e_Paper, Friday, September 8, 2017

6
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2017
DT
News
Half of the country can’t read or write
• Afrose Jahan Chaity
EDUCATION
At least half of the population of
Bangladesh are unable to read and
write as the world celebrates International
Literacy Day under the
theme ‘Literacy in digital world’
today.
The exact literacy rate in Bangladesh
has been a matter of contention,
with the 2016 ‘Education
Watch Report’ by the Campaign for
Popular Education (CAMPE) putting
the rate at 51.3% generally and
54% among women.
However, the ‘Sample Vital
Registration System (SVRS)’ of the
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
(BBS) puts the rate for the 15-45
year age group at 72.3% in 2016, an
increase on the 62% figure given by
the Bangladesh National Literacy
Assessment Survey in 2011.
The differences can be accounted
for in the different criteria used
for measurement.
In the SVRS, a person able to
write a simple letter has been
deemed literate. But, according to
Unesco, literacy incorporates three
things: reading, writing and doing
simple arithmetic.
CAMPE Executive Director
Rasheda K Choudhury told the
Dhaka Tribune that they had conducted
their survey using the three
Unesco instruments plus one extra:
application.
“About the difference in data,
I do not think the government assesses
the application skills of people,”
she said.
The former caretaker government
adviser said the government
has to conduct a literacy census to
find out the exact figure.
Increasing the literacy rate has
always been an important part of
the election manifestos of political
parties. The ruling Awami League’s
Vision 2021 had plans to achieve
100% literacy by 2017.
In 1991, the BNP-led government
launched four projects under
the Integrated Non-Formal Education
Programme (INFEP) which
provided literacy to 18 million people.
The INFEP was brought under
the Directorate of Non-Formal Education
(DNFE) in 1995. Three years
later, Bangladesh won the Unesco
Literacy Prize for successfully implementing
literacy programmes.
In 2000, the government unsuccessfully
launched a district
level-initiative called ‘Total Literacy
Movement’, which Rasheda
K Choudhury said had “weakened
the entire adult literacy programme”.
“It was an administrative initiative
rather than an academic one.
Other major reasons behind the
failure were a lack of monitoring
and assessment, discontinuing the
programme, and discouraging of
NGO initiatives,” she said.
In addition to the governmental
initiatives, literacy programmes
were run by 250 NGOs in 1992, 426
NGOs in 1995, 700 NGOs in 2000,
and 1,300 NGOs in 2008. However,
many of these NGOs are struggling
to continue the programmes due to
funding shortages.
Rasheda K Choudhury said donors
started investing in primary
education as the UN Millennium
Development Goals focused on this
sector, leaving developing countries
to raise funds for adult literacy
themselves.
“Donors and governments
started believing that investing in
primary education will give much
more in return than investing in
adult literacy, which is a global scenario
affecting local scenario,” she
added.
After 2007, the government did
not take any project to promote
adult literacy, said CAMPE Deputy
Director Tapon Kumar Das. However,
CAMPE proposed bringing 37
million people aged 15-45 under
mass literacy campaigning.
He said: “During last eight years,
the government could not take any
structural programme for adult
literacy. At the same time, the government
and international donors
invested a lot in primary education.
“Budget allocation was less on
non-formal adult literacy where
National Education Policy 2010
and Skill Development Policy 2011
clearly stated to provide literacy
and skill training within specific
time.”
Tapan told the Dhaka Tribune
that Bangladesh recently allocated
Tk500 crore to implement a basic
literacy programme in which
CAMPE and Unesco are working as
consultants to develop a sub-sector-wise
plan for non-formal education.
“Our literacy rate will increase
if it is implemented properly,” he
added.
Rasheda K Chowdhury said the
government should also introduce
a needs-based skilsl training programme,
a complete package of
life skills and vocational training
which will attract the population.
“Also continuous follow up and
investment at all levels – not only
primary, secondary or short-term
courses – are needed to achieve
expected level of literacy and outcomes,”
she said.
Literacy is a key component of
the UN’s Sustainable Development
Goals and its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development. •
School enrollment high but dropouts even higher
• Mahadi Al Hasnat
EDUCATION
The government’s statistics from BANBEIS show that in 2015, the national dropout rate in the secondary level was 40.29%,
out of which 45.92% were girls and 33.72% were boys
RAJIB DHAR
One in five children dropped out of
school last year due to high levels of
poverty, child marriage, social insecurity
and marginalisation, experts have said.
Although data from Bangladesh
Bureau of Educational Information and
Statistics (BANBEIS) showed a 10%
increase in the net enrollment rate
for secondary and primary schools in
the last ten years, it also pointed to an
alarming dropout rate.
The rate of 19.2% recorded in 2016
was just a single percentage point lower
than that of 2015.
The executive director of the Campaign
for Popular Education (CAMPE),
Rasheda K Chowdhury, said there were
socio-economic reasons for children
dropping out of school.
“Although primary education is free
and the textbooks are provided by the
government, a large number of children
from ultra poor areas - such as char
areas, haor areas and the Hill Tracts -
are barely enrolled in the public school
system,” she said.
“Things like poor teaching methods,
incompetent untrained teachers, lack
of encouragement has caused children
to not continue their schooling.
“The problem is worse for indigenous
children because even though the
government has published textbooks in
five indigenous languages, the teachers
are not equipped to teach them in it.
These children are simply not comfortable
in a mainstream classroom and so
their dropout rates are higher”.
The government, however, claims
steps are being taken to reduce the
high level of dropouts.
Director General of Directorate of
Primary Education (DPE), Dr Abu Hena
Mostafa Kamal, said the national rate
had fallen to 19.2% in 2016 from 47.2%
in 2005.
“This is progress,” he said. “The
government has introduced stipend
and stipulation to encourage school
enrollment. The school feeding and
take-home ration programmes have
also played a pivotal role in eliminating
the school dropout rate.”
The government’s statistics from
BANBEIS show that in 2015, the
national dropout rate in the secondary
level was 40.29%, out of which
45.92% were girls and 33.72% were
boys. That number slightly decreased
last year with an overall dropout rate at
of 38.30% with 42.19% being girls and
33.80% being boys.
“Physical disability is one of the
major reasons behind the existing
dropout rate while in some parts of the
country, poverty plays a big role too,”
said Dr Kamal.
The overall enrollment in secondary
level in 2016 was 67.84%, out of which
73.10% were girls and 63.85% were
boys.
Prof Md Elias Hossain, the director
(secondary) of the Directorate of
Secondary and Higher Secondary
Education, said child marriage was the
key reason for girls dropping out of the
secondary level.
“Most of the female students under
class VIII and IX drop out from school
because of child marriage,” he said. “A
lot of them are forced to get married if
they fail their exams.
“If these child marriages can be
prevented, the dropout rate would be
reduced significantly.”
DSHE Director Elias suggested that
if the students who failed the PSC and
JSC level examinations were allowed to
take admission in the next level or class,
and a recovery system was introduced
to retake the previous examination,
then the rate of school dropout might
reduce significantly.
Rasheda K Chowdhury added that
social insecurity for female students is
a big reason for their higher percentage
of dropout rate from secondary level.
“There is also a gender preference
still prevalent in many rural families
where they actively choose to educate
their male child and keep the girl child/
children at home to do chores,” she
said.
The CAMPE Executive Director
recommended special measures to
provide support, supervision and
academic backing to those who are at
risk of dropping from both primary and
secondary levels of education. •