FINAL PROJECT

Proposed financing solution to children dropout and community engagement in primary

education in Bangladesh

The Government of Bangladesh has taken many

initiatives to achieve Education for All (EFA) by 2015.

Education institutions have managed to bring down

gender disparity in classrooms, but “student’s

dropout and community engagement” still be a

major challenges in Bangladesh among others like

ensuring 100% net enrollment, 100% net intake etc.

The first level of education is comprised of 5 years of

formal schooling   (class / grades I - V). The primary

education (Grade I-V) managed by the Ministry of

Primary and Mass Education (MOPME).

Reasons that the government, official aid provider or private sector would want to participate in this issue because the Bangladesh government has already declared primary education free for all and government planned to expend 11.3% budget in education and technology of its planned budget in 2015-16 fiscal year, on the other hand different organizations or private sectors or NGOs are also working to mitigate the problems of primary education issues.

The National documents which support the primary education are-

National Children Policy 2011 The Children Act 2013

National Education Policy 2010 Primary Education Development Plan (PEDP) Reaching out of school age children (Rosc) etc.

At a glance as per annual primary school census (APSC- 2014) Bangladesh

Indicators Gender 2014No. of schools covered 108537

TeachersMale 203779Female 279105Total 482884

Students Boys 9639095Girls 9913884

Total1955297

9Pre-Primary Enrolment

Boys 1581605Girls 1506855Total 3088460

Gross Intake Rate – GIR (%)

Boys 109.1Girls 108.3Total 108.7

Net Intake Rate- NIR (%)

Boys 97.6Girls 98.1Total 97.9

Gross Enrolment Rate- GER (%)

Boys 104.6Girls 112.3Total 108.4

Net Enrolment Rate – NER (%)

Boys 96.6Girls 98.8Total 97.7

Dropout rate (%) Boys 24.3Girls 17.5Total 20.9

Survival rate (%) Boys 77.6Girls 84.4Total 81

Completion rate (%) Boys 75.7Girls 82.5Total 79.1

Coefficient of efficiency Boys 77.3Girls 82.7Total 80

Year inputs per graduate Boys 6.5Girls 6Total 6.2

Absenteeism rate (%) Boys 13.4Girls 13.2Total 13.3

Attendance rate (%) Boys 86.6Girls 86.8Total 86.7

Repetition rate (%) Boys 6.9Girls 6Total 6.4

PECE pass rate (%) Boys 97.9Girls 97.88Total 97.93

As per APSC-2014 data shows the dropout rate in 2014 is 20.9% where boys are 24.3% and girls

is 17.5%. The reason behind the dropout is interrelated to each other. I think the main obstacles

currently standing in the way of solving the dropout and community engagement problem or

issue are-

Community engagement- due to illiteracy- very poor community engagement or parent’s

involvement in children school activities causes the dropout.

Hostel facilities- many children from rural area, hilly area and coastal area children stays

at hostel or relatives house for their primary education. They face their hard time to

complete their primary education cycle and dropout take place.

Separate toilet facilities and its proper uses- maximum girl students hesitate to use

unhygienic toilet at school, this cause absenteeism and dropout.

Insufficient stipend for students and parent illiteracy- stipend encourage parents to send

their children to school but the stipend is only for selected rural schools and selected poor

meritorious children, which discourage other parent due to illiteracy.

Limited coverage of biscuit or mid-day meal facilities- Ensure school feeding program to

all the schools of Bangladesh covering all the students in the primary schools for better

health and nutrition, increases attendance and reduce dropout.

Child friendly environment-Teacher’s leadership- success of school depend on teachers

leadership qualities such as student teachers relationship, student-student relationship,

teacher parent relationship and decrease dropout.

In my opinion considering the context of the Bangladesh the following financing solution may

be considered

Domestic resource mobilization in which countries transparently raise and spend their

own funds to provide for their people – is the long-term path to sustainable development

finance.

Government must allocate at least 25% of total budget for primary education sector.

Government of Bangladesh can expand biscuit program, stipend program and introduce

mid-day meal program, tiffin system.

Government invite donor spending in education that can be public and private financing

in primary education

GO-NGO collaboration and utilize fund in highest dropout rate districts for mobilization.

Channelize the financial flow to local government with prior activity and budget plan and

ensure transparency and accountability.

NGOs can take many projects on community engagement and school environment

improvement to reduce dropout rate and ensure individual participation and 100%

completion in primary education.

Ensuring community contribution and participation cash or kind and involving local

leaders for ownership building.

Upazila (sub-district) Education Committee have monitoring plan on children dropout

Continuous support to teachers, parents and students at school level.

Thank you