The Bangladesh Scouts () is the national Scouting organization of Bangladesh. Now The Chief Scout of Bangladesh is MD Shahabuddin ( President of Bangladesh). Scouting was founded in 1914 in East Bengal, now Bangladesh, as part of the British Indian branch of The Scout Association, and continued as part of the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association until the country's divided sections split in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Following its independence, in 1972, the Bangladesh Boy Scout Association was officially formed as successor of the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association. Bangladesh became an independent member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1974. The organization changed its name to "Bangladesh Scouts" in 1978. The organization has 1,474,460 members as of 2015.
History
Scouting in modern Bangladesh started as part of the British Indian branch of The Scout Association. After the partition of India, the "East Pakistan Boy Scout Association" was formed as a regional association within the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association by Salimullah Fahmi.
Scouting was officially founded in British India in 1909, first starting at the Bishop Cotton Boys' School in Bangalore. Scouting for native Indians was started by Justice Vivian Bose, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Pandit Hridayanath Kunzru, Girija Shankar Bajpai, Annie Besant and George Arundale, in 1913. Prior to this date, Scouting was open only for British and foreign Scouts. On 4 February 1914, Sir Robert Scallon, British Commander of the Concentration at Dhaka, visited St. Gregory's School in Dhaka – at that time purely European and Eurasian (Anglo) School. As the Boy Scouts were unknown in Dhaka, with only four Troops existing down in Calcutta, Sir Robert invited the boys to try and establish a troop.
Mr. Francis, Organiser of the Boy Scouts, came with Captain Pakenham Walsh and his lantern photos on the work of the Boy Scouts. That was on 2 March 1914, Mr. Francis, as Scoutmaster of the area, enrolled six of the school's boys who had passed the Tenderfoot Test. The final approval by the Bengal Provincial Commissioner was signed by Mr. H Beuran. It lists Serjt. R Narnett, Inspector of Police as pro-tem Scoutmaster, Brother Bertin, then the Headmaster of the School gave all encouragement, Bro. Vital was named as Assistant Scoutmaster on probation.
The Troop was officially named: The FIRST DHAKA, St. Gregory's Troop..NUMBER ONE. The date on the Approval was 7 May 1914. The Scoutmaster was Mr. Harnett. The total strength of the Troop was forty boys, as of 27 April 1914.
The Britist Official Approval, Dalil lists St. Gregory's as the First Troop in the Dhaka or East Bengal area. Later on, separate groups in Calcutta were entitled One to Four, and St. Gregory's became Fifth Troop of the Bengal Presidency. The first scouts were David Pogose, Peter Gomes, Alfred Ferguson, Harold Armstead, Cyril Lucas and Osmund D'Silva. The school had Five Patrols and Mr. Francis listed the total number of Scouts as 40,to be going on their first camp in January 1915.
In 1916, a Cub section was started, followed by the Rover section in 1918.
In 1916, Calcutta's Senior Deputy Commissioner of Police J. S. Wilson introduced Scouting for Boys as a textbook in the Calcutta Police Training School. Colonel Wilson volunteered his services to the District Scout Commissioner, Alfred Pickford, and in 1917 became Assistant Scoutmaster of the Old Mission Church Troop. Together the two struggled for the admission of Indian boys into The Scout Association, which had not been admitted due to a Government of India order against it because "Scouting might train them to become revolutionaries". Shortly Wilson was acting as Cubmaster and Scoutmaster, and succeeded Pickford as District Commissioner in May 1919 when Pickford was promoted to Chief Scout Commissioner for India.