Bangladesh Before the Independence
Bangladesh means as the country of Bengalis and it is geographically situated in the South-East Asia. Its official language is Bengali. This region was colonized by the English and English domination of the subcontinent continued until the mid-20th century when people of this region fought and got their independence.
Though there are Hindu, Buddhist and Christian people in Bangladesh, the great majority of its population is Muslims. After the English had left the country, Muslims decided to separate from India. Though there were different views regarding the separation, Muslims pushed the way and established their own state, which is known as Pakistan.
Bengalis, as being Muslims, placed themselves with Pakistan and became a part of Pakistan and this status lasted until 1971 when, this time Bengalis, followed a line of establishing their own homeland. And this trajectory culminated in the foundation of Bangladesh, which had been named as East of Pakistan. A lot of reasons were put forward for this separation, which will be dealt with later.
It is important to point out that this historical legacy shaped, to a great extent, the political culture as well as institutional arrangements of Bangladesh. In fact, this is so not only for Bangladesh but other newly emerged states, India and Pakistan as well.
It should also be noted that Bangladesh is one of the most crowded countries in the World. A comparison is made with Russia, as, though they have almost same number of population, Bangladesh’s area is considerably smaller than it (Karim, 2013: 30).
Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in recent years concerning school enrolments. For example, though being regarded as one of the poorest countries in the World Bangladesh in South-East Asia with Sri Lanka is unique in realizing “male and female enrolments not just at primary level but also at secondary level” (Karim, 2013: 31).