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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. •
33% 39% News FRIDAY, The Sylhet, Barisal conundrum • Afrose Jahan Chaity EDUCATION Although a large number of people in Barisal division are poor, it has the lowest illiteracy rate while the rates for Sylhet division are quite opposite. Barisal has the highest poverty rate of 38.3%, and the lowest 25.1% was recorded in Sylhet, according to Bangladesh Poverty Maps 2010. On the other hand, Literacy Assessment Survey (Las) 2011 revealed that highest literacy rate (61.3%) was recorded in 41% 44% Chapainawabganj 47% 50% 50% 46% 42% Chuadanga 44% 40% 54% 46% 42% 45% 49% 42% 45% 55% 46% 44% 47% 60% 38% 48% 57% Barisal and the lowest 45.4% in Sylhet. Urban literacy rates are higher than the rural ones in the two divisions. Literacy rate in rural Barisal is 57.8% and 39.9% in rural Sylhet, the survey shows. The highest rural-urban discrepancy in functional literacy rates was recorded at 13.3% in Sylhet and the lowest at 2.8% in Barisal. The Las 2011 also revealed that Barisal has the highest functional literacy rates at both advanced and initial levels and the least discrepancy in functional literacy rates in terms of gender. Urban functional literacy rates are almost similar in all the divisions except Barisal, where it was recorded at 74.9%, the highest compared with the other divisions. The lowest urban and rural functional literacy rates were found in Sylhet at 62% and 39.9% respectively. Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, Talukder Md 39% 38% 33% Bagerhat 58% 46% 47% 57% 33% 43% 65% 45% 68% 73% 33% 41% 64% 54% 44% 57% 53% 59% Source: World Bank (The Bangladesh Interactive Poverty Maps) 49% 56% 42% 36% 50% 39% 44% 53% Yunus, a lawmaker from Barisal 2, said: “Historically, people in Barisal are always education enthusiasts and aware of illiteracy. This is why they always send their children to schools.” Asked the division’s poverty rates, he said the region’s people are poor due mainly to a lack of industrialisation and employment opportunities. Asked about Sylhet’s increased illiteracy rates, Imran Ahmad, a lawmaker from Sylhet 4, said there had been one or two teachers at each school in Sylhet since the colonial era. The numbers of schools and teachers began to rise particularly after 1996. Sylhet division has the lowest poverty rate because many people in the region are living abroad, earning themselves good amounts of money, he said, adding: “Historically, people in this division are from well-off backgrounds.” • Sunamganj 49% 50% 44% 61% 54% 47% 61% 38% 33% 7 SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 DT California joins 15 states taking legal action against Trump over DACA • Tribune Desk WORLD California’s Attorney General says a separate lawsuit he plans to file over the Donald Trump administration’s plan to end protections for young immigrants will mirror the legal arguments made in a suit already filed by 15 states and the District of Columbia, reports the Associated Press. Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, said on Wednesday he is going ahead with his own lawsuit because one in four participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme lives in California and the state will suffer the greatest harm from its termination. He says he’ll file the suit soon. Becerra says he’s been talking with fellow attorneys general for months about what to do if DACA is terminated and that the legal grounds of his case will be similar to the one filed earlier in the day by the other states. That lawsuit calls the move by Trump an unconstitutional culmination of his commitments to punish people with Mexican roots. Becerra says ending DACA will harm the people it protects along with California’s economy and higher education system. The 15 states filed a lawsuit in New York led by Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who called Trump’s act “a dark time for our country.” Plaintiffs include New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia. On Tuesday, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the programme will end in six months to give Congress time to find a legislative solution for the immigrants. The participants were brought to the US illegally as children or came with families who overstayed visas. • China agrees UN action to end North Korea crisis • Reuters, Beijing WORLD China agreed on Thursday that the UN should take more action against North Korea after its latest nuclear test, while also pushing for dialogue to help resolve the standoff. North Korea, which is pursuing its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of international condemnation, said it would respond to any new UN sanctions and US pressure with “powerful counter measures,” accusing the United States of aiming for war. The US wants the UN Security Council to impose an oil embargo on North Korea, ban its exports of textiles and the hiring of North Korean labourers abroad, and to subject leader Kim Jong Un to an asset freeze and travel ban, according to a draft resolution. Pressure from Washington has ratcheted up since North Korea conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sunday. That test, along with a series of missile launches, showed it was close to achieving its goal of developing a powerful nuclear weapon that could reach the US. China is by far North Korea’s biggest trading partner, accounting for 92% of two-way trade last year. US President Donald Trump has urged China to do more to rein in its neighbour, which was typically defiant on Thursday. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in spoke at the regional meeting in Vladivostok and agreed to try to persuade China and Russia to cut off oil to North Korea as much as possible, according to South Korean officials. Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the meeting he thought the North Korea crisis would not escalate into nuclear war, predicting that common sense would prevail. THAAD deployment Amid the rising tension, South Korea installed the four remaining launchers of a US anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system on a former golf course in Seoul, early on Thursday. Two launchers had already been deployed. More than 30 people were hurt when about 8,000 police broke up a blockade near the site by about 300 villagers and members of civic groups opposed to the THAAD deployment, fire officials said. The deployment has drawn strong objections from China, which believes the system’s radar could be used to look deeply into its territory. •
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