English vs Bangla medium: How does it impact your career?

There is a perception among certain people that someone is very smart or good at their job if they know good English. We have a tendency of judging someone based on their fluency in English — a perception that transcends to the idea that English medium students fare better in their careers than their Bangla medium counterparts. 

To find out if the perception has any truth to it, we spoke to employers and employees themselves. But first, let us have a look at a few statistics.

According to a Labour Force Survey in 2016-17, 2 million people enter the workforce in Bangladesh each year. According to the Bangladesh Education Statistics 2021, there are 160 universities with 1,233,529 students – meaning the rest of the 2 million are not graduates. 

There are 137 English medium schools with 26,596 students and 9,191 madrasas with 2,657,252 students (post-primary level, from standard 6-12). Meanwhile, some 12,704,023 students study in both Bangla Medium and English Version schools and colleges. 

The percentage of schools having the English version is 2.05, and the percentage of colleges having the English version is 4.62. There is no exact number on the number of students from the English version. 

Does it impact your prospects of finding a job?

Sajid Mahbub, the COO of business think tank Bangladesh Brand Forum (BBF), studied at a Bangla medium school. Before joining BBF, he worked in other companies, climbing gradually from the entry level to the top management.  As a COO of BBF for the last couple of years, he has been involved in the selection process of dozens of entry level employees. 

Asked whether someone's medium of instruction at school impacts their career, he says: "As far as I'm concerned, I don't think that there is any kind of discrimination in the hiring process on the basis of medium. I don't think anyone from the English medium gets an unequal advantage over a Bangla medium student, or vice versa. Personally, I have not seen anyone getting favoured just because they are from the English medium," he explained.

But what matters most, he says, is the individual's quality. One has to be street smart, have particular know-how, and have the passion and eagerness to learn.

Sajjadul Islam, general manager and head of HR at the Bangladesh Youth Initiative, says the reality is that without a certain level of English proficiency, one will not be able to grab any job in a top class organisation. But that does not necessarily mean that there is any inherent bias in the selection process of an employee. 

In his opinion, in evaluating a prospective employee, the graduate major [degree] and skills are what is looked at. And while there may be differences in mediums, they hardly affect the decision-making process.

"On an industry-wide scale, such biases do not exist. However, every organisation has its own culture and preferences. The same goes for an individual employer. Rather, the question should be if your English proficiency impacts your career. Frankly, it does. Here your educational  background is not the determinant," he said.

Despite the recruiters' emphasis on the fact that backgrounds don't matter, some employees beg to differ. 

A fresher who topped in BBA at the University of Dhaka had applied multiple times in multinational companies. However, every time, he failed to even get called for the interview.

"There has been some speculation that Bangladesh's multinational companies favour EM [English Medium]. My topper friends who come from Bangla medium and also applied for such posts around the same time as me, didn't get the call. Tracing the recent hires in those companies is not hard. Sometimes they post on social media, at other times, multinational companies post profiles about new hires. A large number of hired employees are from English Medium."

He currently works for Eastern Housing Limited, his third job in five years since he graduated. According to him, some doors are always shut for him. But he also admits that the number of such companies is probably very rare.

On the other end of the spectrum, Anamika Hasan, who works in PR and Communications at a corporation, said that having an English medium background can provide access to a wider range of job opportunities, especially in industries that are predominantly English-speaking. In some cases, employers might prefer candidates who have studied in English medium schools as they are often perceived to have better communication skills.

An English medium student herself, Anamika added, "While having an English medium background is not a guarantee of success in the job market, it can provide individuals with certain advantages that may increase their chances of finding employment. For instance, the role I work specifically asked for fluency in English."

Does it impact your prospects of promotion and leadership roles?

Mashriq Farhan has been working for BRAC for the last one year. He was promoted from his internship around six months ago. According to him, he has not personally been subjected to any disadvantage being a Bangla medium student, and he is sure of the fact that it would not impact his future career.

"When you get into an organisation, you are evaluated only based on your work, learning growth and skills. In our organisation, a sizable number of people are from the English medium. But I don't think that me being from Bangla Medium had any effect on my promotion from an intern."

On whether he faced hurdles in his career as he climbed the corporate hierarchy coming from Bangla medium, Sajid, the COO of BBF, said he did not. Being a debater in school, he quickly learned how to be presentable to others. 

"If you name a few top COOs of the country, for instance, Shehzad Munim of BAT Bangladesh and Zaved Akhtar of Unilever Bangladesh, they are from Bangla medium. Predominantly, the people I work or associate with – mostly in the top management – in other companies, are from Bangla medium. I would say the number would be close to 80-90%." 

Shakhawat Hossain, an HR official at Innovision, an NGO, does not want to be involved in the debate about the supremacy of one curriculum. He said, "It does not matter what the background employees are from. Rather what matters most is the individual's personal skill sets."

In his opinion, we have to find the right causal relationship. Multinational companies and international non-governmental organisations are connected with the global entities. Their operation and activities require proficiency in English. While the background does not impact recruitment and career growth – promotion, leadership roles and salary increment – a better grasp in English language certainly has an impact. 

But again, English is one of the criteria, he opined. Nobody does a better job just because they are good at English or that they are from an English medium. In addition, at every university, the medium of instruction is English, further discrediting the impact of medium in early schooling.

How does it impact professional and workplace relationships?

At school level, there is no unified education system in Bangladesh. There are so many types of educational systems one can get into. Then again, there are Madrasas, where people perceive that mostly underprivileged students go.

However, in recent years, an increasing number of Madrasa students are getting admitted in public universities, though mostly in social science and business subjects. And many of them are graduating with remarkable results. 

Ishtiaqe Ahmed, a madrasa background student, obtained masters in International Relations from University of Dhaka. One of the top students of his batch, he did an internship at a research organisation as soon as he graduated. Currently, he is a research associate at an NGO. 

"I have sat for a few interviews, and when people get to know that I studied in a madrasa, they get curious. And there are some stereotypical notions about madrasa students. But I don't feel like just because of my background I am discriminated against. What I am asked in interviews is mostly my work and research related experiences," he said.

When he started his classes at the university, he faced the problem that most Bangla medium students also face – the fact that a lot of educational material is in English. But by the time he graduated, he was not far behind his English medium peers. 

However, he maintains that mixing with colleagues and maintaining relationships was sometimes problematic, mostly because of cultural differences or because of different upbringing.

Farhan Ahmed has been working for a top NGO for a couple of years. Recently he bagged a promotion. According to him, he has not personally been subjected to any disadvantages being a Bangla medium student and he is sure of the fact that it would not impact his future either. In his organisation, a sizable number of people are from the English medium.

"The fact that they are mostly from an English background, some of them have different cliques who hang out together. Sometimes, someone from Bangla medium is taken less seriously by others in English medium. But these instances are not widespread. English medium students have better networking and opportunities simply because they come from privileged families," he added. 

Sadat Amir, a business analyst, who has an English Medium background, said, "I acknowledge my privileges for not only having an English medium background, but also I come from a family where my parents already have a well-built network. To be honest, it helped me to get in touch with people who supported me in getting amazing career opportunities. But over time, I also built my skills according to my work, so that I can sustain myself."

The impact of perceptions about different backgrounds

In many respects, hiring and promotion depend on individual employer's preferences and the organisation's culture, maintained Sajid from BBF. In such a case, human perception becomes relevant. 

"First and foremost, we do have a colonial mindset. Secondly, English is a lingua franca of world business and economy. Therefore, the English medium has an upper hand."

Truth or myth, the implications of this notion have a wider impact on our mindsets. Just a decade or two ago, English medium education was not as widespread as it is today. There are plenty of English medium schools now as well as English version ones. While earlier, only the upper and upper-middle class were willing to put their kids in English medium, increasingly, today's middle class is following the footsteps.