Inclusive Teaching in Bangladesh: The Current Landscape (2020–2025)

1. Introduction

Children with disabilities in Bangladesh face some of the most persistent barriers to education of any group. This section provides a grounded, evidence-based account of what inclusive education currently looks like across the country, drawing on government surveys, academic research, NGO reports, and Bengali and English media investigations between 2020 and 2025.

It represents a synthesis of hard data and human reality — from national statistics to parent testimonies — and forms the evidence base for EBTD’s work on inclusive teaching in Bangladesh. The review spans the full age range from early years to A-level, encompassing both neurological and physical conditions.

“Millions of children in Bangladesh live with disabilities — but only a fraction ever set foot in school.”

2. Diagnosing Special Needs in Bangladesh

Bangladesh officially recognises 12 categories of disability under the Disability Rights and Protection Act (2013) — including physical, intellectual, sensory, and neurodevelopmental conditions. However, identification remains incomplete and uneven.

A national survey in 2021 by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) found that 1.7% of children aged 5–17 had a disability, while 3.6% had some form of functional difficulty in seeing, hearing, walking, communication, or learning. Broader UNICEF-supported functional surveys (MICS 2019) suggested that around 7.3% of children aged 2–17 face difficulties that limit their participation, with higher rates in rural areas (7.6%) than urban (6.1%).

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), ADHD, and learning disorders are increasingly recognised but remain under-diagnosed. A 2024 PLOS One study estimated that around 1.7% of Bangladeshi children may have autism (≈17 per 1,000), though official records capture fewer than 80,000 cases nationwide — less than a third of that figure. Historical estimates from Bangabandhu Medical University placed prevalence at just 0.2%, underscoring chronic under-detection, particularly outside cities.

A mother in Rangpur shared: “I knew my son was different, but no one told me what it was. We were just told he was stubborn. We only heard about autism last year.”

Identification Pathways and Barriers

Diagnosis often relies on fragmented routes — hospital-based assessments, disability ID cards via the Department of Social Services, or pilot school screenings. These depend on access to specialists, travel costs, and parental awareness. Rural families are least likely to complete the diagnostic process.

As one government disability officer admitted:

“দেশের সব প্রতিবন্ধীকে এখনও শনাক্ত করা সম্ভব হয়নি — the country has not yet been able to identify all its disabled citizens.”

The result is a large population of unidentified or unserved children whose needs only become visible when they fail to progress in school — by which time intervention is far less effective.

3. Access to Education: A Stalled Promise

Despite strong policy commitments to inclusive education, the reality on the ground shows limited access and widening inequalities. According to the BBS/UNICEF 2021 survey, over 60% of children with disabilities are not enrolled in any formal schooling.

Primary access: around 65% of disabled children attend primary school, compared to 95% of the general population.
Secondary access: this falls sharply to 35%, with most disabled learners dropping out after Grade 5.
Out-of-school children: more than half a million school-aged children with disabilities receive no formal education.

Even among those enrolled, learning outcomes lag significantly. On average, students with disabilities are two years behind their peers academically by age, due to delayed entry and lack of classroom support.

A teacher in Khulna explained: “We have 53 children in one class. If one of them has autism, we don’t even know how to help.”

Gender Disparities

Girls with disabilities face double disadvantage. Families often keep daughters at home over fears of harassment or because education is not seen as a worthwhile investment. In primary education, far fewer girls with disabilities are enrolled than boys, and very few transition to secondary school.

Rural–Urban Divide

Urban families have some access to therapy centres and NGOs, but rural communities face near-total absence of services. Disability prevalence is higher in rural areas, yet support is scarcer. In remote districts like haor (wetland) regions, participation among disabled children is minimal. By contrast, Dhaka and Narsingdi — where inclusive education pilots have been implemented — show higher registration and community awareness.

4. Understanding the Numbers: A National Snapshot

Children with Disabilities in Bangladesh (Estimated, 2020–2025)

Condition / Category	Estimated No. of Children	In School (%)	Out of School (%)	Urban Trends	Rural Trends	Notes / Data Confidence
Autism	300,000+	~25%	~75%	Better diagnosis, growing awareness	Under-detected, stigma high	Likely undercounted (Medium confidence)
Intellectual Disability	~230,000	30–40%	60–70%	SWID network schools	Often hidden or misidentified	Registry data partial (Medium)
Cerebral Palsy	~250,000	15–30%	70–85%	Some rehab centres	Minimal rural access	Fragmented data (Low–Medium)
Down Syndrome	~7,100	~20%	~80%	Advocacy-led services	Little diagnostic capacity	NGO estimates (Low–Medium)
ADHD / Learning Disorders	5–10% of child population	<15%	>85%	Rarely identified	Almost never diagnosed	Global extrapolation (Low)
Visual Impairments	~475,000	40–50%	50–60%	Braille resource centres in cities	No alternative-format materials	DSS data (Medium)
Hearing Impairments	~150,000	35–45%	55–65%	Sign-language centres	Few or no services	Official figures (Medium)
Mobility / Physical Disability	~1.8 million	25–35%	65–75%	Urban access improving	Schools often inaccessible	Under-registration (Medium)

Note: Estimates derived from BBS 2021, UNICEF MICS 2019, PLOS 2024, and NGO databases (SWID, Sightsavers, ADD Intl.). Ranges account for definitional and reporting variance.

5. Provision and Support: What Exists Now

Bangladesh operates a dual system: a small network of special schools and a much larger mainstream system still ill-equipped for inclusion.

Special Schools

As of 2025, the government directly operates:

11 autism schools
7 hearing-impaired schools
5 blind schools
1 centre for intellectual disabilities

Meanwhile, NGOs provide the bulk of special education:

SWID Bangladesh: 48 schools for intellectual disabilities
Bangladesh Protibandhi Foundation: 7 inclusive schools
Proyash Institute (Army-run): specialised autism school
Resource centres for blind students: 76 across districts

Yet 24 districts still have no special school, forcing families to travel to cities. Most NGO schools survive on donations, with teachers frequently unpaid.

“We have a waiting list longer than our school,” said a special educator in Chattogram.

Inclusive Education Initiatives

The most successful pilot has been Shikhbo Shobai (Everyone Will Learn) — under the UK Aid-funded Inclusive Futures programme. This model begins with home-based education for children with severe disabilities, transitioning them to mainstream schools after intensive preparation. By 2024, 52% of participants had enrolled in regular schools.

“Before, our daughter never left the house. Now she walks to school with her friends,” said a mother in Narsingdi.

Other initiatives include:

Teacher Training: Over 103,000 teachers trained in disability-inclusive pedagogy through UNICEF.
Screening Pilots: Early disability screening now tested in selected schools.
Stipends & Allowances: 100,000 students receive education stipends; 3.34 million people with disabilities receive monthly allowances.

Despite these steps, coverage remains limited and uneven.

6. Disparities and Exclusion

Stigma, geography, gender, and poverty continue to shape who gets included and who does not.

Attitudes and Stigma

In many communities, disability remains misunderstood. Parents are sometimes discouraged from enrolling their children, told that “school isn’t for kids like them.”

“Two decades after starting awareness on inclusive education, we are still asking why disabled children should be in regular schools,” one official observed.

Geographic Inequality

Urban areas such as Dhaka and Chattogram benefit from NGO presence and therapy centres, while remote districts — especially coastal and hill tracts — lack both diagnosis and service provision.

Gender

Girls with disabilities face layered exclusion. Fear of abuse, social stigma, and limited mobility often mean they stay home. In most surveys, their school participation is 10–15 percentage points lower than boys with disabilities.

A grandmother in Barisal said: “We didn’t send her [granddaughter with Down syndrome] to school because we didn’t want her laughed at. But now I wonder if that was the right thing.”

Poverty and Cost Barriers

Transport and therapy costs are among the biggest barriers to schooling. Disability stipends — typically under Tk 1,200 per month — rarely cover the additional expense of travel, aids, or private support.

7. Reality on the Ground: Persistent Challenges

Even where inclusion exists on paper, delivery falters in classrooms.

Key Barriers

Inaccessible infrastructure: Most schools lack ramps, widened doors, or accessible toilets.
Overcrowded classrooms: Teachers have limited time to differentiate instruction.
Shortage of support staff: Few teaching aides or therapists in mainstream schools.
Limited adapted materials: Braille, tactile aids, and sign language resources remain scarce.
Rigid curriculum and exams: National assessments lack flexibility or accommodations.
Fragmented data systems: Disability identification and school databases remain unlinked.

“Classroom teaching is often rigid, making it unenjoyable for students with disabilities,” one education officer acknowledged.

Policy-to-Practice Gap

Bangladesh has strong policy commitments — but weak execution. Coordination between ministries (Education, Health, Social Welfare) remains siloed, and funding for inclusion is minimal within the education budget. Many pilots end when donor funding stops.

Early Intervention Cuts

Government-funded Shishu Bikash Kendros — child development centres offering free therapy — once served 1,000 children daily nationwide. But after donor withdrawal in 2025, specialist posts were cut and replaced with general doctors, prompting national outcry.

A parent in Dhaka warned: “Cutting specialists saves money now but ruins children’s futures.”

8. Media & Policy Lens (2020–2025)

Recent years have seen greater media scrutiny of the gap between policy promises and lived reality.

Closure of the NAAND Project

The National Academy for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (NAAND) — Bangladesh’s only government-run special-needs secondary school — was terminated in 2025 after delays and budget overruns. Only 13% of infrastructure was completed despite Tk 94 crore spent. Parents pleaded for the school to remain open as it served 44 students who would otherwise have no affordable option.

“If this school shuts, he’ll just sit at home,” one mother told The Business Standard.

Teachers’ Protests and Advocacy

In 2023 and 2025, teachers from non-government special schools protested in Dhaka demanding:

Monthly Pay Order (MPO) inclusion for salary support
Disability-friendly infrastructure
Tk 3,000 per-student budget allocation

The protests prompted media debate on the chronic underfunding of special education.

Community-Led Inclusion

Positive stories also emerged. Prothom Alo highlighted districts where community organisations helped identify out-of-school children and bridge them into mainstream education. The involvement of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) proved crucial to these successes.

9. Conclusion & Way Forward

Inclusive education in Bangladesh stands at a crossroads. The policy foundation is strong, and awareness has grown, but implementation remains fragmented and fragile.

The evidence shows that while pilot projects and teacher training have produced pockets of success, over half of children with disabilities remain excluded from schooling. Girls, rural learners, and children with neurodevelopmental disorders are the most affected.

Moving forward requires scale, coordination, and sustained funding.

Priority Actions

Early Identification: Universal developmental screening in pre-primary education.
Infrastructure: Every school to have at least one accessible toilet and step-free entrance.
Teacher Training: Continuous coaching for inclusive pedagogy, not one-off workshops.
Data Systems: Integrate disability identification with education management information systems (EMIS).
Support Roles: Introduce school-based inclusion coordinators and teaching aides.
Funding: Establish a dedicated inclusion budget line and extend MPO status to qualifying special schools.
Family & Community Engagement: Strengthen awareness and peer networks to counter stigma.

“Children with disabilities are not invisible. They are just excluded — by systems we can change.”

The Road Ahead

Bangladesh’s inclusive education journey is in motion — but fragile. Progress now depends on transforming pilot success into policy routine, ensuring every school, teacher, and community sees inclusion as part of excellence, not exception.