School’s In To Drive Poverty Out

By Naimul Haq


Sonia, a pupil at Hazi Ibrahim Government Primary School in Labag, Dhaka. / Credit:Shafiqul Alam Kiron/IPS


Credit:Shafiqul Alam Kiron/IPS

DHAKA, Nov 19, 2010 (IPS) - Since her admission in January 2009 into Kurmitola government primary school in the Khilkhet district of capital Dhaka, 10- year-old Anju Aktar has never missed a day of class. In fact, Aktar’s mid-term report card shows that she is one of the school’s top students.

But if not for free education offered in Bangladesh, the young girl who lives in a nearby slum with her seamstress mother and mentally challenged father might not even have had the chance to study, let alone pursue her dream of becoming a doctor.

Like Aktar, fellow student Mohammad Pappu says he wants to complete his education and escape a life of poverty. Pappu’s mother works as a domestic helper, putting in more than 15 hours a day to support her three children.

"We have tremendous pressure of students seeking admission in our school," said assistant teacher Firoza Khanam, one of 15 teachers at Kurmitola school. "Over ninety percent of our students come from poor families who now realise that free education for their children can bring long-term benefits."

The poor, who make up some 45 percent of Bangladesh’s 164 million population, are the main beneficiaries of the country’s education efforts. In addition, girls have overtaken boys in rates of enrolment, attendance and completion of primary education.

With over 94 percent net enrolment, Bangladesh is one of only a handful of the world’s least developed countries that are close to achieving the U.N. millennium development goals of 100 percent enrolment rate in primary schools by 2015.

"Achieving some other goals like bringing dropout at all schools to zero level by 2011, (and) eliminate illiteracy by 2021, compulsory free computer education in all primary schools have helped in high retention rates of students in primary schools," said Abdul Awal Mazumder, secretary of Bangladesh’s Ministry for Primary and Mass Education, which was set up in 1992 as part of the country’s efforts towards achieving development goals.

The government currently spends between 60 and 70 U.S. dollars per year towards the education of each of the 18 million eligible students aged between six and 10.

Since May 2004, the government has spent an estimated 1.8 billion dollars for upgrading some 82,868 primary schools, retraining of teaching staff and focusing on quality improvement.

According to the latest annual performance review report released in 2009, net enrolment has grown steadily to 93 percent in 2008, more students (97 percent) have gone on to Grade 6, and absenteeism rates have dropped to 19 percent.

The average teacher-to-student ratio has also improved to some 46 students per teacher. In addition, students now get to spend close to 750 hours a year with their teachers, up from less than 400 teacher contact hours in the late 1980s.

Experts attribute the success to the Primary Education Development Programme – a six-year mission, the biggest state-owned programme, to develop primary education started in 2000.

Bangladesh is on right track, Mazumder claims, to maintaining the yearly growth rate, dangling carrots like stipends for females, the now-defunct Food For Education programme, rewards for good results and free distribution of revised textbooks to increase enrolment rates.

But experts say that there are still a few drawbacks that need to be addressed.

While some 42.7 million of the state’s annual budget goes toward primary education, the total budget for education is only two percent of Bangladesh’s Gross Domestic Product – the lowest percentage allocated in South Asia.

"The ground reality is that poor children come to seek education in public schools, not the rich," said Bimol Saha, a primary schoolteacher in Manikganj district, about 60 km south of Dhaka. "To reduce dropout rates, we have to make the classes more attractive and friendly. For instance, students in generally prefer female teachers who are friendlier and more tolerant."

"Despite remarkable achievements in student admission and holding the sub-continent’s best gender parity record, dropout rates and enrolment of disadvantaged children still pose problems," said Tapon Kumar Das, programme manager of Campaign for Popular Education, a coalition of over 1,000 non-government organisations advocating for quality education in Bangladesh.

"School dropout (rates) in many areas show as high as 40 percent against the government’s claim of 11 percent. Children from indigenous families also have low enrolment rates," Das added.

NGOs play a major role in addressing such issues, supplementing the government’s primary education programmes. The number of NGO-run primary schools has quadrupled since the early 1990s and now comprises 8.5 percent of the total educational system in Bangladesh.

Many consider these schools to be more effective than public schools through their offering of flexible school timings, better infrastructure, facilities and textbooks, as well as separate monitoring and evaluation of students.

For example, schools by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) – whose 1.2 million students account for 76 percent of all students in NGO-operated primary schools – are unique in that local community members decide and implement all academic programmes in consultation with parents and stakeholders.

"We enrol drop out (and) non-enrolled children – mostly girls – from poor families, ensure high attendance, child friendly pedagogy and high completion of five-year academic studies in our primary schools," Safiqul Islam, director of BRAC’s education programme, told IPS.

"But it is not merely primary education we focus on," he added. "We operate pre-primary schools to cater to mainstream primary schools as well as support the mainstream secondary schools to improve quality of education which are all linked to one another." (END)