BPS2025: A demographically focused dataset of handwritten bangla primary script for early writer recognition

The classification of Bangla characters and digits is a fundamental component of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and computer vision applications. However, despite advancements in handwritten character recognition (HCR) for other languages, recognizing Bangla script remains a formidable challenge, primarily due to its extensive character set, intricate compound forms, and significant stylistic variations. While existing datasets have significantly advanced the field of Bangla HCR, they frequently overlook the complexity and variability of primary-level learners' handwriting. This paper introduces the first extensive Bangla Primary Script 2025 (BPS2025) dataset, a novel, balanced and comprehensive, demographically oriented collection of isolated characters and numerals specially focused young primary school students. The dataset was selectively curated from 500 students, aged 7 to 12 and in grades 2 to 5, across four districts in Bangladesh. It comprises 24,420 raw images across 60 balanced classes, including 50 basic characters and 10 digits, which followed five stage pre-processing pipelines to process the final dataset. The dataset addresses a significant gap in existing benchmarks, which is expected to support future research and real-world educational applications by facilitating the development of robust and accurate recognition models for Bangla script.