Khulna Division

Khulna Division
খুলনা বিভাগ
Division of Bangladesh

Seal

Location of Khulna in Bangladesh

Districts of Khulna Division
Coordinates: 22°55′N 89°15′E / 22.917°N 89.250°E / 22.917; 89.250Coordinates: 22°55′N 89°15′E / 22.917°N 89.250°E / 22.917; 89.250
Country  Bangladesh
Capital Khulna
Area
  Total 22,284.22 km2 (8,603.99 sq mi)
Population (2011 census)
  Total 15,687,759
  Density 700/km2 (1,800/sq mi)
Time zone BST (UTC+6)
ISO 3166 code BD-D

Khulna Division (Bengali: খুলনা বিভাগ) is one of the seven divisions of Bangladesh and is in the south-west of the country. It had an area of 22,285 km2 and a population of 15,563,000 at the 2011 Census (preliminary returns). Its headquarters is Khulna city in Khulna District.

Geography

The Khulna division borders the Indian state of West Bengal to the west, the Rajshahi Division to the north, the Dhaka and Barisal Divisions to the east, and has a coastline on the Bay of Bengal to the south. It is part of the Ganges River delta or Greater Bengal Delta. Other rivers include the Madhumati River, the Bhairob River and the Kopotokkho River. The region also includes several islands in the Bay of Bengal.

Administrative districts

The division was formed in 1960.[1] Khulna Division consists of the following ten districts (zilas), subdivided into 59 sub-districts (upazilas):[2]

District Administrative
centre
Area in
km2.
Population
1991 Census
Population
2001 Census
Population
2011 Census
Bagerhat District Bagerhat 3,959.11 1,431,322 1,549,031 1,476,090
Chuadanga District Chuadanga 1,174.10 807,164 1,007,130 1,129015
Jessore District Jessore 2,606.94 2,106,996 2,471,554 2,764,547
Jhenaidah District Jhenaidah 1,964.77 1,361,280 1,579,490 1,771,304
Khulna District Khulna 4,394.45 2,010,643 2,378,971 2,318,527
Kushtia District Kushtia 1,608.80 1,502,126 1,740,155 1,946,838
Magura District Magura 1,039.10 724,027 824,311 918,419
Meherpur District Meherpur 751.62 491,917 591,430 655,392
Narail District Narail 967.99 655,720 698,447 721,668
Satkhira District Satkhira 3,817.29 1,597,178 1,864,704 1,985,959
Total 10 22,284.22 12,688,3832 14,705,223 15,687,759

Economy

Khulna was the backbone of the East Pakistan's main foreign currency earner, the jute industry. There are many large jute mills in Khalishpur near Khulna city processing jute fiber, besides the other heavy industries like Khulna News Print Mills and Khulna Hardboard Mills. The country's second seaport, Mongla Port, and the country's only ship building yard is in Khulna division.

The largest mangrove forest in the world — the Sundarban — is spread over the three most southerly districts of Satkhira, Khulna and Bagherhat.

Education

The division contains educational institutions including:

Universities
Colleges

Keshobpur College, Keshobpur, Jessore Chuknagor College, Dumuria, Khulna

Schools
Other Educational Institutes

Khulna has six integrated general and vocational (IGV) schools and one technical school of UCEP (Underprivileged Children's Educational Programs), which is a non-profitable organization.

The technical school is Khulna Mohsin Technical School, which is situated at 7, Junction Road, Baikali, Khulna.

Kushtia Zilla School, Kushtia is one of the best schools in Khulna division and reputed in Bangladesh. In higher secondary level Kushtia Govt. College, Kushtia is playing the same role as KZS. For higher education Islamic University, Kushtia have become model in Bangladesh, and thus in Khulna division education level increasing day by day.

Newspapers and magazines

Daily and weekly newspapers are published from Khulna, including:

Daily Gramer Kagoj Daily Spondon Daily Lokshomaj

Religion

Islam is in majority and about 88% of total population follow Islam according to 2011. Hinduism is second largest religion in Khulna and about 11% of total population are Hindu,1% follow other religion.

Language

Bengali is the official language of Bangladesh. There are a few thousand people of Pakistani or Bihari origin who speak Urdu; those people were stranded after the liberation war between Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) and Pakistan. Bihari people were from the state of Bihar and surrounding areas of India. They migrated to East Bengal or East Pakistan (presently Bangladesh) at the time of partition of India in 1947. These Bihari people were against formation of Bangladesh in 1971 as they favored Pakistan, but after the war Pakistan refused to take them back. They use a mixed form of Urdu language, especially mixed with Bhojpuri, Bengali, Hindi and English.

English is widely used as the business language. Most of the educated people can speak and understand English. As English is used as medium of education in some educational institutions.

Munda, Domari, Romani, Telugu, Gujarati, Marwari and other minor languages are used by minority communities usually found in the cities.

Notable persons

References

  1. Sajahan Miah (2012). "Khulna Division". In Sirajul Islam and Ahmed A. Jamal. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  2. Census figures for 1991, 2001 and 2011 are from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Population Census Wing. The 2011 Census figures are based on preliminary results.
  3. MIST
  4. http://www.khulnanews.com
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Khulna Division.
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