to education of particular group. Therefore, inequality in education can escalate into conflict by fostering the marginalisation of minority groups. Education policies get the exposure to influence political and economic inequalities by determining economic opportunities. In such cases, education often acts as a source of violence by restricting the access of a particular group or by promoting inappropriate content. An unequal educational access causes horizontal inequalities (Omoeva and Hatch, 2015) for ethnic minorities and affects unemployment, poverty, malnutrition, and access to civil service positions and political office. Barakat et al. (2013) report that when the education system reinforces the political domination and subordination of minorities, it becomes a foundation for armed conflict. Such an environment, in turn, often result in political instability and financial uncertainty, leading to lower educational capacity and teacher shortages. Education acquires a ‘negative face’ for minority groups when it carries the values of elites. As Bourdieu (1984) argues, education plays a vital role in producing and reproducing social order by recognizing the culture and identity of economically and politically dominant social groups. Language and culture are the key components to privilege the values of social elites through the education system. Through these components, educational institutions legitimize elites’ cultural capital, irrespective of others’ socio-economic context. Rassool (2007) argues that the use of colonial language in education eventually alters the ‘inner dynamic’ of colonized countries’ beliefs and values. She depicts Bourdieu’s ‘colonial habitus’ as: “…[Formerly colonized people] often make linguistic choices that reinforce existing social, political, and economic inequalities; and, in doing so, they collude in their own collective disempowerment and/or dispossession” (p. 2). Similarly, in post-colonial Rwanda, the government failed to re-design the education system left by the Belgian colonisers in such a way as to prevent conflict. The colonial education system prioritized the Tutsis. Rather than focus on building a common identity and ensuring peace, the Hutu majority, after gaining control over the government and education, further politicized the education system in terms of access, curricular content, and teachers’ attitudes on ethnicity. The education system thus exacerbated divisions in
children drop out in significant numbers before completing primary school, and also for lower levels of achievement in class. In their interviews, INI and GOB emphasized the effects of poverty and the importance of eradicating poverty to increase the sustainable quality of education: “Poverty of the students hinders the access of the students to education.” (INI) On the other hand, teacher quality and investment is an important component for Increasing teachers’ pay motivates them, attracts more qualified teachers, and improves the incentive to teach in underserved and remote areas, and to teach disadvantaged groups. “We have to decrease students’ poverty and teachers’ poverty. We have to increase the quality of teachers’ livelihoods. We need to invest in education to ensure peace in the family, society, and in the country.” (GOB) Analysing the Education Policy shows that the government has various plans to deal with poverty and lower the dropout rate, for example by providing lunch and building student hostels in the hill tracts area and remote areas. 6. Discussion In this study, while the documents provide an indication of the ongoing shifts at the policy level, the interviews offer insights into the gap between policies and practices based on practical experience. Indeed, the interviewee’s responses varied based on their ideological viewpoint and experiences. The findings shows that some of the policies have seemed to be on the process towards materialization. Four themes emerged based on the findings from the document analysis and interviews, offering insights into the peace-building dimensions of the education system in Bangladesh. Theme 1: Multicultural Education Multicultural education is the first and foremost dimension that emerged from data analysis. Regarding the equality issue, all the interviewees emphasized the importance of Indigenous languages as the medium of instruction until at least the primary level. Participants also agreed that multilingualism is a key component of multicultural education, which can help to provide equal learning opportunities for every linguistic group. Being