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Good practice Imported

ADB AI Needs Assessment and Training for Primary Education Teachers in Bangladesh

Bangladesh · Dhaka · See the Bangladesh profile · See the Dhaka profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 56% 47/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

First systematic AI-readiness needs assessment and training for Bangladesh's primary teachers, under ADB's Fourth Primary Education Development Program. 1,253 teachers surveyed (Aug 2023-Jan 2024) on AI-enabled pedagogy, then trained; published as an ADB working paper, Dec 2024.

1,253 teachers
Primary teachers surveyed (Aug 2023-Jan 2024)
1,224 responses
Online survey responses (Aug 2023-Jan 2024)
29 responses
In-person survey responses (Aug 2023-Jan 2024)

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Asian Development Bank / Directorate of Primary Education, Bangladesh
Period
Aug 2023–Jan 2024 (published Dec 2024)
Keywords
education, teacher training, AI literacy, needs assessment, primary education

Context

Between August 2023 and January 2024, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), working with Bangladesh's Directorate of Primary Education under the Fourth Primary Education Development Program (PEDP4) and researchers from the University of Oxford's Department of Education, ran Bangladesh's first small-scale AI needs assessment and training exercise for primary-school teachers. The exercise surveyed teachers on their readiness and perceptions of AI-enabled pedagogy and delivered a hands-on training workshop. Results were published in December 2024 as an ADB working paper.

Objectives

Assess primary-school teachers' awareness of and readiness for AI-enabled pedagogy, identify which teaching tasks could benefit from AI automation, and pilot a training workshop to address gaps.

Activities

Surveyed 1,253 primary teachers (1,224 online, 29 in person) on which pedagogies could benefit from AI-enabled automation and on their perceptions of integrating AI into teaching tasks, then delivered a hands-on training workshop to the surveyed teachers.

Results

The survey identified concrete gaps in teacher AI awareness and highlighted specific tasks -- such as grading and preparing lesson resources -- as most suited to AI assistance. The authors noted the online-heavy sample likely over-represented better-connected teachers.

Conclusions

The authors explicitly characterise the findings as exploratory rather than a basis for immediate national rollout, and note the study measures teacher readiness/perceptions and workshop uptake rather than pupil learning outcomes.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Not available in source documentation.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Survey and training conducted August 2023-January 2024; findings published December 2024 as ADB Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 101.
Staffing & skills
Directorate of Primary Education, Bangladesh (government counterpart under PEDP4), University of Oxford, Department of Education (research partner), ADB program team

Conditions for success

  • Teacher internet connectivity for the online survey component
  • Government buy-in via PEDP4 program structures

Common failure modes

  • Online-heavy sample likely over-represents better-connected teachers, biasing findings
  • Small, single-country exploratory sample not yet validated at scale

Where it fits

Governance type
national government program with multilateral donor support
Scale
sub-national pilot (1,253 teachers)
Income level
lower-middle income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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