Khulna Division is one of the six divisions of Bangladesh and is located in the south-west of the country. It has an area of 22,274 sq. km. and a population of 14.47 million. Its headquarters is Khulna city in Khulna District.

Geography

The Khulna division borders the Rajshahi Division to the north, the Dhaka Division to the north-east, Barisal Division to the east, the Bay of Bengal to the south and the state of West Bengal (in India) to the west. Barisal Division was formerly part of Khulna Division.

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.

Constituent districts

Khulna Division consists of the following districts:

1. Bagerhat District
2. Chuadanga District
3. Jessore District
4. Jhenaidah District
5. Khulna District
6. Kushtia District
7. Magura District
8. Meherpur District
9. Narail District
10. Satkhira District

Economy

Khulna was the backbone of the East Pakistan's main foreign currency earner Jute industry. There are many large Jute mills located in Khalispure 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 located within Khulna division.

The largest mangrove forest in the World the Sundarban is spread over the three districts of Satkhira, Khulna and Bagherhat.

Education

The division boasts notable educational institutions including:Khulna University of Engineering and Technology[83674], B.L College Khulna University,Khulna Collegiate School, Cantonment Public School and College, Jhenaidah Cadet College, Phultala M.M. College and Jessore Cantonment Public School. Rotary School, S.B.S.N, Damoder M.M. High School, Khulna Lions Schools, St. Josephs School, Khulna Zilla School etc.KHAN JAHAN ALI IDEAL COLLEGE,KHULNA SIROMONI(BY ZIHAD)Besides, Khulna has six IGV(Integrated General and Vocational) schools and one technical school of UCEP(Underprivileged Children's Educational Programs), which is a non-profitable organization. Six IGV schools are:UCEP-K C C School, RupshaUCEP-Sonadanga School, Sonadanga (Ahmed Aman Masud Biplob, Center incharge [IT])UCEP-M A Majid School, FulbarigateUCEP-Khalishpur School, KhalishpurUCEP-Zohra Samad School, TootparaUCEP-Wazed Ali School, BanorgatiThe technical school is: Khulna Mohsin Technical School, 7, Junction Road , Baikali, Khulna.UCEP's Khulna Divisional office situated at there.

News Papers & Magazines

There are few daily and weekly newspapers are published from Khulna contributing to the development of mass media and free flow of information. Most notable news papers are the Purbanchal and Daily Tribune etc. The Purbanchal is available on the internet at http://www.purbanchal.com

Language

Bengali (Bangla) is the official language of Bangladesh in general but people of Khulna speaks the most purest form of Bangla Language as being the closest to West Bengal of India. There are few thousand Pakistani origin people speaks Urdu, those unfortunate people are stranded after the liberation war between Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) and Pakistan.

English is widely used as the business language. Owing to the influence of Hindi movies a vast number of people speaks and understands Hindi,the national language of India.

See also

• Dhaka
• Bangladesh

References