Education for Development: Lessons from East Asia for Bangladesh

Notwithstanding the recent financial crisis in most of the East Asian countries, none can deny that the region was enjoying the benefits of unprecedented growth rates during the previous three decades or so. Despite some divergent views, most agree that the high quality of human resources linked to a well-thought-out educational system contributed to this success. These countries value education highly and hence spend much resources on its development. They have also given appropriate emphasis on different types of education, including technology required for economic development. Although Bangladesh has acute resource constraints and a dismal record of fighting poverty, it can learn a lot from the educational experiences of East Asia by deriving interesting insights from the linkage between education and economic development. However, Bangladesh needs to plan its own development strategy with an appropriate role for quality education.