Bangladesh has seen the largest fall among its Asian peers in a global English language proficiency ranking.
The 'English Proficiency Index' is a global ranking of various nations by the average level of their citizens' English language skills.
The country has been ranked the 63rd among 88 countries included in the index this year, securing an overall score of 48.72.
This is significantly lower than a score of 50.96 the country achieved in the same index last year-making it the largest decline for any Asian countries included in the survey.
Bangladesh was ranked 46th among 80 countries in the 2017 edition of the same index.
Among the South Asian nations, only Afghanistan has a lower ranking than Bangladesh in the index.
Meanwhile, India has been ranked 28th in the index, Pakistan has been ranked 50th and Sri Lanka has taken the 58th spot.
Among major Asian economies, Singapore is well ahead of the league, taking the third spot in the overall ranking.
This Asian economic giant is followed by the Philippines, which has grabbed the 14th position in the ranking.
Other major Asian countries, which are well ahead of Bangladesh include Malaysia (22), Hong Kong (30), South Korea (31), Vietnam (41), China (47), Japan (49) and Indonesia (49).
"A third of teachers in Bangladesh are not certified to teach," the EFI report said, noting that in many countries, deficiencies in English education reflected much larger systemic issues.
When asked about the possible reasons for such a poor ranking, relevant experts blamed the country's education system for the current decline in the English proficiency level of the general people.
"No ranking is perfect. However, there are reasons why Bangladesh is falling behind its Asian or South Asian peers in terms of English proficiency," said Dr. Syed Manzoorul Islam, former professor of English at Dhaka University.
"Our education system is clearly backdated and it is also not in line with our national education policy," he said.
"The way English is taught in our schools and colleges serves the purpose of examinations but it does not serve the purpose of practical and professional life."
Professor Islam was also critical of the recent introduction of Primary School Certificate and Junior School Certificate exams at the primary and secondary school levels.
"These exams are totally unnecessary and they have only created business opportunities for the coaching centres," he said.
Referring to the English proficiency level of corporate professionals, Professor Islam said, "Corporate employees mainly focus on speaking skills while there is a clear dearth in terms of writing or listening skills."
At the international level, the educationist noted, Bangladesh cannot properly negotiate with other countries due to the lack of English language skills of its government officials.
"One of the main reasons why foreign professionals dominate the top and mid-level management of the readymade garment sector is the lack of English skills of our local workforce," he argued.
Insiders within the private sector also noted the decline in English proficiency is hampering Bangladesh's prospect for becoming a major outsourcing destination.
"Language is one of the main problems why we are lagging behind India and the Philippines when it comes to tapping the global outsourcing opportunities," said Ahmadul Hoq, former president of the Bangladesh Association of Call Center & Outsourcing (BACCO).
"Language and communication skill is vital for today's business world. But our workforce lacks proficiency in both Bangla and English," he said.
Meanwhile, Sweden has taken the top spot in this year's EPI, followed by the Netherlands.
The dominance of Scandinavian countries in terms of English proficiency is also evident from the fact that Norway and Denmark have taken the 4th and 5th position in the ranking respectively.
"For companies, English is a key component of remaining competitive and fostering innovation in an internationalised market place," the EPI report said.
As English becomes necessary for ever more interactions in the globalised world, the value of proficiency in the language grows apparent, and the cost of not speaking English grows steeper.
"More scientific journals are published in English than in any other language, and we've found consistent correlations between English and investments in R&D," the report noted.
This relationship is interesting in light of recent research showing that companies with managers from many countries earn more of their revenue from innovation than less-diverse competitors.
"English is changing the way that ideas flow from one place to another," the global report said.
Conducted by international education company 'Education First', the ranking has been done annually since 2011.
The eighth edition of EPI was calculated using data from 1.3 million test takers in 2017. In order to be included, a country was required to have at least 400 test takers.
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