National Culture of Bangladesh

Introduction:
National culture is revealed to be inherent what people often take for granted from their
domicile environment (Edensor, 2002). The study of national culture gives a synoptic idea of
local values/ shared meanings, political system, religion/philosophical beliefs, economic
prosperity, language and education system (French, 2007). This short essay aims to take its
readers deep into the key attributes of the national culture of the People’s Republic of
Bangladesh. Bangladesh, which emerged as a sovereign independent nation in 1971, lies on
the northeastern part of the South Asian subcontinent bounded by India on the west and north
and India and Myanmar on the east and the Bay of Bengal on the south. The six components
that define the national culture (French, 2007) are highlighted below.

Values/ shared meanings:

Because of the past history of 1952’s Language Movement and 1971’s Independence War
most of the Bangladeshis are generally lofty which reflects in the exercise of their
ethnocentric culture. Except the main religious values, almost all the other values & beliefs
are centralized to their pride. Festivals and celebrations are inherent part of the culture of
Bangladesh. Bengali New Years Day, Independence Day, National Mourning, Martyr Day
and International Mother Language Day etc are widely celebrated. Kwintessential (2010)
identified that Bangladesh culture is distinct in different forms like music, dance, drama, art
& craft, folklores, folktales, language, literature, philosophy, religion, festivals and
celebrations etc. Bangladesh has a strong patriarchal culture (Johnson & Das, 2008) with a
high influence of hierarchical system. Generally men, with a high position or age, are the
dominators at the society. Kwintessential (2010) commented that most of the people are
friendly and gentle but quite implicit or indirect communicators.

Religion/ philosophical beliefs:

The largest religion of Bangladesh is Islam where according to the Bangladesh Bureau of
Statistics (2008) 89.58% of the total population is Muslim, the second largest is Hinduism
with 9.34% and the remaining 9% includes Buddhism, Christianity and others. Due to the
Muslim religious belief most of the society contains conservative view, especially to women.
Eid-ul- Fitre, Eid-ul-Azha, Muharram, Durga puja, Buddho Purnima, Christmas Day etc. are
the most widely celebrated religious festivals from all the religions. According to British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), 2010 concern has grown about religious extremism in this
traditionally moderate and tolerant country. It also mentioned, ‘The government, which long
denied that it had a problem with militants, has outlawed two fringe Islamic organizations.’

Language:
Bangla language, also known as Bengali, is considered as a pride factor by Bangladeshi as
they achieved it from 1952’s Language Movement and it is the state language of Bangladesh.
It is the first language of more than 98 percent of the total population (CIA 2010). It is
written in its own script, derived from that of Sanskrit. Bangla vocabulary shows many
influences form Islamic and English words. According to Kwintessential (2010) this language
demonstrates an attribute known as diglossia in linguistics which refers to a situation, in a
particular society, containing a language with two form of higher and lower prestige. Many
people in Bangladesh also speak English and some tribal languages like Khashia, Marma,
Chakma etc.

Education system:
Bangladesh’s present system of education is more or less a legacy from the British (Ali,
1986). With a track record of continuous changes by different government a new education
policy has been tabled in 2009 which includes changes in educational objectives, structure &
system, curriculum etc. According to Rahman (2010) education in Bangladesh has three
major stages - primary, secondary and higher education. Primary education is a 5-year cycle
while secondary education is a 7-year one with three sub-cycles: 3 years of junior secondary,
2 years of secondary and 2 years of higher secondary. Higher secondary is followed by higher
education in general, technical, technology and medical streams requiring 5-6 years to obtain
a Master’s degree. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh enjoins upon the
Government of Bangladesh the obligation to ensure literacy of all the citizens (GoB, 1972).
In a similar vein, UNESCO (2000) stated that the Government of Bangladesh has made
commitments in the World Education Forum towards achievement of ‘Education for All’
goals and targets for every citizen by the year 2015.

Economic prosperity:
According to The Central Intelligence Agency (2010) of USA, the GDP growth rate of the
country’s economy, despite political volatility, poor infrastructure, high level of corruption,
inadequate power supplies and slow implementation of economic rectifications, is 5-6% per
year since 1996. The reason behind it may lie down in the industrial booming specially in
garment, pharmaceutical and shipping sectors. The total amount of labor force in the country
is 72.5 million and the unemployment rate is 2.5%, which is low due to pervasive
underemployment and the consideration of large number of people out of the labor force
(CIA, 2010). Discovery Bangladesh (2010) contends that rice is the main agricultural product
in Bangladesh but it also produces jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses,
oilseeds, spices, fruit, beef, milk, poultry etc. Later on it also highlighted that the local
economy has various types of industries like cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing,
paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar etc. The global financial
crisis and recession of 2008-2009 did not affect the Bangladesh’s economical growth that
much due to the lower dependence and involvement with international financial sectors. Still
CIA (2010) quoted, ‘Bangladesh remains a poor, overpopulated, and inefficiently-governed
nation.’

Political system:
Virtual Bangladesh (2009) contends that the politics of Bangladesh takes place in a
framework of a parliamentary form of democratic government though the situation has been
tumultuous since independence. Interruption by coups, martial law, and states of emergency
was a regular part of the national politics. Here the President is the state head and the Prime
Minister is the head of government. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (2009)
executive power is exercised just by the government but legislative power is vested in both
the government and parliament. It also highlights that Bangladesh has a constitution written
at 1972 which has already faced 13 amendments. However, BBC (2010) predicts to have
impact on Bangladesh politics by militant organization in near future.

Conclusion:
The new generations inherent the cultural values, religious beliefs and language through
socialization process in their own family. Generally these influential attributes build up
enthusiasm in their mind and make them conscious about their social identity of being a
Bangladeshi. Education also plays a vital role in this aspect and as an end result, the new
generations try to contribute in the politics and economic prosperity of the country.
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