They also expressed concern that the standards of teaching and learning English in the country have fallen so abysmally that the majority of younger generation could not adapt to a fast-changing and competitive world due to the lack of proficiency in English.

They identified the lack of integrated policy and initiatives, incompetent teachers, inappropriate syllabus and the lack of awareness and opportunities as major reasons behind poor English language skills among the students in the country.

They also suggested adopting a bilingual approach, with both Bangla and English recognised as important educational, business and public affairs languages.

The Brac University Institute of Educational Development (BU-IED) organised the seminar on 'English Language Teaching (ELT) in Bangladesh: Policy, Practice and Strategy' at the Brac Centre in the city.

British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury, The Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam, British Council Acting Director Richard Sunderland and BU-IED Director Dr Manzoor Ahmed addressed the seminar.

Consultant of English Language Teaching of BU-IED Prof M Shamsul Hoque, Jaddon Park of BU-IED, Goutam Roy and Md Zulfeqar Haider of BU-IED and Tripti Kana Dey and Md Nazrul Islam of National Academy for Primary Education presented four keynote papers on the issue.

They depicted present state of English language teaching in the country, existing policy and problems and placed some suggestions to address the issue.

Addressing the seminar, Anwar Choudhury said English is now something more than a language; it is now an economy and 'global Google of knowledge'.

He assured that the UK and the British Council Bangladesh will continue to provide all necessary cooperation for the government and non-government organisations to help sustain the process of learning and teaching English in the country.

Mahfuz Anam said that geography has become irrelevant in this world of information and communication technology and English has become very important as an international language.

But it is very shocking that the quality of students has gone down and the teaching quality of teachers is also alarming, he added.

Anam said it is high time to launch an allout initiative to raise awareness about the need to learn English at all levels.

Massive mass awareness programme should be launched immediately involving the media with series of seminars and workshops on the issue, he added.