Bangladesh has achieved remarkable progress in increasing primary school enrollment rates over the past decades. The country has reduced discrimination against girls in accessing primary education. However, evidence from a census conducted in eight Upazilas of Sylhet division in 2012 revealed that 30% of the children aged 5-14 years in hard to reach haor areas were out-of-school. The proportion of out-of-school children was much higher in Sulla and Companyganj (about 36% in each) Upazilas, predominantly haor areas, of Sunamganj and Sylhet districts respectively. This study investigated the social obstacles to non-enrollment and dropout in primary schools of these two Upazilas. Data was collected through qualitative methods. In general, some common obstacles including children’s personal, family, socio-environmental, and school governance factors were identified as major causes to prevent non-enrollment and dropouts. Personal factors included children’s lack of interest in the study, their free will, difficulties in following lessons, etc.; family factors included parents’ lack of interest in the schooling of their children, lack of parental support, poverty, migration, opportunity costs of schooling, child labour, inability to bear educational expenses, etc.; socio-environmental factors included distance from school, lack of roads and problems with transportation, insecurity of girls, the influence of school leavers, etc.; school governance factors included inadequate teachers, crowded classrooms, poor quality teaching, lack of school monitoring and supervision, etc. Considering these factors a number of policy recommendations have been made for future decision-making to improve enrollment and attendance of students in the hard-to-reach areas.
Author: Mallick, Utpal
Type: Report
Year: 2014
