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1. INTRODUCTION

1. Informed decision-making at all stages of sound policy management –
formulation, planning, implementation, operation, monitoring and evaluation – require
reliable and timely data. Enabled by the rapid advance in Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) in terms of application areas, user friendliness and
affordability, the increasing use of indicators and statistical decision-support systems
has made quality and timely data on education ever more imperative. Both at the
national as well as the international level, this demand has been driven by the needs to
develop and monitor national Education Sector Programme (ESP) as well as to monitor
the progress towards Education for All (EFA) goals and education targets of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme
(PRSP) and other related developmental programmes.

2. In this context, statistical units in the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the
Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MOPME), as well as other Ministries and
Institutions, which provide the educational-related data, play an important role. It is
therefore essential to strengthen the national capacity to respond to the demand of
today’s dynamic society.

3. To provide technical assistance to help Bangladeshi educational authorities
realise these needs, the UIS has been implementing a project, namely “Developing
National Statistical Capabilities for the Monitoring of Education for All”, which is funded
by the European Commission (EC). In this project, the UIS provides technical
assistance to countries to build sustainable national capacities for the monitoring of
progress towards EFA and national education sector goals. Bangladesh is one of the
participating countries in this project.

4. As part of the project, the initial phase of the work includes an in-depth
diagnosis of the production and use of education statistics, in relation to the needs for
information to manage the education system and to monitor progress towards national
and international education goals. It will assess the strengths and weaknesses of the
system and identify priority areas in need of strengthening. During the diagnostic study,
all dimensions of capacity needs will be reviewed, after which a diagnostic report will be
prepared.

5. The current report is jointly prepared by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics,
UNESCO Dhaka Office and the National Technical Committee (NTC) composed of the
members from Ministry of Education and Ministry of Primary and Mass Education,
Bangladesh.

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