Why music education matters for Bangladesh’s future

On 31 March 2026, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs announced plans to introduce music education in schools through a cluster-based upazila model, with instructors travelling between institutions. The decision came only months after the interim government scrapped plans to recruit dedicated music teachers for primary schools following pressure from Islamist groups. 

The debate over music education in Bangladesh is often presented as a cultural or ideological issue. But it may also be interpreted as an education and development issue. 

Music and the making of national identity

First, it is worth recalling what music means to Bangladesh at a foundational level. The national anthem, "Amar Sonar Bangla," written by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, has been officially adopted in the Constitution.

The songs of Kazi Nazrul Islam were a powerful source of inspiration during the Liberation War, and his compositions span both Islamic devotional music and secular poetry, making him a unique symbol of the nation's syncretic identity. Removing music from classrooms is, in a very real sense, to sever children from the country's founding narrative.

Bangladesh also holds a place of global distinction through its Baul musical tradition. The Bauls — mystic minstrels of rural Bangladesh and West Bengal — carry a centuries-old oral tradition of poetry, philosophy, and song that UNESCO proclaimed a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005 and inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List in 2008.

The Baul tradition has profoundly influenced Bengali culture and even shaped the compositions of Tagore himself. Yet this heritage is endangered: without institutional support and formal transmission through schools, it risks dying with the last generation of masters.

Research into song-and-music schools in rural Bangladesh shows this is not an abstract concern. Between 2016 and 2022, Norwegian scholar Maria Jordet followed nine gurugriho — community-based song schools in northern Bangladesh — where Baul, Bathiali and Bhawaiya folk songs are taught to village children.

Her study argues that the generational transmission of folk songs in these spaces does more than preserve heritage: it builds deep learning and what she calls "transformative praxis," a form of critical self-awareness rooted in cultural identity. 

What neuroscience says

A five-year study by the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California found that music instruction accelerates auditory pathway maturation and enhances brain efficiency. Students who study music develop greater gray matter, a structural brain difference with real cognitive effects. These benefits extend beyond music: music education improves mathematics, reading, language skills, verbal retention, and overall academic performance. 

The idea that music is incompatible with Islamic identity contradicts the lived musical heritage of Bengali Muslims themselves, for whom Nazrul's songs at Eid, Shab-e-Barat, and Milad are inseparable from religious observance.

A 2005 US study, Effects of Music Training on the Child's Brain and Cognitive Development, found that nine- to eleven-year-olds with four years of instrumental training outperformed peers in vocabulary, musical ability, and motor skills. In a country like Bangladesh, where foundational literacy and numeracy remain urgent priorities, these cross-disciplinary gains provide a strong case for integrating music into the school curriculum.

Student engagement and the dropout problem

Bangladesh still faces significant challenges in keeping children — particularly from rural and economically marginalised backgrounds — engaged in school. Music education directly addresses this. 

Ensemble music students are significantly more engaged in school than their non-music peers, with effect sizes consistently measured around 0.20 standard deviations across decades of national surveys in other countries. 

Research shows that music builds belonging, sparks motivation, and creates the sense of connection that makes children want to attend school in the first place. 

The creative economy argument

Developing countries have significantly increased their share of creative goods exports from 10% in 2010 to 20% in 2022, doubling in just over a decade. Music industries in developing regions are growing particularly fast. 

According to an UNCTAD 2024 report, all developing regions recorded double-digit revenue growth in the music sector in 2023, driven largely by streaming platforms that now account for 67.3% of global music revenue.

But converting cultural assets into economic value requires a trained workforce: producers, composers, sound engineers, music educators, intellectual property specialists, and digital content creators. None of these professions emerge spontaneously. They require sustained educational investment beginning in schools.

The cultural identity imperative

Kazi Nazrul Islam, whose songs form part of the canon Islamist groups are implicitly defending, composed hundreds of devotional Islamic songs, alongside Hindu bhakti compositions and nationalist ballads, precisely because he understood music as a vehicle for spiritual expression rather than its enemy. 

The idea that music is incompatible with Islamic identity contradicts the lived musical heritage of Bengali Muslims themselves, for whom Nazrul's songs in Eid, Shab-e-Barat, and Milad are inseparable from religious observance.

From the anti-sectarian Swadeshi Movement to the Language Movement of 1952 and the Liberation War of 1971, Rabindranath Tagore's songs repeatedly served as instruments of national cohesion and resistance. 

So, a government that removes music from schools appears to be not protecting culture rather undermining the very cultural continuity that distinguishes Bangladesh as a nation.

The Structural weakness of the cluster model

Even setting aside political opposition, the cluster-based upazila model currently proposed carries structural risks that deserve scrutiny. Under Bangladesh's existing upazila education system, a single cluster typically includes 20 to 30 schools, overseen by an Assistant Upazila Education Officer who supervises teaching across that area.

Applying the same framework to music education, where an instructor rotates among multiple schools rather than remaining permanently at one, means that any given school may receive music instruction only once or twice a week at best. In many rural areas, the frequency may be even lower due to distance, transport limitations, and road conditions.

This has direct implications for learning. Music education depends heavily on continuity, practice, and the relationship between teacher and student. When contact is irregular, it becomes difficult to build skills, monitor progress, or maintain student engagement over time.

Visiting instructors often struggle to integrate into school culture, staff coordination, and curriculum planning. They may not develop the same long-term understanding of students that permanent teachers do, and coordination between visiting instructors and classroom teachers can remain limited.

Schools located near upazila centres are likely to receive more regular instruction than remote rural schools, which may reinforce existing geographical disparities in education.

A missed opportunity and a path forward

Currently, the programme is being introduced through the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, not fully integrated into the Ministry of Education's core curriculum. In practice, this risks music being treated as an occasional activity rather than a structured subject.

As the country moves toward upper-middle-income status, education policy will increasingly be judged not only by enrolment or exam results, but by what kind of skills and capacities students develop.

Rasheda K. Chowdhury, eminent educationist, welcomed the decision but stressed that education cannot be limited to textbooks and examinations alone. "If students only study like books, memorise like parrots, and then reproduce it in exam scripts, that is not real education," she said to TBS. 

"We can see what is happening to our children. On one side there is mobile phone addiction, and on the other side they are becoming less humane. There is only one way to free them from this situation, and that is to introduce them to literature and culture."

However, she also pointed out that implementing music education across the country will take time and careful planning, particularly in remote areas. 

"Adding music teachers or arranging teachers who will teach music has to be done gradually. You cannot find teachers everywhere immediately. Think about the chars of Kurigram. You cannot reach everywhere at once. This is a time-consuming process," she said. 

"One issue is time, another issue is cost. You have to manage both together. But since the decision has been made, I hope it will be implemented."