Shishu Niketan is a new fee-based primary education initiative of the BRAC Education Programme. The aim of this is to create self-sustaining and good-quality primary schools in the areas in which non-formal schools have been withdrawn. Analyzing the input and process factors of Shishu Niketan, this study assessed the quality of this initiative. Parental perspectives and challenges in driving the initiative towards sustainability were also explored. This is the first research on this initiative. A comparative study was designed. Five Shishu Niketans and five nearby Kindergartens were purposively selected from an area located in rural Bangladesh. It applied both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Findings reveal that physical facilities were better in Kindergartens; however, Shishu Niketans were superior in terms of teaching-learning provision. Both of these factors influenced parents’ school choices. In other opinions, these factors were crucial in ensuring the quality of education. Parents of Shishu Niketans were found to be satisfied with the teaching quality, teachers’ behaviour, and the culture of supervision. They had strong objections about the absence of toilets and drinking water facilities. An opposite scenario was observed in Kindergartens. Collection of tuition fees was the major challenge for both schools but it was found to be more difficult in Shishu Niketans. Shishu Niketans were established based on BRAC primary schools’ (BPSs) goodwill and network. Thus, the poorer section of the community who knew BRAC as a free education provider was the main population for Shishu Niketans. Poorer admitted their children to Shishu Niketans by assuming that these schools were free. On the other hand, parents of Kindergarten children knew from the start that kindergarten used to be a fee-based system.
Authors: Nahid, Durdana; Nath, Samir Ranjan
Type: Working Paper
Year: 2014
