Abstract - · Web viewBashar, I. (2011). Bangladesh’s forgotten crisis: land,...

Post-conflict education reconstruction in Bangladesh: Peace-Building in Chittagong Hill Tracts

Sefut-E-Shan

Candidate No: 129971

Final Research Project forMA in International Education and Development

University of Sussex27 August 2015

Declaration: I hereby declare, this is an original piece of work, which is free from plagiarism. The intellectual property of this paper entirely belongs to the author.

Candidate No- 129971

Table of ContentsAcknowledgement........................................................................................................................... III

Abstract........................................................................................................................................... IV

List of Abbreviations.........................................................................................................................V

List of Tables, Figures and Appendices............................................................................................VI

1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................1

1.1 Background of the study...................................................................................................1

1.2 Definition of terms............................................................................................................2

1.3 Summary of the study......................................................................................................2

2. Country Context...........................................................................................................................4

2.1 Demography and history of conflict.................................................................................4

2.2 The Education system of Bangladesh...............................................................................8

3. Literature review........................................................................................................................11

3.1 Education, inequality and conflict...................................................................................11

3.2 Education and peace-building........................................................................................15

3.3 Language, ethnicity and peace-building.........................................................................18

4. Methodology..............................................................................................................................22

4.1 Study introduction and research aim:............................................................................22

4.2 Research questions.........................................................................................................22

4.3 Research Method...........................................................................................................23

4.4 Sampling Procedure........................................................................................................24

4.5 Data collection tools.......................................................................................................24

4.6 Data collection procedure..............................................................................................25

4.7 Framework of Analysis....................................................................................................25

4.8 Research issues...............................................................................................................27

4.8.1 Ethical considerations.............................................................................................27

4.8.2 Limitations, conceptual issues and bias..................................................................28

Limitations:.............................................................................................................................28

Conceptual issues:..................................................................................................................28

Bias:........................................................................................................................................28

5. Results and Findings...................................................................................................................30

5.1 Results............................................................................................................................30

5.2 Findings..........................................................................................................................33

6. Discussion...................................................................................................................................53

7. Conclusion:.................................................................................................................................57

8. Reference...................................................................................................................................59

9. Appendices.................................................................................................................................65

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Acknowledgement

I wish to acknowledge the contribution of my supervisor Colleen McLaughlin for her guidance throughout the challenging process of this postgraduate research. Every time she helped me with her valuable knowledge and observation, which directed me towards my ultimate research aim.

I would also like to convey my most profound gratitude to Mario Novelli for sharing his valuable insight and critical feedback on this study topic and research methodology. His precious thoughts and directions helped me to develop a comprehensive concept on my topic.

I cannot be thankful enough to Nigel Marshall for sharing his critical view and expertise on research skills. He has been a great support throughout the project particularly in shaping the methodology.

The heartiest thanks to Mr. Deba Priya Chakma for his cordial support in conceptualizing the context. Special thanks to Mohammad Murtaz Hossain for being an immense support throughout the journey.

Most importantly, my deepest acknowledgement to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission for their immense support during my study at the University of Sussex. Without their support and help, it would be so difficult for me to avail the course.

Last but not the least, I am thankful to my family members and friends for being so supportive throughout my University of Sussex life.

III


Abstract

In the year 1997, Bangladesh government signed a peace accord with the indigenous people of CHTs which included some educational components to ensure their right to education. This empirical study is an effort to get an insight of the contribution of the education system of Bangladesh in the peace-building process, after 18 years of signing the peace accord. This study employed two types of data collection tools- document analysis and semi-structured interview schedule in order to reach the depth of the context by comparing the government and indigenous community-produced documents and the educators view on those documents and their implication in practice. This study ended up exploring four dimensions of the education and peace-building dynamics, those are, Multilingual Education, Recognition, Lack of Resources and Collaboration. These themes indicate the concerns around the context as well as the government initiative and limitations in respect of materializing the policies into practice.

Key words: Inequality, Peace-building, Multilingual education, Education policy, Bangladesh.

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List of AbbreviationsCHT Chittagong Hill Tracts

EFA Education for All

GoB Government of Bangladesh

HDC Hill District Councils

INEE Interagency Network on Education in Emergencies

MDG Millennium Development Goals

MLE Multilingual Education

NCTB National Curriculum and Textbook Board

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund

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List of Tables, Figures and Appendices

Tables & Figures

Figure 1: INEE Minimum Standards of Education...........................................................................16Figure 2: Two faces of education....................................................................................................17Figure 3: Codes Were Used To Highlight Suitable Data..................................................................24

AppendicesAppendix 1: Consent Form and participant Information Sheet.........................................65Appendix 2: Semi-structured interview guideline..............................................................68 Appendix 3: Interview Transcript-1....................................................................................69 Appendix 4: Interview Transcript-2....................................................................................72

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1. Introduction1.1 Background of the study

In December 1997, the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord (commonly known as the Peace

Accord) was signed between the Indigenous community and the government of

Bangladesh, following 30 years of indigenous-majority intrastate conflict, mainly in the

Chittagong Hill Tracts Area (CHTs). This accord included the following education related

term- “The activities of the Parishad (Parishad refers to Hill District Council that is the

local authority of the CHTs) mentioned in number three will be added with the following:

(1) Vocational education, (2) Primary education in mother tongue (3) Secondary

education.” The Government of Bangladesh committed to fulfilling these terms and also

ratified Education for All, the Millennium Development Goals and the Rights of the Child

1989 (UNCRC)to ensure quality education for all children (Shanawez, 2012). However, the

IWGIA (International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, 2014) reports that the formal

education system does not recognize the value of traditional indigenous knowledge or

lifestyles, a fact that indigenous people have complained about. Indigenous languages

are not used as languages of instruction, and their cultures are not reflected in the

curriculum. As a result, the IWGIA notifies that some youths are facing the traumatic

experience of losing their indigenous identity while also not being fully accepted as part

of the dominant national society.

Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that, “Education is quite simply

peace-building by another name” (Dahir, 2015). The education system can be a

significant mechanism to foster respect for the heterogeneous populace of multi-ethnic

and multi-cultural countries like Bangladesh. Furthermore, in a conflict-affected society, a

child must have the tools to deal with conflict-related issues and participate in the peace

process. Sustainable post-conflict recovery requires increasing the acceptability of the

minority to the schools and also to the education system. In addition, curricula must

foster a culture of tolerance, peace, and tolerance for diversities to maintain democracy

in war-ravaged countries (Bush and Saltarelli, 2000; Smith, 2010). In Bangladesh, there

are regular attacks on ethnic and religious minorities, which are indicative of the

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intolerance between religions, ethnicities, and cultures. Therefore, 18 years after the

accord was signed, it is worth re-visiting educational reform as a peace-building method.

This study aims to explore education’s potential for peace-building in post-conflict

societies, and focuses particularly on the Bangladeshi government’s role in dealing with

this issue in the CHTs. The paper demonstrates how an education system can deprive a

particular group of students based on language choices and restrict their access to

economic and political opportunities. In the CHTs, the education system has failed to

assess the society’s post-conflict needs. Empirically, the study contributes to the

conceptual area of education and peace-building in CHTs where few studies have been

conducted.

1.2 Definition of terms

Peace-building: the area of peace-building is vast the way it is very difficult to set up any

boundary for this term. Galtung (1976, p.297, cited in UNESCO, 2011, p. 13)

conceptualizes peace-building such way- it addresses the root causes of both the

structural and cultural conflict that contributes to direct violence, in his words,

“…structures must be found that remove causes of wars and offer alternatives to war

in situations where wars might occur” (1976, p. 297).

Besides, he emphasizes on local knowledge, ownership and participation as an important

element of peacebuilding. On the other hand, Lederach (1997) observes peace-building

as a dynamic and social process that involved in transforming relationships.

… is understood as a comprehensive concept that encompasses, generates and

sustains the full array of processes, approaches, and stages needed to transform

conflict toward more sustainable, peaceful relationships. (p. 84-45)

1.3 Summary of the study

In the later sections, Chapter 2 describes the background of the conflict, the Peace

Accord, and the role of education as the country context. Chapter 3 reviews the

components of education that are significant for peace-building, and illustrates how

education has both perpetuated and suffered from the conflict. Chapter 4 clarifies the

methodology and research questions in relation to the aims and objectives of this

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research. The research paradigm is also explained in this section, validating the research

design and my subjective perspective as a researcher, along with the associated ethical

issues and limitations. Chapter 5 presents the findings of the document analysis and

interview schedules thematically, based on the research questions. Chapter 6 discusses

major four themes that emerge from the findings. Chapter 7 summarises the study and

suggests some future steps to be taken.

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2. Country Context2.1 Demography and history of conflict

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) Area1, comprising 10 percent of the country’s total land

area, is situated in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh, and is exceptional both

geographically and demographically. In contrast to the rest of the country, the CHTs area

is hilly and comprised predominantly of valleys and forests (Gain, 2000, p.1-41). This area

is the homeland of some 700,000 indigenous people2, coming from 123 major ethnic

groups who are culturally and linguistically different from the majority Bengalee people.

For example, they have their own religion, dress, and farming methods. In addition,

variety exists within different indigenous groups as well. Based on their cultivation

practices (locally known as Jum), these people are known as Jummas. Mentionable,

Bengalee4 are predominant of Bangladesh with some 98 percent of the total population

and speaks ‘Bangla’.

Focusing on the main concern, it is not easy to analyse the causes of conflicts. As Reynal-

Querol (2002, pp. 29-54) observes, all intrastate ethnic conflicts are different,

characterized by different economic, political, and psychological factors (Fearon, 2004).

The grievances and resentment of the CHTs area emerged under a history of oppression,

injustice, destructive development, and denial of political, economic, land, and

educational rights to the minorities. All of this was further influenced by the political

ideologies of elites of majority Bangalee. While the partition of the subcontinent

triggered the ethnic conflict, post-colonial and particularly post-independence regimes

further degraded the situation towards insurgency. Moreover, inter-ethnic antagonism

was another crucial factor, in order to gain control over resources that led them towards

conflict (Shanawez, 2011).

The conflict in the CHTs was between tribal communities and the government of

Bangladesh, and was influenced by the grievances that emerged over the colonial and 1 CHTs is a part of Chittagong Division and is constructed by three districts- Rangamati, Bandarnban and Khagrachari. 2 The Census of Bangladesh, 2011 shows that the population of the three hill districts is approx. 1,587,000 (http:// www.bbs.gov.bd). It is estimated that around half of the population of the CHT comprises indigenous peoples, thus the number of indigenous peoples is estimated at 700,000 to 800,000. 3 The indigenous groups are- Bawm, Chak, Chakma, Khumi, Lushai, Khyang, Marma, Mro, Murang, Pangkhua, Tangchangya and Tripura.4 People who speaks Bangla as their mother tongue are known as Bangalee.

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post-colonial periods. Analysing this history is crucial to understand the risk factors that

helped foster the conflict. Various laws directly or indirectly violated indigenous human

rights and eventually led to the ‘pahari5-bangalee’ (indigenous-Bangalee) relationship of

mistrust and volatility as-

“…deprivation from access to their own lands and resources, deprivation from

exercising political, cultural, social, and religious rights and deprivation from

leading a normal life without physical attacks, intimidation in the absence of

freedom of speech and freedom of movement as well as systematic violations of

rights to development, housing, minimum education and adequate health care.”

(Shanawez, 2011, p.100)

The conflict emerged during the liberation war when the Chakma king, one of three kings

in CHTs area, allegedly supported the Pakistani army against the Bangalee (Mohsin, 1996,

p. 1-26). Notably, Bangladeshi identity is based on the liberation war, which was even

more strongly than it is by the Bangla language and Bangalee culture (Bangladesh, 2015),

therefore, those who opposed the war were marked as opponents of ‘Bangalee

Nationalism’. Presumably, because they opposed the war, this situation fostered hatred

among the Bangalee against the hill tribe people. Subsequent government policies were

developed in the shadow of these issues. Then Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman

was motivated to build a unique ‘Bengalee’ identity for the new country. This ‘Bengali’

ideology was centred by ‘Bangla’ language and culture, which excluded and refused to

recognize the unique identity of the hill tribe people (Mohsin, 1996b, p.42; Ahsan and

Chakma, 1989, p.967). As a result, then CHTs area representative in the Constituent

Assembly M. N. Larma demanded regional autonomy in order to uphold their unique

ethnic and cultural identity (HDRC, 2009, p.4). However, this demand was considered to

be secessionist (Mohsin, 2000, p. 64) and was rejected wholly by the Assembly, which

declared Bangladesh to be a “Uni-cultural" and “Uni-lingual” nation-state in Article 3 and

6 of the constitution, recognizing only ‘Bangla’ language and ‘Bengali’ culture.

Consequently, the Jumma people were pressured to become ‘Bangalee’ (Shanawez,

2011). Under these circumstances, M.N. Larma introduced the first regional political

party on March 7, 1972, named ‘Parbatya Chattagram Jana Shamhati Samiti’ (PCJSS, In

English: United People’s Party of the Chittagong Hill Tracts).

5 Hill men

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After the fall of the socialist government in the year 1975, the military took power and

banned all activities by PCJSS (Barnes et al. 1997). As a result, a massive conflict broke

out and in 1976 Larma created an armed wing of PCJSS, named Shanti Bahini (Peace

Force), to fight against the government in order to defend the CHTs area’s rights. Since,

they had strong ethnic connections in some areas, particularly in Tripura (a state of

India), the government responded with force and considered their moves to be guerrilla

activity (Zaman, 1984, p. 314-315), influenced by India in the form of financial and armed

support (Bashar, 2009, p.4). The government deployed a large number of battalions to

the CHTs area and was responsible for frequent torture, detention, rape, killing, and

forcible relocation of Jumma people (IDRC, n.d.). Data shows that in 1872, the population

of indigenous and Bangalee in the area stood at 98 percent and 2 percent. By 2003, this

had changed to 49 percent indigenous and 51 percent of Bangalee (Pandey and Jamil,

2009). This rapid shift occurred after Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 and particularly

became intense from 1972-1973 and from 1981-1984. The Government sponsored

Bangladeshi settlers to move there with land rights, cash, and rations. The government’s

objective was to weaken the ethnic composition and dominance of the area (Bashar,

2011, p.3). This action severely dislocated Indigenous peoples, caused migration to

neighbour countries and created major changes in the socio-economic structure of the

CHTs area.

Moreover, the government has failed to provide quality education for the Jumma people.

Instead, their right to education have been frequently disrupted. Many of the local

schools were burned to set up army camps. Ironically, right after the declaration of

Education for all (EFA), the government closed 12 primary schools in Bandarban district,

which led to student protests. In fact, when education became available, it was revealed

that ‘it [was] designed to draw hill people into Bengali culture’ (Barnes et al. 1997, p. 12).

Brown (2011) said, unequal access to education can create wide societal disparities and

reinforce the political domination and segregation of ethnic groups. Consequently, when

a large number of people are excluded from an education system, it results in

unemployment, poverty, and grievances - a powerful recruiting ground for armed

militias. Seemingly, unequal access to education was another instigator to the ethnic

conflict according to Brown’s (2011) statement.

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During the three decades of insurgency, every government undertook development

projects, which failed to re-establish reliance and build trust between the indigenous and

Bengalee community. In 1997, the CHT Accord (Peace Accord) was signed between the

Awami League government and the Indigenous peoples’ political party PCJSS, which

formally ended the civil war. In this Accord, the CHTs area was described as a tribal-

inhabitant region. The Accord also approved the administrative role of the Indigenous

chiefs, their traditional governance system, and acknowledged the building blocks for

regional autonomy (IWGIA, n.d.).

However, in Bangladesh, there are at least 3 million people that belong to one of some

54 indigenous groups, who are mainly situated in the north of the country and in the

CHTs. However, these people were not recognised as ‘Indigenous’ by Government of

Bangladesh, rather they were acknowledged as ‘tribes’, ‘minor races’, and ‘ethnic sects

and communities’ in a 2011 amendment to the Constitution. Moreover, the term

‘Adibashi’ (Indigenous or aboriginal in English) is used to define the term ‘Khudro

Nrigoshthi’, which means ‘ethnic minorities’ in English. In addition, the ‘Small Ethnic

Groups Cultural Institution Act 2010’ (IWGIA, 2015) addresses them as small ethnic

groups (in Bengali ‘Khudro Nrigoshthi’). Furthermore, the 15 th amendment to the

Constitution classifies Jumma people as an ‘ethnic minority’ and defines all Bangladeshi

citizens as ‘Bengali’ (IDRC, n.d). This use of various and contradictory terms in different

government enactments seems to demonstrate the government’s to be negligence in

instituting the Peace Accord.

Furthermore, Amnesty International (2009) reports, that after the 18 years of signing,

very few of the commitments implanted in practice, which was even with a very less

impact on the fulfilment of the rights of indigenous people. Very recently, in 2014, the

government of Bangladesh transferred some authority to the Hill District Council, namely

over shifting cultivation; birth, death and other statistics; money lending businesses; local

tourism; and secondary education. Additionally, the area’s traditional governance system

got recognition. Nonetheless, Indigenous people still experience worsening disparities

based on their ethnic identity and religion. Ironically, the Awami League government was

in power for four years following the signing of the Accord, and for two consecutive since

2009. Each time, this government was led by Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Sheikh Mujibur

7


Rahaman (the founder of Bangladesh). As the signing government, one might expect the

Awami League to take significant action to replicate the policies into practice. In the

Election Manifesto of 2008, for example, the party stated:

“The 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord will be fully implemented. More efforts

will be directed toward the development of underdeveloped tribal areas, and

special programmes on priority basis will be taken to secure their rights and to

preserve their language, literature, culture, and unique lifestyles.” (Amnesty

International, 2013, p.6)

However, the Accord remains largely unimplemented in terms of land rights (land

management), development of law and order in the district, local police, indigenous

identity, army deployment, etc. In addition, the local people are also victims of

systematic deprivation of health and housing rights that hinder their collective

development. As a result, violations of their human rights, armed conflict, and army

deployment continue to the present day (IWGIA, 2015). From above discussion it could

be said that among the minority groups in the country, Indigenous people suffer the

worst discrimination, oppression, and marginalisation in terms of their economic,

political, social, cultural and (minimum) educational rights.

2.2 The Education system of Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a signatory country of many international declarations, including Education

for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). As Bangladesh is officially

committed to the EFA, the Bangladesh Constitution (Article 17) assures free compulsory

basic education for all children between six and ten years of age. Bangladesh’s education

system is divided into four stages - Primary (grades 1-5), Secondary (grades 6-10), Higher

Secondary (grades 11-12), and Tertiary education. According to UNICEF (2009),

Bangladesh has made significant progress towards meeting its commitments to

‘Education for All’ and the ‘Millennium Development Goals’. The government passed a

Primary Education Compulsory Act in 1990, which declared primary education to be free

and compulsory up to grade 5. After that, Bangladesh established one of the world’s

largest primary education systems by enrolling 16 million out of 16.4 million school-aged

children (6-10), facilitated by 3.65 lac teachers. Despite this significant progress in

achieving universal primary education over the last two decades, Bangladesh still needs

8


to do more to improve the quality of education and to ensure equity of access 6. UNICEF

(2009) reports that schooling opportunities are still restricted for Indigenous children, as

school environments are not fully inclusive.

As a signatory to various international human rights laws, Bangladesh is committed to

providing basic education to Indigenous children in their mother tongue. The UNCRC

(1989) states,

“In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of

indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous

shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her

group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own

religion, or to use his or her own language.” (p. 133)

However, Indigenous children in the in CHTs area often encounter the domination of the

Bangla language and culture inside their schools, which is the trigger point for their

marginalization in the education system. Only 1 percent of Indigenous students report

that their schools use books written in their mother tongue, and only 2 percent receive

instruction in their mother tongue. In the CHTs area, only 7.8 percent of people

completed their primary level education; the average time in schooling is just 2.8 years

(CHTDF, 2009). Poverty is the main reason for dropping out, followed by the distance

students have to travel to get to school, an incomprehensible medium of instruction,

non-supportive parents, insecurity, and lack of motivation (HDRC, 2009).

With a commitment to cultural pluralism, post-colonial societies are expected to

emphasize education that promotes “self-rediscovery” (Rahman, 1994, p.222) of

identities that were distorted by colonialism. However, the education system in

Bangladesh promotes cultural homogenization through a centralized and standardized

curriculum that is developed on the basis of the colonial legacy of materialism,

acquisitiveness, and social exclusion (Barua, 2004). This dominant education model

depicts a “culturally and ethnically homogenous” Bangladesh, consisting one language

and one majority religion (Hussain et al., 2000, as cited in Barua, 2007). Mohsin (2001)

and Barua (2004) report that international aid and assistance support this centrally 6 The researcher’s position is that enrolment does not confirm equal access. While enrolment ensures a seat for a child inside the classroom, access means the level of participation and contribution of a child in the teaching and learning process.

9


controlled education system in a way that unfortunately diminishes the prospects for a

harmonious cultural pluralism.

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3. Literature review To proceed further with the discussion, this section will focus on the links between

peace-building, education, and ethnicity. Additionally, the scope of language will also be

discussed within the dynamics of these three areas. In the following sections I will be

explaining:

First, the relationship of education, inequality and conflict that how the negative face of

education can play the role or an instigator of ethnic conflict;

Second, the potential of education in peace-building by eliminating inequality and

ensuring equal respect for all the identities; and

Third, how language is the key component to reform education system being more equal

and multicultural.

3.1 Education, inequality and conflict

In the context of inequality and conflict, education can both instigate future economic

and political inequality, serving as the face of existing social inequality and generate

grievances. Consequently, schooling can play a crucial role in shaping particular group

identities, ‘othering’ those individuals who are from minority ethnic or religious groups

(Omoeva and Hatch, 2015). Although equal-access education has the potential to

increase opportunities and improve human capital – especially for those groups that

have been historically marginalised – it is sometimes the case that policies seem to

‘benefit certain groups’ over others (Brown, 2011). Smith (2010) reports that political

mechanisms such as domination of majority and elites can play a significant role in

generating educational inequalities. In this process, ‘education systematically

discriminates against ethnic, religious, gender and other groups’ (Smith, 2010, Cited in

Omoeva and Hatch, 2015). Education is also linked to other economic and political

policies, which impact immensely on education, for instance, inequitable educational

finance that determines the quality of teachers in different regions, and the dominance

of privileged historical narratives in the curriculum obstacles the access to education of

particular group. Therefore, inequality in education can escalate into conflict by fostering

the marginalisation of minority groups.

11


Education policies get the exposure to influence political and economic inequalities by

determining economic opportunities. In such cases, education often acts as a source of

violence by restricting the access of a particular group or by promoting inappropriate

content. An unequal educational access causes horizontal inequalities (Omoeva and

Hatch, 2015) for ethnic minorities and affects unemployment, poverty, malnutrition, and

access to civil service positions and political office. Barakat et al. (2013) report that when

the education system reinforces the political domination and subordination of minorities,

it becomes a foundation for armed conflict. Such an environment, in turn, often result in

political instability and financial uncertainty, leading to lower educational capacity and

teacher shortages.

Education acquires a ‘negative face’ for minority groups when it carries the values of

elites. As Bourdieu (1984) argues, education plays a vital role in producing and

reproducing social order by recognizing the culture and identity of economically and

politically dominant social groups. Language and culture are the key components to

privilege the values of social elites through the education system. Through these

components, educational institutions legitimize elites’ cultural capital, irrespective of

others’ socio-economic context. Rassool (2007) argues that the use of colonial language

in education eventually alters the ‘inner dynamic’ of colonized countries’ beliefs and

values. She depicts Bourdieu’s ‘colonial habitus’ as:

“…[Formerly colonized people] often make linguistic choices that reinforce existing

social, political, and economic inequalities; and, in doing so, they collude in their

own collective disempowerment and/or dispossession” (p. 2).

Similarly, in post-colonial Rwanda, the government failed to re-design the education

system left by the Belgian colonisers in such a way as to prevent conflict. The colonial

education system prioritized the Tutsis. Rather than focus on building a common identity

and ensuring peace, the Hutu majority, after gaining control over the government and

education, further politicized the education system in terms of access, curricular content,

and teachers’ attitudes on ethnicity. The education system thus exacerbated divisions in

the society based on a biased view of history, ethnicity, and regional and religious

differences. The government introduced an ‘ethnic quota’ and regional preferences to

12


determine students’ eligibility to access to schools. The Tutsis and Twas, therefore, did

not have equal access to education. (Cooksey, 1992, cited in Obura, 2003 p-43). This

‘negative face’ education system generated hatred among the Tutsi and Twa against

Hutu and contributed to the sense of grievances that laid the foundation for the massive

genocide in 1994. As Barakat (2013) writes,

“The countries in which they live are often characterised by protracted internal

conflict often associated with grievances and perceived injustices linked to

identity, faith, ethnicity and religion, poor governance and the indiscriminate use

of force targeting civilians” (p. 125)

Bourdieu has shown how education affects class reproduction and legitimates class

inequalities by mediating class membership. Although, educational achievement is often

considered to be the outcome of individual effort, Bourdieu (1977, cited in Sullivan,

2002) argues that educational achievement is facilitated by the cultural capital that is

abundantly possessed by higher-class citizens, and scarce for lower-class people; thus

unequal access to cultural capital becomes is a barrier that leads to lower educational

attainment. Bourdieu (1973, cited in Harker, 1984) argues that education reproduces

social inequalities when it is controlled by the dominant group (or groups). Indeed, the

education system often reflects the culture and values of the dominant group. Higher-

class people thus use their privileged access to cultural capital to secure their place in the

social structure, while simultaneously reproducing the criteria that make them seem

deserving.

In ethnically diverse societies, majority ethnic groups are commonly privileged through

the education system and achieve higher-level educational success compared to the

subordinate minority groups. UNICEF (2000) reports that various factors underlie this

trend of unequal educational opportunities, First, students from privileged ethnic

backgrounds enjoy the educational, occupational, and economic status of their parents.

Second, the educational selection is biased in favour of the dominant cultural and

political features of the majority; the way education system becomes an agent to

reproduce the privilege of the dominant group for generations. Third, dominant ethnic

groups control the provision of funds and facilities, and allocate them disproportionately

13


to areas that are attended by their children. As a result, the dominant ethnic children are

likely to receive better schooling and achieve higher competencies. In turn, this allows

them to enter more desirable job markets (Yossi, 1990). Moreover, education has been

used as a tool to repress minority cultures, economies, and languages, which is termed

‘ethnocide’. Stavenhagen (1996) explains the term as:

“the process whereby a culturally distinct people loses its identity as a result of

policies designed to erode its land and resource base, the use of its language, its

own social and political institutions, as well as its traditions, art forms, religious

practices and cultural values.” (Cited in UNICEF, 2000, p. 10)

Following above considerations, countries are often pressured by international and local

organizations to ensure cultural and linguistic diversity in education, whereas,

globalization simultaneously forces them towards homogenisation. Watson (2007),

identifies four sources of pressure on the government to recognise the human rights of

the marginalised groups : first from academics arguing for better education for the

economy; second from the World Bank and other international aid agencies advocating

the decentralization of education; third from UNESCO, which advocates for instruction in

mother tongue / vernacular languages due to the associated educational benefits; and

fourth from NGOs, who have been working locally for years, believing that development

will be improved through literacy. In contrast, Watson (2007) argues that globalization

forces the homogenization of global languages in culture and in education systems, since

language is now recognized for its importance to the economic and educational progress

of a country. Indeed, English is replacing the majority and minority languages in many

countries’ education system by accruing the place of ‘Lingua Franca’. In many formerly

colonized countries, the instructional language inside a classroom is determined by

global, political and market pressure, or by elite interests and language preferences. This

perpetuates unequal learning opportunities for minorities and disadvantaged groups,

while accruing economic and political benefits to the majority and elites. This pushes

minority groups towards more marginalization and poverty (Mohanty, 2010).

14


3.2 Education and peace-building

Throughout the last few decades, education has been recognized as one of the pillars of

humanitarian aid because of the role that it can play in the early recovery of a country

emerging from violent conflict (Machel, 2001 and Barakat et al. 2013). The EFA

(Education for All) Global Monitoring Report, Hidden Crisis: Armed Conflict and Education

(UNESCO, 2011) reports that armed conflicts in poor countries are significant barriers to

the achievement of EFA goals, and urges the international community to concentrate on

the conflict-preventing role of education, in order to strengthen peace-building processes

in conflict-affected societies. Hilker (2011) adds that education has the potential to

stimulate peace-building and conflict prevention by promoting mutual respect, tolerance,

and critical thinking skills (cited in Barakat et al. 2013). In addition, Penson and

Tomlinson’s (2009) stated that education is assumed to impact both the humanitarian

and the development sector. Addressing basic educational needs at an early age gives

education a ‘multiplier effect’ on ‘recovery’ and ‘development’. Basic education provision

and structural reforms, such as curriculum reform, teacher training, and equal access, can

help to meet other humanitarian and development challenges. Furthermore, peace-

building process in education includes multiple issues related to governance, structural

reforms, funding capital, capacity building, teaching and learning contents, pedagogy and

outcomes for children in its jurisdiction. Peace-building education ranges from conflict-

impacts on the education to immediate program response and long term development

planning (UNESCO, 2011). Therefore, education in emergencies aims to address the

underlying causes of conflict and to work with governmental and non-governmental

actors to build local capacity. Remarkable, education is not a single phenomenon of the

society. It certainly gets affected by other components of the society for instance- politics

and economy as discussed earlier. Education itself is not able to resolve the military

conflict without the support of political, economic and social initiatives (Bush and

Saltarelli, 2000) Collaboration with the NGOs, INGOs, International organization, local

authority, local community following Continuous monitoring of the ongoing process is

important to ensure the best outcome of the education programmes.

In a post-conflict society, educational opportunities can provide a sense of routine and

stability, and mitigate the psychological impact of conflict. UNICEF (2010) suggests that

15


education can prepare students to make survival decisions by strengthening their

problem-solving skills; it also helps to build critical thinking on political messages and

conflicting sources of information. In addition, Barakat et al. (2013) propose that schools

and teachers can be the entry point for the essential support of physical protection,

shelter and psychological concerns to establish child-friendly safe spaces for the

students, alongside the educational training on literacy and numeracy skills. Therefore, a

post-conflict education system must combine the components of sustainable peace and

development such as inclusive education, participation and tolerance, human rights,

conflict resolution, environmental conservation and disaster prevention, with basic

literacy and numeracy skills. These components have to be instilled in the education

system based on the needs of the society. Well-designed education reform must be

implemented soon after the conflict in order to drive society towards sustainable peace

and development (UNICEF, 2010).

The Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE, 2010) has developed a

handbook for engaging global practitioners and policymakers with the aim of ensuring

the right to quality education and to live with dignity in emergencies and through to

recovery. This program suggests the handbook should be implemented, in collaboration

with humanitarian and development organisations, in conflict-affected contexts where it

is highly probable that stability will be interrupted by conflict and human rights violations

(UNICEF, 2000). The INEE Minimum Standard contains five domains:

16

Figure 1: INEE Minimum Standards of Education


Each component describes a specific domain of education reformation activity. First,

‘Access and learning environment’ focuses on the safety and relevant learning

opportunities with linkage of other sectors such as- health, water and nutrition for

overall well-being; second, ‘Teaching and Learning’ includes critical elements of quality

teaching-learning process, curriculum, training, professional developments and supports,

instruction and learning processes etc; third, ‘Teachers and other Educational Personnel’

covers the standards of administration and management of human resources and fourth,

‘Education policy’ focuses on policy formulation, planning and enactment. Finally the fifth

component ‘Foundational standards’ discusses about the coordination mechanism of all

the components and their implementation stages; and analyses the form of community

participation to ensure a holistic quality response to the educational needs.

To sum the impact of education on conflict and peace, Bush and Saltarelli (2000) indicate

the acts of education can manipulate the relationship of people, instead of bringing them

closer together. Education acquires negative faces when endorses inequality in the

society in terms of uneven distribution of education to preserve the privilege,

manipulates the history for cultural repression or produces textbooks promoting ethnic

intolerance, which ends up triggering violence and conflict. On the other hand, Bush and

Saltarelli (2000) recognize the potential of education in contributing peace-building.

Tolerant educational structure gives the positive face to education by promoting

language tolerance, respect for diversity and shared nationality that reinforces peace

within the multiple-identity society.

However, post-conflict education reconstruction for peace-building often faces many

challenges, such as faulty political ideology (Bush and Saltarelli, 2000), funding

17

Figure 2: Two faces of education


constraints, teacher shortages, poor transparency in educational governance, corruption,

and most significantly insufficient capacity to prevent youth from joining armed militias

or criminal activities (World Bank, 2005). When education system gets controlled by the

same political or ideological forces whose foundation is based on intolerance then it

becomes difficult to turn the face of education into the positive one. On the other hand,

Davies (2011, cited in Barakat, 2013) suggests an early focus on dealing with ‘education

in emergencies’ - getting schools into a state of normalcy, decentralising reforms to allow

the local community capacity-building, and ensuring the external support of international

organizations and INGOs. Collaboration of local, national, and international activities is

very important in order to ensure inter-sectoral support and align educational

reconstruction with social and economic development. It is indisputable that many

countries are now under pressure to ensure human rights for their most marginalised

people, including land rights, legal rights, political rights, economic rights, education

rights, and language rights. However, limited resources are a major barrier to achieving

these ends. Furthermore, many governments are not economically stable or capable

enough to develop such policies to satisfy all minorities, ethnic, or language groups. As

Davies and Bentrovato (2011) observe, countries with limited resources often prioritise

increasing enrollment; however, to accelerate peace-building requires reducing

inequality by improving the quality of education.

3.3 Language, ethnicity and peace-building

Global Monitoring Report highlighted identity development as a component of peace-

building. UNICEF (2011) reported language of instruction as a particular area of concern

in schools’ of multilingual societies. Language is the most important cultural tool, and

carries its own cultural values in the form of different linguistic components. Every

person explores their own sense of belonging through these components such as history,

arts, music, and literature. Moreover, language shapes society’s identity and ideology.

Vygotsky (1986, cited in Mohanty, 2010) therefore, considers language to be a medium

of establishing human relationships in a society, in addition to its role in cognitive

development of a human being, Petrovic and Majumder (2010, p.6) agree:

“As language is an important means to acquire and preserve our identity, its role of

mediation among students, schools, and societies becomes highly significant.”

18


Therefore, language must be part of discussions on education and ethnicity (Watson,

2007, p.1), since it is a compulsory element to maintain ethnic identity and culture and

sometimes, according to UNICEF (2000, p. 11), is the only ‘test’ for the existence of

Indigenous groups. Languages shape and are shaped by the thought process of different

linguistic groups, including with regard to how they perceive nature, society, and the

world (Stavenhagen, 1996). Skutnabb-Kangas (1994) considered languages to be

fundamental human rights saying,

“In a civilised state, there is no need to debate the right to maintain and develop the

mother tongue. It is a self-evident, fundamental linguistic human right, it means

the right to learn the mother tongue, orally and in writing, including at least basic

education through the medium of the mother tongue, and to use it in many

official context”. (p.625)

Skutnabb-Kangas (1994) writes that “linguistic human rights” refers to the right of every

minority group to maintain and develop their own language, and implies their right to

establish schools in their own language with control over curricula and teaching. Mother

tongue instruction, therefore, can be used to ensure sustainable quality education for all

linguistic minorities (Ball, 2010). UNESCO (2003) recognizes that mother tongue

education is vital for an effective and child-friendly environment, particularly in early

childhood education (Pinnock, 2009), and should preferably be maintained until the

primary level (Watson, 2007, referenced from UNESCO, 1953). In a culturally and

linguistically diverse community, multilingualism can be an effective method to educate

all children in their mother tongue (an education system that uses two or more

languages as media of instruction can be considered to be bi- or multilingual). In contrast,

Mohanty et al. (2009) argue that in multilingual settings, languages are merely taught as

subjects, rather than used to teach other subjects, which helps the students to achieve

multilingual proficiency and multi-literacy.

In relation to this, multilingual education ensures students’ ability to participate in the

social, political, economic, cultural affairs of the state, as well as their autonomy in

internal administrative matters. Moreover, multilingual education is the path to a

democratic society. As Skutnabb-Kangas (1994) writes,

19


“…also involves guarantees of representation in the political affairs of the state and

the granting of autonomy to administer matters internal to the groups, at least in

the fields of culture, education, religion, information, and social affairs, with the

financial means, through taxation or grants, to fulfil these functions.” (p. 625)

Thus, education should be the medium to achieve bi- or multilingualism in order to

prepare minority children to access other fundamental human rights.

Needless to say, teachers have a very important role to play to support children’s

multilingual learning. Also, Skutnabb-Kangas (1994) emphasized on learning at least one

official language of the country, other than learning the minority mother tongue, which

stresses for the need of bilingual teachers. For instance, they can create multi-linguistic

awareness in the children. Skutnabb-Kangas (1994, p. 626) suggests that bi- or

multilingual teachers don’t need to be skilful in the majority language, but rather in the

minority language. This is because students achieve competence in the majority language

at an advanced level, since the majority language is dominant outside of the classroom,

whereas the minority languages get the lesser exposure in the society. In other words,

students are likely to need greater help from their teachers to achieve a high level of

competence in the minority language.

Skuttnabb-kangas (1994, p. 627)7 argues that mother tongue education should continue

for the first 8 years of schooling, or at least until the primary level, at which point every

student should be expected to become multilingual, irrespective of majority or minority

status (Mohanty, Skutnabb-kangas, Panda, and Philipson, 2009). Skuttnabb-kangas

(1994) also argues that all teachers should be bi- or multilingual, and that foreign

languages should be taught through the mother language or with the help of bi- or

multilingual teachers who are skilled in the students’ mother language. Theoretically, the

purpose of using multilingualism in education is to establish the equal status of all the

society’s languages, and to thereby ensure that their speakers have equal opportunities

in society. In principle, no language is inherently disadvantageous for its speakers and

adopters, and this must be reflected in multilingual policy, such that it fosters respect

towards other cultures, languages, ethnicities, and identities.

7 In this paper, the writer recommended eight steps to ensure an equal chance of learning for both majorities and minorities, however among them, I adopted four steps relevant to his study.

20


On the other hand, language is not a neutral entity and is, in fact, closely linked to

political power (Annamalai, 2003). Bourdieu writes that educational institutions favour

students with linguistic capital. Likewise, economic institutions favour those who already

possess economic capital, which he defines as a criteria of dominant social hegemony. In

the education system, schools are the mediators of the dominant culture; captivate

dominant language as a standard and natural capital. This type of schooling system

demands that all students carry the capital as if they all have equal access to the capital

(Harker, 1984). Although children belong to different backgrounds, schools treat them all

the same way. By simultaneously ignoring some differences and privileging others,

schools thus filter students and reproduce elite privilege in a hierarchical society. For

example, promoting or favouring the majority or elite language in the education system

excludes the minorities or disadvantaged groups from the benefits of cultural and

linguistic capital that is carried by the majority or the elites. At the same time, it

perpetuates inequalities for the children from the non-dominant groups. This is

evidenced and exacerbated by their low success rates on all school exam and tests, by

wrong educational choices after attaining success (occasional), which lead to the

educational dead ends. In the case of overflow of credentials, teachers’ prefers style over

content, which is non-attainable without the appropriate background, and employers’

emphasis on language-related criteria (style, presentation, and language) (Harkar, 1984).

In sum, education can be a useful tool for the peace-building in conflict-affected society.

Particularly, in the case of ethnic-conflict of identity conflict situation, where inequality is

the root cause of the conflict, education’s role is very significant in respect of recognising

all the identities and establish equal opportunities for all. Language is the integral part of

identity formulation since it carries the values and culture of the particular identity

groups. In a multilingual and multi-ethnic society multiple language instructions

reinforces the idea of shared identity (Anderson, 1983). Therefore, to formulate a shared

nationality by ensuring equal status and human rights for all, multilingualism can be a

positive reinforce towards peace-building.

21


4. Methodology

4

4.1 Study introduction and research aim:

This study analysed the educational components of the Peace Accord and the degree to

which they have been institutionalised in Bangladesh’s education policy and curriculum.

It also included interviews with five education professionals to get their insights on the

challenges of policy implementation. This study is not intended to provide any

generalized view of the education system, rather it aims to offer insight into how the

education system has been reformed to develop the situation and reconcile the Pahari-

Bangalee relationship. Findings from the document analysis and the participants’

perception from their real life work experience will assist to get the insight on the

education system of Bangladesh. As this study involves interviewees from different

backgrounds (Government Organization, International Organization, INGO, MLE writer,

and policy maker). Finally, to conclude, this study compares the data gathered from the

document analysis with the data collected from the interviews, in order to provide a

balanced contextual scenario.

4.2 Research questions

From the very beginning, this study was intended to explore the contribution of

Bangladesh’s education system to the peace-building process in the post-conflict

Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) area. However, it initially focused on the reconciliation

process rather concentrating on this issue as a holistic process of peace-building. Later

on, other literatures, previous studies, responses from the interviewees, feedback from

the supervising professors guided me to shift the focus from reconciliation towards the

holistic process of peace-building, which allowed me to analyse the documents and

interview data from a broader perspective. However, this shift could not significantly

change the study’s aim since reconciliation is discussed under the jurisdiction of peace-

building. Therefore, based on my supervisor’s suggestions, I arrived at the following

research question:

To what extent have the education components of the peace accord begun to contribute

to peace-building between the government and the ethnic groups of the CHTs area?

22


Since ‘peace-building’ involves a wide range of aspects, the following four questions were

formulated in order to keep this study focused and to facilitate the investigation of the

main question:

» What were the key educational components of the Peace Accord?

» What are the limitations of the educational components in the Peace Accord?

» In the major stakeholders’ view, to what extent have the education components

of the peace accord been achieved?

» What are the key challenges to ensuring that education contributes to peace-

building?

These questions have been used as a guideline to prepare the interviews, and also to

identify the themes from document analysis and interview transcripts. Furthermore,

these questions sieved the codes during the analysis of the data.

4.3 Research Method

Given the aim of the research, I used a qualitative approach, which has been accepted as

a reliable method for data collection in social studies. I solely agreed to Boodhoo and

Purmessur (2009, p. 6), who concluded that: qualitative research provides a more

realistic feel of the world in contrast to the numerical data and statistical analysis used in

quantitative research. In addition to this realistic feel, qualitative research provides

flexible ways of collecting, analysing, and interpreting data and information. It has an

extensive descriptive capability that follows from an array of primary and unstructured

data collected through a number of alternative data collection methods, which also

facilitate data triangulation. Yin (1994) suggested that qualitative research should involve

multiple sources of evidence (at least two), such as interviews, observations, and physical

artifacts. Therefore, to allow for the expected analytical depth, this research employed

semi-structured interviews and document analysis.

The interpretivist epistemology is described as constructivism. Constructivism extends a

new definition of knowledge based on inter-subjectivity instead of classical notions of

objectivity and truth (Wellington, 2000). Young and Collin (2004) in respect of

constructivism agreed upon that, knowledge is created and sustained by social processes

and that knowledge and social actions intertwine. Burns (2000) suggests that, through

23


the process of these interactions, environmental stimuli are processed by individuals to

create their own meanings. This research followed the constructivist approach, which

ensured the introduction of multiple contradictories, but equally valid accounts of the

same phenomena, representing multiple realities.

4.4 Sampling Procedure

Initially I used convenient sampling to select five participants based on their background,

according to my convenience since I had already had personal contact with them. Only

two people responded positively, while the others declined to be interviewed. In these

circumstances, I introduced snowball sampling, as one of the participants referred three

other participants. Each of the participants’ background combines different perspectives

(international organization, NGO, government organization, policy maker, field worker,

MLE book writer, Indigenous and Bangalee) and ethnic origins with various work

experience, so it was expected that they would provide a multi-dimensional and even

contradictory picture of the issue in some cases. The Convenient Sampling leading to

Snowball sampling ensured that the respondents were sufficiently connected to the area

that I was researching. The following codes were used to refer the participants when

presenting suitable data from the research:

24

Figure 3: Codes Were Used To Highlight Suitable Data


4.5 Data collection tools

The Peace accord, education policy, curriculum and educators were the data sources of

this study. According to Atkinson and Coffey (1997), documents are ‘social facts’ that are

produced, shared, and practised socially. With regard to choosing which documents to

study and analyse, Bowen (2009, p. 33) recommends including only those authentic

documents that are relevant to the research purpose, challenges, and conceptual

framework. In this study, the Peace Accord, the National Education Policy 2010, and the

National Curriculum (primary level) were selected as the documents to analyse. The

Peace Accord has the only version which was produced in the year 1997, whereas the

most recent versions of the National Education Policy 2010 and the National Curriculum

2012 (primary level) were used. All of the documents were produced by the various

Government organizations of Bangladesh. Relatedly, only the primary level curriculum

will be considered as the data collection tool, since this study relies on the proposal to

institute mother tongue education until the primary level suggested by Watson (2007).

Moreover, this study determined criteria to collect perceptual information related to the

context. The interview schedule was chosen to be both in-depth and time-saving. As the

issue I was researching could have caused the participants to face some political and

personal conflicts, I made sure the interview schedule was structured to shed light on

only the facts and information that were necessary to gain an understanding of the issue

at hand. Since the interviews were semi-structured, I was able to elicit in-depth concerns

when necessary. The collected data were narrative and descriptive in nature. The

interview schedule was prepared in light of the research questions as well as in

consultation with the criteria advocated by international journals and handbooks.

4.6 Data collection procedure

I interviewed the participants over the phone and recorded the sessions for further use

and later analysis. The interviewees had the options to give their responses according to

their language of convenience (English or Bangla). Two of the participants responded in

English and the other three responded in Bangla. The duration of the interviews ranged

from 30 to 55 minutes.

25


4.7 Framework of Analysis

Bowen (2009) notes that documents are often used in the qualitative research with other

forms of data in order to compare the findings, so that the research can be free from any

biases and not reliant on any single source of data. In addition, documents analysis

served this study from various functional dimensions. It offered a guideline for what to

ask or observe as part of the research. Similarly, I used the codes emerged from

documents in the interview transcript where appropriate. In this study some of the

interview questions were derived from the analysis of the document.

However, to analyse the data, I particularly used the INEE Minimum Standard for

Education handbook as a guideline to compare the components of quality education. It is

produced by an inter-agency network of practitioners and policy makers that includes

ChildFund International, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Save the Children, the

Open Society Institute (OSI), the Refugee Education Trust (RET), UNESCO, UNICEF,

UNHCR, USAID, and the World Bank. The global implementation of this guideline is

facilitated by an INEE working group that consists of 16 organizations8 that are education

experts and work in the context of conflict and disaster in support of more than 41

agencies, institutions, and organizations. The wide range of the organization ensures the

validity and reliability this project, which is why this study follows the relevant INEE

criteria to analyse the documents.

Document analysis

Bowen (2009, p. 33) suggests that researchers should look at documents with a ‘critical

eye’, even when they are data-rich. I identified each component of the documents that

seemed to relate directly or indirectly to the peace-building process of the CHTs area.

Another consideration when lifting words from the documents was the relationship of

those components to the research questions. As mentioned above, I used The INEE

guidelines to identify the relevant contents of the Peace Accord and the National

Education Policy 2010. In addition, both the documents used in this research had an

8 The working group includes the following 16 organizations- ActionAid, American Institutes of Research (AIR), Basic Education for Afghan Refugees (BEFARe), Family Health International 360 (FHI), Mavikalem Social Assistance and Charity Association, Ministry of Education-Yemen, Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD), Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Plan International, Reach out to Asia (ROTA), Save the Children Australia, Save the Children Norway, UNESCO, UNICEF, War Child Holland, World Vision International.

26


English version, thus it was not necessary to translate them into English, whereas the

curriculum is available only in Bangla.

Interview Data Analysis

The interviews were first time coded from the audio recording to exclude grammatical

and syntactic errors while transcribing. The interviews were transcribed in the language

that they were collected in. I noted key themes during reading the hand-written

transcriptions. The data analysis process did not use any predetermined categories in

order to reach the required level of depth of context. I analysed the interview data via

thematic coding and shorthand notes in the printed transcribed copy. The interview

codes were analysed and compared with the results of the document analysis to enhance

the confidence of the findings of this study. Finally, those codes were grouped into four

(4) themes based on the themes under each question. Since this study includes only five

participants and three documents, no electronic devices were used in the data analysis

process. While coding the interview data, I selected quotes that would be useful to

illustrate the depth of the contents, to emphasise particular issues, or sometimes to

show the differences of thoughts between the participants and translated them (which

were in Bangla) as well as triangulate them with another native Bangla speaker. One

English and one translated (from Bangla) transcriptions of the interviewee responses are

attached in appendix. I translated specific sections according to the research purpose

because the translation process was time consuming.

4.8 Research issues

4.8.1 Ethical considerations

I kept the organizational and personal identities of the participants confidential.

Throughout the paper, they are noted according to their ethnic identity and general

organization type, in order to avoid revealing their identity. Participants were given

information sheets that explained the aims of the study with a consent form and were

asked to read both carefully before signing. Also, they were asked to send the signed

consent form via email. However, two of the interviewees did not have Internet access

and the information sheet was read over the phone. After listening, they agreed to talk

27


and gave oral consent, which is recorded with the interview responses. Participants were

informed about the confidentiality of their identity and their right on withdrawing

themselves at any point of the interview process.

I applied for ethical approval prior to moving forward with this small-scale empirical

study. After analysing the components of this study, the University of Sussex Ethical

Review Committee approved this study as low risk. After getting the approval, I started to

conduct the interviews; the interviewees had already been contacted. Since the

interviewees were expected to share their personal views on the research issues,

organizational permission was not required.

4.8.2 Limitations, conceptual issues and bias

Limitations: there were some significant limitations in this study because I was unable to

be physically present to conduct the interviews; instead the interviews were conducted

through phone calls and over Skype. The interviews over the phone were done at the

convenience of the interviewees. Though I paid proper attention to the call quality, in

some interviews there were technical issues (call drop, low voice quality) that hampered

the focus and flow of the interview. Notably, each respondent, whoever were indigenous

regardless of their social status and work organization, said that their phone was being

tapped, so they could not share some facts. I had to clarify the actual purpose of this

research several times to convince some of them to consent to the interview schedule,

specifically by assuring them that it would only deal with issues related to education, and

that we would not discuss anything political. Nonetheless, this fear of being tapped and

charged by the government for talking about this issue might have affected the contents

and facts they shared.

Conceptual issues: Assessing conceptual equivalence across languages (English and

Bangla) can be complex. During different stages of the research I always gave proper

attention to this concern. The interviews were offered in both English and Bangla,

according to the interviewee’s convenience. From the development of the semi-

structured interview to translating the interview transcription from Bangla to English,

there is also some room for conceptual gaps, although the translated version was

triangulated by me and one of the native Bangla speaker.

28


Bias: Prior to conducting the study I had neither any idea nor any concern regarding this

issue. However, I was empathetic towards Indigenous people and the history of

deprivation and exploitation of Indigenous people by the majority. My concern on this

issue was particularly built up during my International Education and Development MA

study. I likely started to conduct the interviews from the perspective of my pre-

conceptions, but this effect was neutralised because of the multiple views that I got from

the interviewees based on their own diverse experiences and backgrounds. Moreover,

while analysing the data, I was careful and open to exploring the differences of

perspectives and their positionality.

29


5. Results and Findings

5

5.1 Results of document analysis

This section will illustrate the results of the document analysis. As mentioned above, this

study is using three documents- CHTs Peace Accord, Education Policy-2010 and Primary

Level Curriculum 2012. Amongst, the Peace Accord was prepared by National Committee

on Chittagong Hill Tracts and signed by Government of Bangladesh and Indigenous

political parties, with the intension to uphold Political, Cultural, Social and Economic

rights of all the indigenous people living in the CHTs. Bangladesh government has

produced the Education Policy-2010, with the aim of reforming the education system

ensuring the rights of every child to the quality education with equal pace and capacity of

the global community. The government has refined the primary level curriculum to

follow the accordance with the Education Policy-2010. The documents were looked up

carefully by the background of author, main idea and significance. After that, I coded the

relevant contents of the documents and created major themes out of those codes. Then I

compared the documents based on those themes and presented accordingly.

Multilingual education

One of the educational components of the peace accord is, primary education in mother

language. Accordingly, the Education Policy emphasizes on the mother tongue education

for the indigenous students. To provide the quality education for them this policy also

mentioned about support actions to turn the multilingual education in success, those

are- preparing texts and material in their language engaging the indigenous community

and preparing teachers from indigenous groups. However, the curriculum does not

include any multilingual textbooks or material.

Involvement of Local Community

Another component of the Peace Accord is to transfer the primary, vocational and

secondary education to the Hill district Council, whereas the Education Policy states

about ensuring the involvement of the local community in the multilingual textbook and

material writing committee. Besides, the policy also states the commitment to train local

30


teachers in order to increase the number of multilingual teachers. Since, curriculum

presents the aim and objectives of education, it does not include any terms related to

this.

Poverty

The Education Policy mentions the strategies to deal with the poverty of both the

teachers and students such as- providing residential facility to the poor students and

teachers. Building new schools in the remote areas are also termed in the policy

whereas, the Peace Acord includes none of such terms.

Monitoring

In the Education Policy, it has been said that special monitoring mechanism will be

provided for the primary education, particularly in the backward areas, which provision is

absent in the peace accord.

Cultural representation

The primary level curriculum contains following subjects- Bangla, Mathematics, English,

Bangladesh and Global Studies, Science, Religious and Moral Education, Physical

Education, Fine Arts and Crafts and Music. Amongst, only Bangladesh and Global Studies

includes indigenous issues in the form of Aims and Objectives, Learning Outcome,

Teaching content, and Teaching- Learning Activity, which starts from Grade-4.

Although the Education Policy states that indigenous children will get the opportunity to

learn about their own religion and respective values, whereas, the primary level

curriculum ensures that opportunity on for four major religion (Islam, Hindu, Buddhist

and Christianity).

Besides, in the Health and Physical Education section, the policy states regarding the

inclusion of indigenous games in the primary and secondary level, wherein the primary

curriculum this provision was nowhere stated.

In the subject titled ‘Fine Arts and Crafts’, the policy mentioned creating ‘special

opportunities’ for the small ethnic groups, which is unclear in respect of how the

opportunity will be created. Moreover, in the primary curriculum in the ‘Teaching-

31


learning Activities’ or in the ‘Learning Outcome’ does not reflect this terms mentioned in

the policy.

In the ‘Music’ section, the reformed primary level curriculum there is no representation

of any indigenous songs, instead all the ‘Bangla’ songs were included from Grade 1-5.

Summary of document analysis

The peace accord only includes two terms on education- first, primary education in

mother language and second, transfer of the vocational primary and secondary

education to the Hill District Council. Other than that, this accord does not indicate to any

qualitative change in the mainstream education such as- respectful representation of

their culture and recognition of their identity in the curriculum. Since the peace accord is

considered as the guideline of peace-building process in the CHTs, the lack of appropriate

recommendation for the education reformation might turn the reformation process

sluggish and vicious. Although the Education Policy states some timely and effective

provisions such as- representation of indigenous people in the MLE committee, some

other provisions seem elusive, providing ‘special monitoring’ for example. Moreover, the

primary level curriculum seemingly not interdisciplinary since only one subject includes

the ethnicity issue in the learning outcome and contents and reflects the Education policy

in a narrow way.

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5.2 Findings

The objective of this study is to investigate the contributions of the Bangladeshi

education system to the implementation of the CHT peace accord, 18 years after its initial

declaration. To develop this understanding of the education system, I analysed the data

in three stages. The interview responses were transcribed, coded, and translated. This

section presents the themes emerged from interview data analysis according to the

research questions. Themes are sometimes overlapping, since the interviewees have

seen the same issue from different perspectives. In order to analyse the context to the

best possible extent, it was necessary to present these different perspectives separately

according to the research question with which the most closely fit. The following

sections, therefore, are divided based on research questions, answered with some

thematic explanation.

Question 1: What were the key educational components of the peace accord?

The ‘‘educational component’’ is the focus of this question, and refers to those elements

that are rooted in the inequalities of the Bangladesh education system - identified by

Indigenous leaders as obstacles to their educational achievement and a force of

marginalization. The respondents were asked to define their perception of the existing

educational components of the peace accord. Based on an analysis of their responses,

the major theme under this question is Language and Local Authority.

Education in the mother tongue

Similar to the findings from document analysis, the interviewees agreed that the Peace

Accord includes only one article on education. All the respondents agreed that the peace

accord emphasized the inclusion of the mother tongue at the primary level. The other

two sections of the peace accord deal with vocational training and secondary education,

are difficult to follow and describe since it does not include any additional guideline on

planning and materialization of these provisions.

“For the education component, focus remains on empowering the Hill District Councils

by transferring the management authority of primary, secondary and vocational

education and imparting primary education in mother tongue.” (IOB)

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According to the literature review in section two, there is ample evidence that early

childhood education should be provided in the student’s mother tongue. Ball (2010)

argues that the mother tongue is fundamental to ensure the quality of education for

linguistic minorities. UNESCO (2003) added that the mother tongue is a vital component

of a child-friendly learning environment. Watson (2007) considers language to be key to

discussions of ethnicity and education, since language retains the culture and identity of

a particular ethnicity and transfers them to future generations. The INI added that,

“Culture and values can be alive as the by-product of multilingual education…on one

hand, it (multilingualism) will ensure quality education for a child, simultaneously,

local culture, literature, socio-economic condition will be continued to be

preserved.” (INI)

“We want government to promote our language till Grade-10. This is to save our

literature, language and culture”. (GOI)

Thus, a multilingual education system can teach the values of all cultures to the children.

This can be an effective method to ensure the co-existence of all cultures and languages

in the society, since language plays a key role in forming a particular community identity.

In Bangladesh, Bangla is the majority language, and dominant Bangalee nationalism has

emerged from this language. This identity has flourished through practicing the Bangla

language and exposure to its literature in the education system.

Additionally, schools define students’ sense of belonging, teaching them who they are or

are not, what is socially acceptable and what is not. This is often mediated through the

language instruction policies (Omoeva and Hatch, 2015). Thus, being the most important

cultural tool, language has sometimes been used as an agent to benefit the elites or the

majority of society by legalizing and legitimizing their linguistic capital inside the

classroom, while simultaneously marginalising minorities. When the majority or elite

language dominates in the education system, those children who carry the associated

linguistic and cultural capital attain higher level learning skills compared to minorities

who do not have access to the same capital. Consequently, the minorities are

disadvantaged in the job market and move towards collective disempowerment as

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inequalities are reinforced. These factors seem to be behind the peace accord’s emphasis

on the mother tongue in primary education.

Local Authority

Another component of the peace accord that some of the interviewees mentioned is the

handover of responsibility for secondary education to the Hill District Councils (HDC).

Three HDCs, in Rangamati, Bandarban, and Khagrachhori, were formed in accordance

with the peace accord, and started to function in 1998 as per Chittagong Hill Tracts

Regional Council Act of 1998 (Act 12). The provision provides for the transfer of

management authority for primary, secondary, and vocational education. However, the

provision remains unclear in terms of how the HDCs will collaborate and coordinate with

other national and international organizations for the betterment of the education of

Indigenous people. Additionally, the provision does not indicate the jurisdiction of this

local authoritative committee, supporting this view of an Indigenous government officer

(GOI), who said, “This provision is very unclear to me, and does not include any clear

description of the procedure.” He mentioned that there are no specific functions that the

councils are supposed to follow. Currently the council is organising scholarships for

Indigenous students in Grade 3 and Grade 7, which add to government scholarships for

Grade 5 and Grad 8. In addition, the councils are empowered to appoint and transfer

teachers who are funded by the government. Other than these functions, the

government has not made given any direction regarding the councils’ functional activity

in the domain of vocational and secondary education.

To ensure the effective participation and contribution of the councils as administrative

bodies the accord must include explicit statements on the councils’ role in the education

system for Indigenous people. This sentiment is reflected in the following statement by

the international organization official:

“The Accord should have indication of how the HDCs will be capacitated to ensure

coordination with ministries of education and Primary and Mass Education for

overseeing the process of appropriate provisions of vocational, primary and

secondary education, and using mother-tongue instructions at the primary

education level.” (IOB)

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The Indigenous INGO worker added, “The present HDC committee is not elected, rather

selected by the government.” This discards committee’s liability to the Indigenous people

but to the government. This has the effect of making the committee responsible to the

government, as opposed to the Indigenous people it is supposed to serve. The actual

intention of setting up a local government council should function freely, without any

pressure from the central government in order to ensure the rights and betterment of

the local people. Empowering the HDCs seems to ensure the decentralization of

education system, which allows for local involvement in education. Local people’s

engagement in their schools’ policies and curriculum may prove to be the best way to

reduce inequality, however in reality, the HDCs are only empowered because of a

government announcement. In the absence of clear instructions regarding the scope and

nature of HDCs’ activities in education, government involvement could be detrimental to

the actual motive of empowering local governance.

Quota system

This was an interesting issue to analyse, since it is not directly related to the curriculum,

but demands a great emphasis on policy. It could be argued that the quota system is a

pathway to establish equity in a system that is not presently providing equal

opportunities for all. While it is quite evident that reforming an education system is a

long-term process a quota system can play a supportive role in appropriate cases.

The Indigenous government official (GOI) explained,

“The type of educational facilities and environment that the Indigenous children

obtain in CHTs are much less than the educational facilities in Dhaka city. How

would they (Indigenous students) compete with them (students of Dhaka city)? It

is not possible to survive in that unfair competition. That’s why government

should amend a quota system with an acceptable ratio and also should ensure the

proper execution of it.”

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Question 2: What are the limitations of the educational components in the peace

accord?

The purpose of this question is to examine other factors likely to foster inequalities

related to educational opportunities, participation in the classroom, and educational

achievement. The participants offered their observations on those components that the

accord neglected to include. The peace accord carries the greatest value in the peace-

building process in the CHTs. It also offers guidelines for obligatory reform of the

education system, which seems to have failed to provide equal opportunities for all the

children irrespective of their gender, race, religious affiliation, ethnicity, and socio-

economic status. Thus it is very important to explore the ‘limitations’ of the peace accord

in guiding the education system towards equality for all children.

Culture

‘Culture’ is a dominant component of a curriculum, as this builds the identity of a nation.

The concern should be whose culture the curriculum represents, and how the cultures of

a country are portrayed. Cultural representation in the curriculum offers a form of

recognition for different cultural groups. The Indigenous official from the INGO agreed

with this line of thinking, and pointed out the importance of cultural integration in an

education system. The official suggested that the peace accord had neglected to include

this component. He added,

“If a child does not find the reflection of his life in what he is learning or in the

teaching material, then they lose their interest in education. They do not belong to

Bangla culture, they come from Chakma, Marma or another ethnic culture, right?

They even rarely interact with Banglaee people. Then why would they like to learn

about Bangla culture?” (INI)

A child may be driven to drop out when they get demotivated because their education

does not relate to their own life experiences. The main objective of education should be

preparing a child for forthcoming local and global challenges. When the official

curriculum carries the values and the capital of a particular group (usually of the

dominant group), the children who do not belong to that group and culture often

experience a culturally hostile environment at school, both from their teachers and their

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peers (Sullivan, 2002). Thus, a lack of cultural capital may cause lower achievement and

eventually may induce students to dropout. Ignoring these facts, the peace accord did

not include any component that deals with the cultural portrayal of different ethnic

identities in the curriculum and textbooks. Nevertheless, Rival (1996, p. 153) argues that

formal schooling creates the conditions for dominant identities to undermine the

continuity of minority identities, and plays a vital role in cultural production in

contemporary societies. Thus, the International Organization official (IOB) argued that

the curriculum should ensure the ‘true representation of cultures with appropriate

weight’.

This educational component does not seem to be emphasized in the peace accord and

the accord seems to have failed to take note of the importance of education in

recognizing human rights and eliminating inequalities that have persisted for decades.

Question 3: In the major stakeholders’ view, to what extent have the education

components of the peace accord been achieved?

This question signposts the main objective of this study. The interviewees shared their

point of view according to their ideological background and work experience. Their

insights are vital to this study because of the complex diversity of issues that are

involved. The opinions of the interviewees offered a holistic picture that explored the

differences between policy statements and the government’s demonstrated initiatives

and attitude.

Quality education

In most societies, unequal access to quality education is a pathway to marginalization.

While the language of instruction is one of the keys to quality education (INEE, 2010),

promoting mother tongue education can be a way to ensure equality in education by

reducing inequality in students’ learning opportunities. The document analysis shows

that the Education Policy of 2010 emphasizes the importance of Indigenous language and

culture, which reflects the educational components of the peace accord, also states that

the participation of respective indigenous communities will be ensured in the process of

producing multilingual books. The aims and objectives of primary education restate the

commitment to facilitate Indigenous people’s education in their mother tongue.

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Regarding this provision, the Bangalee official from the international organization

expressed her confusion saying,

“…there (education policy 2010) remains dispute over whether the provision should

be education in mother tongue (medium of instruction) or mother tongue

education (literacy in mother tongue).” (IOB)

Regarding primary education, in the specific section that deals with Indigenous people,

the policy lays out the guidelines for ensuring mother language education for Indigenous

people, for example by preparing textbooks in their language, providing teachers, and

ensuring the participation of the local communities in textbook preparation. Almost all of

the interviewees agreed on the importance of government initiatives to produce

multilingual books, and they described the ongoing projects on developing new pre-

primary and primary textbooks (Grade 1-3).

“The Government is really focused on ensuring MLE (multilingual education) for small-

ethnic groups from the pre-primary level till Grade-3.” (GOB)

These textbooks are being prepared in five Indigenous languages, three of which are of

CHTs’- by a special committee that includes representatives from those Indigenous

communities. GOB reported that, “We are now working on the textbook script and

hopefully we will publish them in the year 2016”.

With regard to the discussion in Question 2, life-relevant education motivates a child to

learn and succeed, and gives the child a sense of belonging in the society. A curriculum

and the associated teaching materials must therefore recognize and reflect the life and

culture of a child; they should address children’s learning needs based on the society that

they belong to.

Researcher: Could you please explain, the multilingual textbooks you are preparing

are these the translated version of present textbooks or newly written books with

different content related to their (the students’) life?

INI: No, these are not the translated versions of the Bangla textbooks. Our MLE

(Multilingual Education) committee, which combines both Bangalee and ethnic

intellectuals, has formed a new curriculum for them (indigenous children). These

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textbooks are produced according to that curriculum, which represents the culture

and lifestyle of the ethnic people in such a way that students can relate the

contents to their daily life experience.

Supporting this viewpoint, the GOI added,

“The contents of these new textbooks (MLE textbooks) are not the translated versions

of the Bangla textbooks. The contents are developed following the ‘aims and

objectives’ and the ‘learning outcome’ of the curriculum, but following Indigenous

culture and lifestyles….we are also preparing other learning materials like poem

books and picture books.”

This implies that the government has reformed the curriculum and the textbook contents

in order to improve the representation of ethnic cultures and identities. Nonetheless, the

next concern might be how the students will cope with the Bangla-medium education

system after studying in their mother tongue from pre-primary to Grade-3. This transition

is significant and will have to be part of the MLE’s planning, in order to ensure the

smooth educational transition from MLE to the mainstream education. A failure to plan

for the transition could cause frustration and increase the dropout rate of the minority

children. GOI and GOB both mentioned the ‘Bridging Program’ and emphasised its

importance in support of the MLE program:

“…then (after Grade-3) they (the students) will shift to the mainstream through the

‘Bridging Program’, because they have to learn the majority language to manage

their livelihood.” (GOB)

“We have planned the MLE program in such way that the proportion of Bangla

(language) will increase every year, gradually. In the pre-primary the proportion of

Indigenous language and Bangla will be 95 and 5, which changes to 90 and 10 in

Grade-1. This is how the amount of Bangla will increase gradually.” (GOI)

These initiatives seem to be positive towards multilingualism, nonetheless, promoting

these languages till Grade-3 does not seem to have a strong effect on the survival of

these languages. Moreover, the mother tongue should be the language of instruction till

the primary level (Watson, 2007) to ensure students’ access to sustainable quality

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education (Ball, 2010). Since the Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) is planning to

upgrade the primary education level from Grade 5 to Grade 8, according to international

standards, MLE education should be upgraded to Grade 8 as well. In support of this view,

GOI added,

“We want this program (MLE Program) to run till Grade 10, at least as a language

subject. It will help our language and culture to survive, otherwise learning these

language till Grade 3 will not make any significant contribution to these

languages.”

From the document analysis and the participants’ opinion, it is evident that the

government of Bangladesh is already proceeding towards multilingual education though

the NCTB with seemingly organized planning. The steps that they are taking seem to be

increasing enrolment and decreasing the dropout rate and repetition rate.

Unity in diversity

Effective peace-building requires more than simply meeting the educational needs of the

minority. It is also important to recognize that their identity is equal to that of the

majority. The majority’s sense of acceptance for the minority’s existence in a multiple

jurisdiction should be build up. Accordingly, the mainstream curriculum is responsible for

the respectful transmission of not only the minority language, but also the religion,

culture, and belief system. Only when these can coexist with those of the majority or the

dominant entity, can the minorities and majorities enjoy truly equal status. One of the

emphasised objectives of the Education Policy of 2010 is to develop ‘non-communalism’

and ‘fellow-feeling’ through the education system. However, all the respondents

expressed their disappointment about the implementation of this policy statement into

practice.

The present education policy necessarily emphasizes literacy, numeracy, professional

skills, and updated knowledge of science and technology, in order to help foster the

development of future generations as skilled human resources. Indeed, the education

system addresses the issues of technical and vocational education, so that a large

proportion of the youth population can turn into professional and skilled resources. In

support of this view, the Government official (GOB) explains,

41


“The contents of environment, ICT, gender balance, morality, mainly the goals of

MDG are the priority of the curriculum.”

These contents are vital for sustainable development in the twenty-first century, as well

as to decrease unemployment. The curriculum seeks to support peace-building by

fostering respect for diversity and intercultural exchange. However, while building up a

developed Bangladesh by eradicating poverty, communalism, corruption, and

backwardness is the main focus of the current education system, the curriculum content

does not seem to observe inter-cultural values; instead it plays a non-inclusive role by

upholding the majority ‘Bengali’ identity. Promoting a shared national identity based on

respect for diversity should be the fundamental goal of education for peace-building, as

Davis and Bentroveto (2011) have argued.

INI: The idea of nationality must include the country’s ethnic identities, in order to

inform the majority about the existence of Indigenous people.

Researcher: Why are you saying that? Are not the majority people aware of the

existence of the Indigenous people?

INI: Yes they are, but I mean to say they do not look at us with respect. We are not

recognized as citizens of this country, rather they see us as second-class citizens. If

the nationality comprises all existing identities of the country then they might

perceive us as equal to them.

“The texts, characters, illustrations, substances, and learning goals are not inclusive

of the ethnic identities. With a dominant national ideology, the national

curriculum celebrates the Bengali identity and do not adequately represent the

minority ethic identities…. For example, all the stories and poems are written by

Bengali writers. The history and geography lessons do not provide insights on the

living conditions of the tribal communities.” (IOB)

In contrast to this view, GOB pointed out that the national curriculum has included

Indigenous language and culture in ‘Bangla’ and in ‘Bangladesh and Global studies’

subjects.

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The above discussion suggests that the curriculum emphasizes employment over peace-

building. Indeed, eradicating unemployment plays a positive role in the dynamics of

social inclusion; however, unequal access to cultural capital can hinder a particular

group’s ability to attain the skills that are relevant to the labour market (Omoeva and

Hatch, 2015), which apparently generates grievances. The education system, with its’

economic value, must harness the creative and productive potential of a nation, against

the value of providing quality education for all regardless race, culture, or religion.

Education should not be used as a tool to separate the elites from the masses, rather it

should be used to ensure respectful representation of all societal members, for example

in the textbooks. As Reimers (2006) says, education system must infuse a shared

national identity through symbolizing respect for diversity and a sense of global

relationship. In order to do that, LNI suggested,

“Indigenous Peoples (experts on behalf of them) should be involved in the curriculum

and textbooks formulation process to ensure inclusion of multicultural and

multilingual values.”

Therefore, it is necessary to include indigenous people in the curriculum committees to

ensure the inclusion of ethnic languages, culture, and religion in the curriculum.

Inefficiency

Throughout the interview session, every interviewee agreed with the government

initiatives that have been taken to make the education system more inclusive and

multicultural, however, interestingly, everyone mentioned the inefficiency of the

organisations and committees that are involved in the education system. The responses

seem to be influenced by the interviewees’ work experience and ideological viewpoint.

Thus, these responses does not answer question 3 directly but offers us an understanding

of the actions of these organizations and what obstacles the government faces to create

a successful story.

Inefficiency of local government-

The foremost issue that the interviewees raised was the inefficiency of local government.

To understand social values and complexity in order to achieve a democratic polity, the

43


local government has a significant role to play along with the central government. As per

the peace accord, the Bangladesh government has shifted control of secondary education

to the Hill District Council (HDC). Since this council is not elected, but selected by the

government, council members are afraid to take any action that goes against the

interests of the government- as stated by INI. However, in the view of the interviewees,

the council has failed to meet their responsibility to ensure a high quality of education for

Indigenous people:

“HDCs lack appropriate technical capacity and human resources to manage and

coordinate these subjects (vocational and secondary education)”. (IOB)

Inefficiency of the Curriculum Authority-

Besides, to form a new curriculum - especially textbooks and other teaching materials for

the ethnic minorities – the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) has

formulated a separate committee, comprised of members of every ethnic group along

with the Bangla. Interestingly, both the Bangalee and the Indigenous government official

suggested that the curriculum committee is not well-prepared, due to a lack of

knowledge and experience. While the Indigenous official raised a point on government

officials regarding the inefficient of, the Banglaee official did the same on Indigenous.

“We had been appointed to the committee in the year 2013, but they (the

government) did not call us till 2014, and there were only three workshops that

we attended. We started working in 2015.”(GOI)

“The Indigenous people we are working with to formulate a curriculum for them, they

are not skilled and trained enough to do the job.” (GOB)

The government official (Indigenous) added,

“I will not say I am a curriculum specialist, I will rather introduce myself as a MLE

book writer.” (GOI)

Thus despite initiating some efforts to materialize the educational components of the

peace accord, the local authority and the curriculum committee are failing to fully meet

their responsibilities. While inefficiency is significant in terms of their knowledge,

44


experience, and time constraints; the actual level of commitment from the government

authority is also questionable.

“The translation of policy into practice with adequate administrative, logistical, and

human resource provisions (appointment of teachers from the specific language

groups, training of the teachers on the language-inclusive mother-tongue

education approach etc.) remains elusive.” (IOB)

On the other hand, LNI suggested for the representation of the indigenous people in the

education policy and curriculum committee which will ensure the diversity in the

education system which will be monitored regularly.

“Representatives of Indigenous Peoples should be involved in national committees

and mechanisms to take part in the monitoring process.”

Question 4: What are the key challenges to ensuring that education contributes to

peace-building?

This question aims to elicit responses related to the potential obstacles to the

reformation of education to serve the peace process. This will assist both with policy

making and with the implementation process based on the concerns expressed around

multilingual education. Theoretically, a multilingual country is suggested to introduce

multilingualism and multiculturalism in the education system by Skutnabb-Kangas (1994),

but mostly such countries lack sufficient human and economic resources to make this a

reality. This also sometimes results from some other undeniable limitations, for example,

negative attitudes and political disinterest. To bridge the multilingualism theory with the

practice and to move towards a possible solution, or to minimize the theory/practice gap

to the highest possible extent, these limiting facts have to be explored in further detail.

Lack of Resources

While analysing the data, this theme of ‘lack of resources’ was the most significant one

presented by all the interviewees – not only in responses to this question, but also in the

responses to the others. This theme’s recurrence is unsurprising, since Bangladesh is a

developing country and already striving against myriad challenges with limited resources.

Different types of resources are needed to reconstruct an education system, particularly

45


after a period of instability, including financial, physical, and human resources. It is

evident that the Bangladeshi government has several plans to reconstruct the education

system as multilingual; nonetheless, the question comes at the point in those plans’

development where they face a scarcity of resources. While the enrolment rate in

primary education has increased remarkably, the overall quality of education has not

improved at the same pace.

Lack of Physical Resources-

There is no room to debate that physical resources such as teaching materials,

equipment, supplies, communications infrastructure etc. are vital for a child-friendly

learning environment. It is also evident that a conflict-affected society suffers damages

everywhere including educational structures. The local education system was particularly

affected by the CHTs conflict. During the interviews, the INGO official (INI) suggested that

distance, the classroom environment hinders the access, and a lack of furniture hinder

the access of a child to education. In response to this, GOB said, “the government is also

focusing on road construction and setting up deep tube wells in order to solve the

transportation issue and water scarcity.” Certainly, the lack of physical resources has a

negative impact on the quality of education, which eventually results in an increased of

dropouts. Data shows that nearly 65 percent of parents in CHTs reported about

discontinuation of their children’s education before primary. Among the reasons behind

this situation, a lack of physical resources also contributed (HDRC, 2009).

Lack of Human Resources-

To introduce a multilingual education system takes both material support and human

resources. In Bangladesh, the multilingual curriculum and textbooks are being introduced

for the very first time. It is no wonder that the multilingual book-writing project is also

facing several resource-related issues. Very few education professionals have knowledge

and experience relevant to multilingual education- agreed by all the interviewees.

Similarly, Indigenous people are also inexperienced with curriculum development since

they have rarely worked on a curriculum committee, as was discussed in relation to

Question 3. In particular, the Bangalee Government official (GOB) described his

experience with producing the MLE materials:

46


“This whole process is full of challenges. We are preparing the script for MLE books,

yet don’t know where we would print them. We need a printing press to print

them, but we do not have any idea where would we get those fonts.” (GOB)

This situation can create numerous challenges to implementing the newly prepared

curriculum and textbooks for the Indigenous children.

On the other hand, teachers are the bridge between the students and the curriculum. It

is up to teachers to practice and convey the values and principles that a curriculum

embodies and communicates through its textbooks. According to GOB, the government

has recruited many secondary level students in the primary schools to meet gender

equity who are not even sensitive to their own social and political values, as stated by

GOB. Now, the bigger challenge comes with the quality of the teachers who are expected

to implement the new curriculum. When an education system undertakes reforms and

adopts new concepts, the teachers’ role becomes more critical, since they are the ones

who are required to implement the changes successfully. Interviewees were keenly

aware of the fact that without support from qualified teachers, the move towards

multilingualism would not be successful. On the other hand, teachers’ knowledge of

multilingual pedagogies or how to teach multilingual classes with various materials- is

also questionable since they do not have any prior experience of teaching using

multilingual materials. Under these circumstances, the need for teacher training is high.

It is important that the curriculum committee prepare teacher-training modules and

evaluate the teaching-learning process at least every term, and share the best practices

in the particular area of pedagogies. GOB has described government initiatives to train

teachers and the procedure for a teacher survey.

“We have forthcoming programs to train local teachers on MLE pedagogy and the

books are going to be published (Grade 1-3) in the year 2016. This will be

conducted for both the Bangalee and the Indigenous teachers in phases….the

government is now surveying the number of teachers available from each

linguistic group.” (GOB)

Adding to this, INI proposed a solution to train teachers without introducing any special

program. Since there are government run training institutes for primary school teachers

47


in every district, it is possible to include the theoretical and practical components of

multilingual education in the teachers’ training syllabi. In contrast to this view, the GOI

said that they did not have any ideas for upcoming teacher-training programs.

“Other than introducing a particular teacher training program, the C-in-Ed9

(certificate in Education) training should comprise the Indigenous concerns in the

content in order to disseminate the ideas to all of the teachers across every corner

of Bangladesh.” (INI)

Moreover, very few Indigenous teachers can read and write in their own language. The

reason is that these teachers were not educated through a multilingual education

system, but instead through mainstream Bangla-medium schools.

GOB: There is a significant lack of MLE teachers. Although all of them can speak their

languages, very few of them can read and write them…. Besides, even if we

prepare the books and materials, there is a lack of teachers who can implement

them appropriately.

Researcher: That’s interesting! Do you have any observations on why this is the case?

GOB: Yes… yes, we do. Because they did not get any opportunity to learn their own

language as the education system did not allow them to do so. The language of

instruction was Bangla throughout their educated life. So how would they be able

to learn to read and write their own language? (The idea that) I will study in

Chakma language, (or that) I will study in Murang language - this is entirely a new

concept.

It is not difficult to actualize multilingualism. First, the government has to survey the

number of multilingual students in each school. After that, Indigenous teachers must go

for training phase by phase. INI stated that all of the languages could be covered by

appointing only 9 teachers to 45 schools. Since these Indigenous teachers can already

9 This program is offered by The National Academy for Primary Education to the primary school teachers in Bangladesh. This institution functions as an autonomous body for training, research, academic supervision and educational management of primary education in Bangladesh. This http://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1145&context=ejie

48

http://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1145&context=ejie


speak in their languages, only a few months of language training will enable them to read

and write in their languages.

In sum, the Bangladeshi government is moving towards multilingualism with a multi-

dimensional scarcity of resources. Although their efforts, such as constructing

infrastructure, surveying for teachers, and planning on future training, seem positive, a

lack of skilled professionals and teachers, along with poor infrastructure, will likely hinder

and prolong the reconstruction of this sector. The government must plan how to

harmonize and align the limited resources in order to get the best results.

Value of the Languages

With the exception of INI, all the participants mentioned that ethnic people are

interested in economic perspectives on their language. A language may have both the

culture and economic value. When speaking about education, the economic value of a

language comes up rather than the cultural value among parents. People value education

as a pathway to economic prosperity. If a language does not carry any value in the future

job market then it becomes unusable to the learners and impractical for those who

expect education to prepare them to be valuable human capital as stated by IOB. In light

of these facts, all respondents (except GOB) suggested that ethnic people are not

inspired to learn their own language through the education system since these languages

are neither valued by the education system itself nor by the economy. Board exams are

also conducted in the national language (Bangla).

GOB: Indigenous people are not interested in learning their own language, rather

they are interested in learning Bangla and English through the education system.

Researcher: Why is that so? Why do you think they don’t want to learn their own

language?

GOB: The reason is clear, because they would not get any job learning their own

language. They need to learn the majority language or an international one to get

a good job.

“One of the significant problems (regarding mother language education) is that they

(Indigenous people) will ask- would we get any job (learning their own language)?

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What is the point of learning this language? We will be weak in Bangla and

English.” (GOI)

The solution that the government came up with was to employ Indigenous personnel

from each community on the curriculum and book-writing committees, so that altogether

they can form a standard version of these languages. This suggests that the government

has started this project with notable preparation and is also continuing with a positive

attitude and good efforts.

There are defined competencies for Bangla and English, such as that children will be able

to identify letters, read words and sentences, and write Bangla and English alphabets. But

there are no set competencies or clear learning outcomes for the minority languages,

which are not assessed on the Primary Completion Exam. As a result, no educational

value is attached to the use of ethnic minority children’s mother tongue. Till now, only lip

service has been paid to mother tongue instruction for ethnic minority children. Ideally,

to encourage Indigenous people to learn their own languages, it is important to add

educational and economic value to them. Practically speaking, of course, it may not be

easy to add educational or economic value to every one of these languages, not least

because, as both the Indigenous and Banglaee Government officials mentioned, there are

so many dialects of each Indigenous language. Unlike with Bangla, which has a standard,

official form to use, it is very difficult to find a standard form for Indigenous languages,

which have diverse dialects for different ‘para’ (communities). Moreover, the number of

language users is not significant enough for us to detect a standard form that is spoken

by the majority.

“Every one of the communities uses their own dialect like Bangla language. But

Bangla has a standard form for speaking and writing. This is not the case for these

(Indigenous) languages. Moreover, there is no majority group that will assist in

developing such a standard version.” (GOI)

Nonetheless, the INGO official (INI) took an opposing view, arguing that “...they

(Indigenous children) do not want to learn Bangla, they hardly have contact with

Bangalee people.” Negative attitudes towards Bangla also hinder the process of and

actual motives for multilingual education, because minorities need to learn Bangla to

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access secondary education, as well as to access additional literatures such as- story

books, journals, newspapers etc. that are available only in this language. Moreover, they

need Bangla in order to enter the future job market wherein Bangla is the only official

native language.

Constitutional recognition

The Constitution of Bangladesh embodies and lays out the fundamental values and

principles according to which a state is governed. The state’s obligations are also

determined by the Constitution. Some of the participants in this study (those of

Indigenous background) argued that the governmental policies are driven by the

Constitutional amendments. Therefore those issues are highly emphasized when

recognized by the constitution. Although, a large number of Indigenous people have

been living in the CHTs area, the Constitution and other laws do not recognize their

Indigenous identity yet.

“If the Constitution recognizes our rights, language, culture, and identity then it will

have an impact everywhere.” (INI)

The Constitution of Bangladesh does not recognize them as with one particular term, as

they would like, and instead identifies them with the terms ‘small ethnic groups’,

‘minorities,’ as well as Indigenous in some cases. Further, the land rights, political rights,

exclusion of army camps from the CHTs area are the core of the peace accord, alongside

the educational components. How the Constitution and related policies treat the human

rights of Indigenous people is indicative of the attitudes of the government toward them.

“It is possible to prepare a multicultural curriculum. If the policy makers keep

believing in ‘Unity in Diversity’ then they will give recognition to these (Indigenous)

languages and cultures to let them live.” (INI)

It is undeniable that education cannot build peace by itself when these people are still

deprived of their human rights due to other social, political, economic, and cultural

constraints. Indigenous peoples’ linguistic, identity, cultural, religious and other human

rights must be recognized through related laws and amendments. Accordingly,

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introducing a monitoring team to observe the enactment of the laws will secure the

procedure, which must ensure the representation of the Indigenous people.

Poverty

Although the theme of ‘poverty’ is not a component of the curriculum, but it is an

integral part of education policy. The poverty of both parents and teachers affects the

quality and quantity of students’ education. Parental poverty is one of the leading

reasons that children drop out in significant numbers before completing primary school,

and also for lower levels of achievement in class. In their interviews, INI and GOB

emphasized the effects of poverty and the importance of eradicating poverty to increase

the sustainable quality of education:

“Poverty of the students hinders the access of the students to education.” (INI)

On the other hand, teacher quality and investment is an important component for peace-

building. Increasing teachers’ pay motivates them, attracts more qualified teachers, and

improves the incentive to teach in underserved and remote areas, and to teach

disadvantaged groups.

“We have to decrease students’ poverty and teachers’ poverty. We have to increase

the quality of teachers’ livelihoods. We need to invest in education to ensure

peace in the family, society, and in the country.” (GOB)

Analysing the Education Policy shows that the government has various plans to deal with

poverty and lower the dropout rate, for example by providing lunch and building student

hostels in the hill tracts area and remote areas.

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6. DiscussionIn this study, while the documents provide an indication of the ongoing shifts at the

policy level, the interviews offer insights into the gap between policies and practices

based on practical experience. Indeed, the interviewee’s responses varied based on their

ideological viewpoint and experiences. The findings shows that some of the policies have

seemed to be on the process towards materialization. Four themes emerged based on

the findings from the document analysis and interviews, offering insights into the peace-

building dimensions of the education system in Bangladesh.

Theme 1: Multicultural Education

Multicultural education is the first and foremost dimension that emerged from data

analysis. Regarding the equality issue, all the interviewees emphasized the importance of

Indigenous languages as the medium of instruction until at least the primary level.

Participants also agreed that multilingualism is a key component of multicultural

education, which can help to provide equal learning opportunities for every linguistic

group. Being taught in a language like Bangla, which is neither used nor well-understood

by many ethnic minority children, is a vital reason why many of them perform poorly in

school. This unfriendly learning environment also limits their ability to develop the

foundation for further learning. In a multilingual society, policies around the language of

instruction are implicitly value-laden. Mother tongue education improves educational

opportunities and the quality of education for minorities, which helps to increase their

access to education and reduces inequality. One of the evident opinions of participants

regarding the importance of multilingualism was that language keeps culture alive.

Petrovic and Majumder (2010, p. 6) express a similar view, seeing language as an

important tool to preserve people’s identity by establishing linkages amongst students,

schools, and societies, while UNESCO (2000, p. 11) mentioned language as a compulsory -

sometimes the only - test, to maintain ethnic identity and culture. Therefore, schools

must promote the practice of mother tongue through the education system. From the

initiatives that were reported by both the education policy and interviewee’s responses

seems that Bangladesh’s education system is moving towards multilingualism - a

prospective starting point for multiculturalism. However, the importance of learning the

national language- Bangla is also notable, since Bangla is the language of instruction the

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post-primary education following the fact that this language carries the greatest cultural

and economic value in this country. Therefore, lacking necessary skills in the national

language may prove disadvantageous in the future (Omoeva and Hatch, 2015).

Theme-2: Recognition

Government officials addressed these groups as ethnic people (or small ethnic groups) or

sometimes indigenous. The same pattern also shown in the policy statements and in the

curriculum, where these terms are using simultaneously without notifying the origin of

the meaning and the reason behind using the terms. This situation implies that there is

still a conflict (or confusion) going on between the Pahari10 and Bangalee regarding the

recognition issues, which creates an identity crisis for them and for the majority. In

addition, giving recognition to the local authority enables the redistribution of resources

from central to peripheral areas, including educational resources and the ability to make

decisions on language policies and curriculum contents. It appears that the Bangladeshi

government has ensured some degree of local engagement in the education system by

including them in the MLE committee as well as by transferring authority over vocational

and secondary education to the Hill District Council. However, Government of

Bangladesh did not identify their jurisdiction officially by any official amendment. The

empowerment of HDC is a pathway for the decentralization of education, which would

allow greater local determination over locally important issues and identity. Significantly,

the Peace Accord also failed to indicate the necessary element for recognition in the

education system which could potentially provide a guideline to the government to

appropriate reformation of education. The findings show that the mainstream curriculum

remains unresponsive to and unrepresentative of the cultural traditions, languages, living

conditions, and aspirations of the tribal communities which is a core reason instigating

grievances amongst them. On the other hand, if multilingualism is practiced without

promoting shared identity, then it may reinforce group identity over national identity,

which often proves to be inflammatory where the same school is shared by different

linguistic groups (Omoeva and Hatch, 2015).

10 Hill men

54


In a nutshell, the root cause of the violent conflict should be addressed in the peace-

building process, which was the denial of Indigenous people’s identity by the Constitution

in the CHTs.

Theme-3: Lack of resources

Promoting multilingual programs requires investment, for example in teachers’ salary,

printers and other equipment, infrastructure, poverty reduction for teachers and

students - there are many such areas that need resources. Research shows, significant

reasons behind the high dropout rate among Indigenous people include family poverty,

followed by the distance between school and home, and poor school infrastructure (e.g.

lack of benches and teaching materials); these reasons are indicative of the scarcity of

government resources. Research shows that language and ethnicity work as inter-linked

forces for marginalization in education, and are often linked to poverty (Grimes and

Bagree, 2012). For example, in many countries the malnutrition rate is higher among

Indigenous minorities than among the non-Indigenous majorities, leading to poor

educational achievement. Furthermore, the perception on implication of education in the

post-conflict recovery is sometimes over-rated in respect of government capability to

reform the education system as the aftermath of conflict. Simultaneously, it is very likely

that none of the teachers would have knowledge of multilingual pedagogies or how to

teach multilingual classes with various materials when it is being introduced in the

practice for the very first time. It is important for the curriculum committee to prepare

teachers and to evaluate the teaching-learning process at least every term, and to share

the best practices in the particular area. Therefore, it is undeniable that developing

countries like Bangladesh often deal with countless issues with limited resources. The

true implementation of the multilingual curriculum requires teacher appointment and

training, awareness building among the education officials at different tiers of the

educational administration (national, divisional, district, and sub-divisions education

administration), appropriate learning materials, and adequate and enabling school

infrastructure, particularly in mixed community settings.

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Theme-4: Collaboration

“If I can live my life freely that means peace to me.” – INGO official (Indigenous)

Certainly, Education is not the only key to resolving identity or right-based ethnic

conflicts (Bush and Saltarelli, 2000); it has to be complimented by social, political and

economic initiatives to resolve materialistic issues such as land rights and political rights,

reflected through INI’s voice. Ensuring the protection of fundamental human rights, in

collaboration with governmental and non-governmental actors, will ensure sustainable

development and peace-building as a solution to any violent conflict (UNICEF, 2000).

Consequently, the government needs to ensure the appropriate enactment of the

provisions of Peace Accord. To reform education such that it becomes a tool for the post-

conflict transition towards peace, the reform process must be collaborative -engaging

practitioners, policy makers, academics, stakeholders, the local government, and

representatives of the Indigenous groups. Moreover, the difference of perceptions

between Bangalee and Indigenous officials on government initiatives depicts their

ideological gap regarding ethnicity issue and lack of mutual understanding. Although they

are seemingly working for the same goal, there are still ideological gaps between them,

which clearly indicates the need to build cohesion between the identities as well as

governmental and non-governmental organization. Additionally, to lessen the effects of

unequal educational opportunities of Indigenous people, the government has generated

a quota system for government educational institutions (higher secondary and

universities) and employment. Thus, it seems that some strategic approach has been

made to tackle their marginalization in education with the priority of ensuring the equal

access. However, setting some time-bound goal may accelerate this reform process

towards sustainable peace-building. In addition, the other components of the Peace

Accord associated with violations of economic, social, political, and cultural rights, must

materialize in concert with the educational components. Furthermore, the involvement

of other INGOs, NGOs, humanitarian organizations, and local people and authorities may

help to accelerate the full implementation of the Peace Accord.

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7. Conclusion:This study engages two documents’ components, which are the core of the peace

process and the education system, and the insights of five participants who are directly

involved with the education reformation process. Hence, these findings offer

considerable insight into the present condition of the education system. The findings

from the documents and the interviews show that, 18 years after the signing of the Pease

Accord, the education system is not peace-sensitive yet. The few initiatives on education

reform, such as multilingual education, involving local authorities, improving

infrastructure etc., have been taken very recently. It is evident that while education has

the potential to mitigate conflicts and build opportunities for individuals, education does

not create peace on its own, (Davies 2010). Initiating multilingual education is

unquestionably a positive starting towards giving recognition to the indigenous people;

nonetheless, the mainstream curriculum needs to be reformed as well in order to

establish a sustainable Indigenous existence within the majority Bangalee society.

In the case of Bangladesh, the conflict took place in a particular area (CHTs area); thus

this conflict did not affect the education system across the country. However, the

education system perpetrated the conflict and its effects by creating unequal

opportunities for students based on their ethnicity, language, and culture. Therefore, it is

important to reconstruct the entire education system to ensure quality education for

Indigenous people and equip them for the future job market, to give respectful

recognition of their identity, and to promote diversity, friendliness, and respect for

human rights – especially among the majority towards minority populations. Indeed,

education has the potential to provide a means of recognizing and validating Indigenous

languages, religion, culture, and most significantly their identity. If the education system

continues to perpetuate unequal opportunities for Indigenous groups, their grievances

will be perpetuated as well, and violent conflict may even reappear.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) area, with its diversity in geography, multi-ethnic

population, displacement issues, socio-economic deprivation, armed conflict, signing of

CHT Accord and post-conflict development, etc., still remains as a region of crucial

political and development discourse (CHTDF, 2009). There is no magic solution to the

57


region’s challenges. Reform must be carried out according to the needs and demands of

the disadvantaged groups, as well as according to the government’s resources and

capacity. Although this is a continuous process, real progress is yet achievable if the

government believes that-every challenge comes with a solution. At the end, I will

recommend the next step of this study to be analysing the success rate of the ongoing

projects after implementation.

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Zaman, M. Q., (1984). Tribal Issues and National Integration: The Chittagong Hill Tracts Case, In: M.S. Quraishi (ed.), Tribal Cultures in Bangladesh, Rajshahi: Rajshahi University.

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9. AppendicesAppendix 1Consent Form

CONSENT FORM FOR PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

PROJECT TITLE: Post-conflict education reconstruction in Bangladesh: Reconciliation in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs)

NAME OF THE RESEARCHER: xxxxxx

I understand, by agreeing to take part in the study means that I am willing to be interviewed by the researcher and make myself available for a further interview should that be required.

I understand, my participation will be voluntary that I can withdraw at any stage of the project without being penalised or disadvantaged in any way.

I understand, my name and the organization I work for, will be completely anonymised for this study and will not be identifiable to anyone based on this study.

I understand, any information provided by me is confidential, and that this information may be used in future reports, articles or presentation by the researcher.

I consent to allow the researcher to audio record the interview.

I agree to take part in the above research project of University of Sussex. I confirm that I have read and understood the information sheet and the terms and conditions of the research, which I may keep for records.

Name of the participant Date Signature

Thank you very much for your support and consideration!

xxxxxxxxInternational Education and Development MA, School of Education and Social WorkUniversity of Sussex. Email: [email protected]: xxxxxxxx

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PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET

You are being invited to take part in a research study as a part of partial completion of the degree MA International Education and development of University of Sussex. Before you decide it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please read the following information carefully and discuss it with others if you wish. Please ask me if anything is unclear or if you would like more information. Take time to decide whether or not you wish to take part.

Thank you for reading this!What is the purpose of the study?The purpose of this study is to investigate the contribution of education system in the post-conflict reconciliation process in the Chittagong Hill Tract area of Bangladesh by document analysis and interview.

Why have I been invited to participate?This study is looking to hear from the voices of all types of education experts - government or international organizations, male or female, majority or ethnic groups- who have intense knowledge and understanding regarding the inclusiveness of the education system.

Do I have to take part?It is entirely up to you to decide whether or not to take part. If you do decide to take part you will be given this information sheet to keep and be asked to sign a consent form. If you decide to take part you are still free to withdraw at any time and without giving any reason.

What will participation involve?If you are chosen to participate, you will be interviewed by the researcher, through Skype. The interview will be no longer than 60 minutes. The questions are completely non-invasive, and you do not need to answer questions that you do not wish to. This interview will be audio taped for later use by the researcher.

Will my information in this study be kept confidential?All the information collected in this study will be kept strictly confidential and not be connected to you in any way. Your name and the organization you work for, will be completely anonymised for this study and you will not be identifiable to anyone based on this study. The information and data will be stored in a password protected electronic file which will be accessible by the researcher only.

Who is organising the research?This research is being conducted by xxxxxxx, MA candidate for a Masters in International Education and Development from the University of Sussex.

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You can answer either in English or Bangla, according to your convenience.Thank you for your time and cooperation!

Contact for further information:

Researcher:xxxxxxxDepartment: International Education and Development MA, School of Education and Social WorkAddress: Sussex House, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9RH, UK. Email: [email protected]: xxxxx

Supervisor:Professor xxxxxxAddress: Sussex House, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9RH, UK.Email: [email protected]

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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Appendix 2Title of the research: Post-conflict education reconstruction in Bangladesh: Peace-building in Chittagong Hill Tracts

Semi-structured interview guideline

Name:

Organization:

Note for the researcher: Some questions/prompts will vary according to the respondents. These are indicated below.

1. What are the key educational component of the CHTs peace accord and the limitations?

a. What is the main focus of the peace accord?b. Are there any other issues involved?c. What are the issues which you would like to see included in the accord and why?

2. To what extent have the education components of the CHTs peace accord been implemented?

a. Has the accord been translated into the policy? If so which?b. Has the accord been translated into the curriculum? If so how?

3. What role does the wider education system play in the peace process?a. What are the implicit or explicit societal goals, e.g. fostering peace, decreasing

unemployment?b. What learning objectives are emphasised and included?c. What learning objectives are excluded or deemphasised?d. Are social inequalities based on gender, race, ethnicity, location etc. discussed?

4. What are the key challenges to ensure that education contributes to peace-building?a. What are the issues of policy formulation and policy implementation?

b. What are the concerns regarding implementing the multicultural curriculum? c. Has there been any associated training (pre- or in-service) offered to teachers in

enacting the curriculum and language? If yes, please provide the details.

5. Do you have any suggestion to ensure that education system is contributing in the post-conflict resolution?

a. What modifications do you want to propose in the curriculum and textbooks to include multicultural and multilingual values?

b. What strategies do you want to recommend to prepare teachers for bi- or multilingual education system?

c. Are there any monitoring mechanisms in place to see the extent to which the revisions are being implemented? Do you have any suggestion on this issue?

Thank you for your time and consideration!

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Appendix-3Interview Transcript-1

Title of the research: Post-conflict education reconstruction in Bangladesh: Peace-building in Chittagong Hill Tracts



a. What is the main focus of the peace accord?i. According to the peace accord (there is no word ‘peace’ in the accord

document, rather Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord or Parbatya Chattagram Chukti) and HDCs act (amendment) 1998, primary education, education in the mother tongues of the Indigenous Peoples and secondary education are part of the responsibilities of the Hill District Councils.

b. Are there any other issues involved?i. Cultural aspects are also part of the accord, which is also an essential

part of education. For instance, in introducing the mother tongue based multilingual education or education in mother tongues of the Indigenous Peoples, the cultural aspects must be regarded properly.

c. What are the issues which you would like to see included in the CHTs accord and why?

i. As per the accord and the legal frameworks undertaken afterwards, the education authority at the district headquarters are under the authority of Hill District Councils (HDCs). Problem here is in the lower administrative structures like Upazilla (sudistrict) and Union, there is no specific tier of HDCs both for the primary and secondary education.

2. To what extent have the education components of the peace accord been implemented?

a. Has the accord been translated into the policy? If so which?i. There is no specific policy adopted by the government which directly

reflects the peace accord. However, some progress in the policy formulation process has been observed after the peace accord. The latest progress in policy making process is the Khudra Nrigosthir Sangskritic Protisthan Ain (Small Ethnic Groups’ Cultural Institute Law) 2010 and National Education Policy 2010 have directly targeted the issues of Indigenous Peoples in the country. The Education Law (Draft) drafted in 2013 has also addressed the issues of Indigenous Peoples.

b. Has the accord been translated into the curriculum? If so how?i. Not actually. But indirectly, there are some progresses. Ref to the

stated above responses (2.a). 3. What role does the wider education system play in the peace process?

a. What are the implicit or explicit societal goals, e.g. fostering peace, decreasing unemployment?

i. According to the peace accord, a mixed police force is supposed to be formed in the CHT region. This force might have been the ideal force to play a neutral role to control any communal clashes.

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ii. Different government line departments are supposed to be taken under the authority of the Hill District Councils. This might have created employment opportunities for the local communities.

b. What learning objectives are emphasised and included?i. Promotion of local culture, customs and values are part of the peace

accord.ii. Introducing Mother tongue based multilingual education is also part of

the peace accord.c. What learning objectives are excluded or deemphasised?

i. No specific idead. Are social inequalities based on gender, race, ethnicity, location etc. discussed?

i. No specific idea4. What are the key challenges to ensure that education contributes to peace-building?

a. What are the issues of policy formulation and policy implementation?i. There is no or very less opportunity for the Indigenous Peoples to

participate in the policy formulation process. No specific mechanisms are followed by the government to consult with the Indigenous Peoples for any policy formulation process. The implementation process is also highly controlled and decided by the government.

b. What are the concerns regarding implementing the multicultural curriculum?

i. Willingness of the respective officials varies from one official to another. The implementation process is highly dependent on the respective official(s) sitting on the steer. For instant, one official may be somehow motivated to deal with the issues of vulnerable people like multicultural curriculum implementation. Suddenly if s/he leaves the department for official transferring process, the new coming official may not have same motivation or just reluctant on the issues of Indigenous Peoples, even can be highly communal who does not care others but his/her own ethnicity/religion/community or interest. This may affect the process. If has happened in the DPE last year.

c. Has there been any associated training (pre- or in-service) offered to teachers in enacting the curriculum and language? If yes, please provide the details.

i. Not yet from the government side.5. Do you have any suggestion to ensure that education system is contributing in the post-

conflict resolution?a. What modifications do you want to propose in the curriculum and textbooks to

include multicultural and multilingual values?i. Government should give the decision from central level so that the

official cannot change any decision or stuck the process. ii. Indigenous Peoples (experts on behalf of them) should be involved in

the curriculum and textbooks formulation process to ensure inclusion of multicultural and multilingual values.

b. What strategies do you want to recommend to prepare teachers for bi- or multilingual education system?

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i. Strengthen the Primary Teachers’ Training Institutes situated in Indigenous Peoples’ territories through including special curriculum on multicultural and multilingual teaching-learning process.

ii. A cell on Indigenous Languages should be operative in the International Mother Language Institute of the government to conduct research and developmental works on Indigenous languages.

c. Are there any monitoring mechanisms in place to see the extent to which the revisions are being implemented? Do you have any suggestion on this issue?

i. Representatives of Indigenous Peoples should be involved in national committees and mechanisms to take part in the monitoring process.

ii. NGOs can be part of the monitoring process to support the government


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Appendix-4Interview Transcript-2

Title of the research: Post-conflict education reconstruction in Bangladesh: Reconciliation in Chittagong Hill Tracts



a. What is the main focus of the peace accord?The main focus of the peace accord remains eliminating the ethnic conflict between

involved parties through structural reforms and sustained efforts for peace-building. For the education component, focus remains on empowering the Hill District Councils by transferring the management authority of primary, secondary and vocational education and imparting primary education in mother tongue. b. Are there any other issues involved?

Provision for keeping quota system for tribal population for scholarships and participation in higher education has been mentioned in the Accord.

2. To what extent have the education components of the CHTs peace accord been implemented?

a. Has the accord been translated into the policy? If so which?The subject of Primary and Secondary educations have been transferred to the HDCs.

However the HDCs lack appropriate technical capacity and human resource to manage and coordinate these subjects. The translation of policy into practice with adequate administrative, logistical and human resource provision (appointment of teachers from the specific language groups, training of the teachers on the language-inclusive mother-tongue education approach etc.) remain illusive. b. Has the accord been translated into the curriculum? If so how?

Under PEDP3, the Third Primary Education Development Program, initiative has been taken by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board to develop educational materials in 5 tribal languages on a pilot basis. But work has been very slow due to lack of technical capacity of NCTB on MLE approach, limited understanding of DPE about the complexities of implementation modality, dispute over script issues and policy guidelines, lack of dedicated and committed leadership and vision for conceptualizing, enacting and implementing MLE on the ground. In addition to this, the mainstream curriculum remains unresponsive to and unrepresentative of the cultural traditions, languages, living conditions and aspirations of the tribal communities. For example all the stories and poems are written by Bengali writers. The history and geography lessons do not provide insights on the living conditions of the tribal communities. The texts, characters, illustrations, substances, and learning goals are not inclusive of the ethnic identities. With a dominant national ideology, the national curriculum celebrates the Bengali identity and do not adequately represent the minority ethic identities.

3. What role does the wider education system play in the peace process?a. What are the implicit or explicit societal goals, e.g. fostering peace, decreasing

unemployment?The wider education system mainly aims to equip children with necessary learning tools

and literacy-numeracy skills for further education and/or vocation. Therefore it certainly decrease unemployment, but seldom play any role in fostering peace

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through intercultural exchange, respect for diversity, valuing difference and respecting others cultures and languages. b. What learning objectives are emphasised and included?Learning objectives such as literacy competence in Bangla and English, basic

numeracy skills, social skills are valued. But the competence for cultural tolerance and respect for diversity are not included and taught with due importance.

c. What learning objectives are excluded or deemphasised?The issue of mother tongue instruction has been highlighted in policy and strategic

documents. But the learning competencies outlined in the national curriculum have never incorporated language skills in Chakma, Marma or any other tribal languages. There are defined set of competencies for Bangla and English, such as children will be able to identify letters, read words and sentences, write Bangla and English alphabets. But the competency set does not incorporate learning outcomes for the minority languages and are not assessed in the Primary Completion Exam. As a result, no educational and economic value is attached on the use of mother-tongue of ethnic minority children. Till now, the mother tongue instruction for ethnic minority children remains as a lip service. d. Are social inequalities based on gender, race, ethnicity, location etc. discussed?

Discussed, but to a limited extent, and not in an age-appropriate manner that can lead to effective learning and affective reasoning. Furthermore, mere inclusion of such issues in textbooks will not suffice, if the braoder society does not value, practise and celebrate such differences in gender, race, ethnicity and geographical locations.

4. What are the key challenges to ensure that education contributes to peace-building?a. What are the issues of policy formulation and policy implementation?

Limited shared understanding of the policy goals, visionary leadership of key government functionaries and vast capacity gaps of the associated institutions (MoPME, DPE, NCTB, HDC etc.) are some of the key challenges for policy formulation and implementation.b. What are the concerns regarding implementing the multicultural curriculum?

True representation of cultures with appropriate weight, recognition of language skills in the national curriculum terminal and grade wise competencies, teacher appointment and training, awareness building of the education officials at different tiers of the educational administration (national, divisional, district and upazila education administration), appropriate learning materials, adequate and enabling school infrastructure (particularly in mixed community settings) and an aligned assessment method are the implementation concerns. c. Has there been any associated training (pre- or in-service) offered to teachers in

enacting the curriculum and language? If yes, please provide the details.There has been no such training yet in the mainstream governmental system. Some small

NGOs have run such training, but their standard and educational value remains questionable, since the NGO interventions mostly take place in piecemeal and uncoordinated manner.


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