The three main educational systems in Bangladesh, ordered by decreasing student attendance numbers, are:
General Education System
Madrasah Education System
Technical - Vocational Education System
Other systems include a Professional Education System.
Each of these three main systems is divided into three levels:
Primary Level (Class 1-8)
Secondary Level (Class 9-12)
Tertiary Level
Tertiary education in Bangladesh takes place at 37 government, 80 private and 3 international universities. Students can choose to further their studies in Chartered Accountancy, engineering, technology, agriculture and medicine at a variety of universities and colleges.
At all levels of schooling, students can choose to receive their education in English or Bangla. Private schools tend to make use of English-based study media while government-sponsored schools use Bangla.
Cadet Colleges are important in the education system of Bangladesh. A cadet college is a room and board collegiate administered by the Bangladesh. Military discipline is compulsory at all cadet colleges. Faujdarhat Cadet College is the first cadet college in Bangladesh, established in 1958 over an area of 185 acres (0.75 km2) at Faujdarhat in the district of Chittagong. At present there are 12 cadet colleges in Bangladesh, including 3 cadet colleges for girls.
The Madrasah Education System focuses on religious education, teaching all the basics of education in a religious environment. Religious studies are taught in Arabic and the students in some areas also serve the local area masjids. Students also have to complete all the courses from the General Education System. Many privately licensed Madrasas take in homeless children and provide them with food, shelter and education, e.g. Jamia Tawakkulia Renga Madrasah in Sylhet.
The Technical and Vocational Education System provides courses related to various applied and practical areas of science, technology and engineering, or focuses on a specific specialized area. Course duration ranges from one month to four years.
Tertiary education in Madrasah Education System
In the Madrasah Education System there are two systems. One, called the "Quomi" Madrasah system is privately owned and funded and is run according to the Deobandi system of Islamic education, which rejects the rational sciences. The other, called the "Alia" madrasah system, is privately owned but subsidized by the government (the government spends 11.5% of its education budget on alia madrasahs, paying 80% of teacher and administrator salaries). Quomi madrasahs account for 1.9% of total primary enrollment and 2.2% of secondary enrollment; aliyah madrasahs account for 8.4% of primary and 19% of secondary enrollment.
The alia system is like the general education system, except that Arabic is taught in addition to general education. After passing "Alim", a student can enroll for 3 additional years in order to obtain a "Fazil" level. Students can go for further general education and earn a university degree. After passing successfully, they can further enroll for another 2 years to obtain a "Kamil" level degree.
The following table provides a statistical comparison of the "Quomi" and "Alia" madrasah systems.
| Number of private (Quomi) madrassas | 13,902 |
| Number of government-funded (Alia) madrassa | 6,906 |
| Number of teachers in Quomi madrassas | 130,000 |
| Number of teachers in Alia madrassas | 100,732 |
| Number of students in Quomi madrassas | 1,462,500 |
| Number of students in Alia madrassas | 1,878,300 |
| Total number of madrassas (Quomi + Alia) | 13,406 |
| Total number of teachers (Quomi + Alia) | 230,732 |
| Total number of students (Quomi + Alia) | 3,340,800 |
Tertiary education in Technical Education System
In the Technical Education System, after obtaining a Diploma-in-Engineering degree (four year curriculum) from the institutes listed below, students can further pursue their educational career by obtaining a bachelor's degree from Engineering & Technology Universities. It normally it takes an additional two and a half to three years of coursework to obtain a bachelor's degree, although some students take more than three years to do so. They can then enroll in post-graduate studies. Students can also study CA (Chartered Accounting) after passing HSC or bachelor's degree and subject to fulfilling the entry criteria of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB).
Bogra Polytechnic Institute - It is one of the largest Polytechnic institutes in Bangladesh
Dhaka Polytechnic Institute - a government technical institute in Dhaka
Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute - a government technical institute in Rajshahi.
Mymensingh Polytechnic Institute - established in 1963 by the Ford Foundation
Kushtia Polytechnic Institute - The largest polytechnic institute in Bangladesh.
Sylhet Polytechnic Institute - a state supported technical academic institute, it was established in 1955 by the then Bangladesh Government
Barisal Polytechnic Institute - one of the largest polytechnic Institutes in Bangladesh
Khulna Polytechnic Institute - a government technical institute in Khulna
Chittagong Polytechnic Institute - provides theoretical and practical education of basic Engineering and technology
Jessore Polytechnic Institute
Feni Polytechnic Institute - created on 29 February 1964, the institute has around 2,000 students
BCMC College of Engineering & Technology The largest private polytechnic college in Bangladesh.