In a written statement at the press conference, the directorate’s Secretary Abu Taher Md Masud Rana said, "The current literacy rate among the population aged seven and above is 77.9 percent in the latest report from the Bangladesh Economic Review 2024 conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. This means approximately 22.1 percent of the population is still illiterate. "This population mainly consists of children who are out of school or have dropped...