Many of us remember the child in Taare Zameen Par-misunderstood, labelled lazy, punished for academic failure-only begins to flourish when a teacher recognises his dyslexia. In Bangladesh, such endings are rare. Countless children struggle quietly in classrooms that are not designed for them, facing neglect and misunderstanding from families, peers and teachers.

An often-cited study, Prevalence of Dyslexia in Primary School in Dhaka: Its Effects on Children’s Academic and Social Life which was published a decade ago found that 9.02% of fourth-grade students in Dhaka were diagnosed with dyslexia. Surely the figure changed in the last several years but there is no concrete data.

The most recent study regarding the subject is almost 2 years old. A 2024 study by Md. Sahajalal Badsha, Mainstreaming Slow-Pace Learners Through Mobile Assisted Language Learning: A Case of Bengali Primary Level Students with Dyslexia, explored support strategies for Bengali primary students with dyslexia.

The silence reflects a deeper problem: lack of awareness. Dyslexia is still an unfamiliar term to many parents. When a child struggles academically, they are often labelled lazy or inattentive rather than assessed for a learning difficulty. One representative of an organisation admitted that they did not know what dyslexia was despite working in the similar field.

The word dyslexia comes from the Greek dys (impaired) and lexis (word). It is a neurobiological disorder affecting the development of reading and spelling. It does not mean all reading problems. Many children with dyslexia have strong language comprehension but struggle with decoding. They may understand a text when it is read aloud yet find reading words independently extremely difficult.

A Mother’s Story

Nazisa (pseudonym as requested by the parent), mother of a dyslexic daughter, recalls early signs. Her child was underweight at birth, and doctors advised close monitoring. As she grew, she could read and rhyme but struggled with writing and direction, unable to distinguish left from right. After consulting with a doctor, it was confirmed she had mild dyslexia.

“At first, we admitted her in a special school but the situation got worse. She was more scared than before. After consulting with the doctor, he suggested we should admit her in a mainstream school. So, after 3 months in a special school, we moved her to a mainstream school. And now things are looking better for her.”

Support from one teacher proved transformative. “One of the teachers helped her with writing which I couldn’t do earlier. She is in Grade 2 now. When she was in special school, she was afraid but now in the school if she misses a day, she gets upset. She is one of the toppers in her class. She struggles with math but very good at creative learning. She loves literature.”

However, challenges persist. “While her friends help, some other kids in her class bully her as she is a slow learner. Still, she struggles with putting on sandals and clothes.”

The financial strain has been severe. “We have to check up every month and keep her in constant observation. We were broke but through our family support we survived.”

She also reflects on environmental constraints. “I tried to make a small playground in front of my house but my daughter couldn’t cope with it as constant construction is going on surrounding the neighbourhood and also the air isn’t fresh there either.”

Her advice to other parents who are in similar shoes, delivered half in jest and half in despair, is stark: leave the country if possible.

Inside a Special School

Sabrina Akter, Managing Director of Kiddie Rocks Ltd. Special School, describes common misconceptions among parents.

“Many parents are confused about whether their child needs special schooling or just therapy. Some don’t even realise their child is different from others,” she says. “One major myth is the belief that the child will ‘fix themselves’ as they grow up. Neurodevelopmental problems do not simply go away; they require early intervention. While awareness has increased recently, even families of doctors sometimes struggle to accept that their child needs special schooling.”

Her school now in its eighth year, but operational challenges remain. Landlords refuse to rent due to concern about noises, and a crisis of professional therapist remains another challenge. Kiddie Rocks follows the Autism Partnership Singapore curriculum and transitions several students to mainstream schools each year. “Seven students transitioned this year alone,” she notes.

On affordability, she says, “I believe our fees are reasonable compared to the quality of service we provide, though it may be difficult for lower or middle-class families.” Most parents are professionals-doctors, university teachers, military personnel. The institution remains entirely private and self-sustaining.

Advocacy from the Ground

Muhammad Shamsul Huda founded Suraiya Afaz Dyslexiabd, first special  school for dyslexia, dysgraphia & dyscalculia in Bangladesh, after witnessing a student fail nine subjects in his Secondary School Certificate examination. “When I asked the school principal to check his scripts they refused and insulted me. They beat him as he was failing in multiple subjects. The foundation started from this concern,” he says.

Over the past five years, he has visited 37 schools to raise awareness and train teachers. “Teachers didn’t have sound knowledge about dyslexia. I was trying to make them understand about the importance and effect of dyslexia.  After two years of constant trying, they felt it’s important.”

Huda resists framing dyslexia as a disability. “I don’t think it is a disability. For me, it is a learning difficulty. So, there is no cure; they have to overcome this obstacle and for that they need guidance and care.” He claims more than 200 children have improved under his guidance, yet systemic barriers persist.

He is currently focused on research and parental consultations. “The first thing I want is to include dyslexia in educational policy. Most of the teachers in our country have no idea about dyslexia or how to handle it.  We need more and more awareness about dyslexia, basic screening and its overcoming method.”

Photo: Freepik

The Academic View

Professor Dr Mahjabeen Haque of the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at the University of Dhaka underscores the diagnostic vacuum.

“I don’t think at the moment there is any proper system or panel in Bangladesh that diagnose dyslexia,” she says. “We did some screening 10/15 years ago but now there is no study, research or survey in our country regarding dyslexia.”

Her recommendation is clear: “We need to incorporate diagnosis of dyslexia in our country’s child development systems and raise awareness in education sectors to overcome this.”

A System Yet to Learn

Dyslexia in Bangladesh remains largely invisible-absent from policy, under-researched and misunderstood. Parents shoulder financial and emotional burdens, private institutions fill gaps at significant cost, and academics call for systemic reform.

For children who learn differently, the problem is not intelligence or effort. It is a system that still does not know how to read them.

Ystiaque Ahmed is a journalist at The Daily Star. He can be reached at [email protected].

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