Originally established in 1959 as the Education Extension Centre, NAEM has since undergone several role and structural transformations to meet the changing demands of the education system, until it was finally renamed NAEM in 1991. It is a government department under the Office of the Ministry of Education.

conduct foundation training for the new entrants to the Bangladesh Civil Service Education Cadre;
• develop and conduct training of educational functionaries in educational planning, administration and management;
• develop, conduct and disseminate training courses in institutional management targeted to the heads of secondary and higher secondary level institutions;
• undertake educational research to assist the government in the formulation of appropriate education policies and programmes at the secondary and higher secondary levels.

NAEM is headed by a Director General and has four divisions:
• Programme planning and development.
• Training management and implementation.

• Research and documentation.
• Administration, budget and finance.
Its staff consists of 35 faculty members and 115 other personnel.
The regular training and research activities are financed by the government budget. Several other activities, such as workshops, development of training courses and materials, publications, are partly financed by a UNESCO/UNDP/Govemment of Bangladesh project.

NAEM mainly organizes training activities. It conducts two residential courses on a regular basis:
• a two-month foundation training course, for the new entrants of the Bangladesh Civil Service Education cadre;
• a three-week education administration and management course, for the heads of secondary and higher secondary level institutions.
Furthermore, it conducts a number of non-residential short training courses on various topics, such as project management and development, office management, institution management, research methodology etc.
Research work is in progress on eight priority areas:
• Secondary and higher secondary teacher education.
• Curriculum framework for secondary and higher secondary levels of education.
• Examination reforms.
• Vocationalization of secondary education.
• Institutional management.
• Legal and normative aspects of secondary and higher secondary education.
• Planning and optimum utilization of institutional infrastructure.
• Promotion of girls' education at post-primary level.
Consultancy services are occasionally provided to national and international organizations, subject to government approval.

Different publications, in English and Bengali, have resulted from the above activities including for instance training manuals on How to make schools better and reports on several workshops. NAEM has started publishing a quarterly newsletter hi both English and Bengali.

It is foreseen to strengthen the Academy with a view to making it a centre of excellence for educational planning, management and administration for secondary and higher secondary levels of education. In mis regard, it is planned that it will offer a wider and more diverse number of training programmes. Co-operation with national and international institutions working in the same field should be increased. NAEM has already established a management training network, involving almost all the national Institutions who play a role in such training.