Reducing School drop out rates

Reducing school drop out rates
Bangladesh has achieved substantial achievement in education particularly primary level comparing the previous situation. . Poverty and poverty related factors are identified as the predominant reasons for dropout . Addressing poverty and related factors- awarding scholarships, provisions of tutoring, improvement of school facilities and teacher training can reduce the dropout rate.
Per capita income in Bangladesh is one of the lowest in the world having the status of 7th populous country .Half of its population lives below the poverty line. Population density 2800 persons per square mile prove one of the highest in the world. Poverty has been dealt with as a main concern by a large number of non-government organizations and they have goals related to poverty eradication as their primary focus but the pace of progress has been excruciatingly slow. Bangladesh spends 2.7 percent of its GDP for educating its children proving one of the lowest in the world.
Not only poverty but also socio-religious factors and lack of exposure to modernism can be attributed to poor and dire situation of secondary education in rural areas. The number of high schools per 1000 children is awfully low compared to the urban areas, the facilities in high schools are dismally inadequate and the quality of education cries out for improvement. At the completion of five years of primary, no certificate was awarded till 2009 when the government introduced terminal exam and required high schools to admit only students that passed exam at Class VI. The high school teachers used to blame the primary teachers for providing poor quality students to high schools. Now this blame game will be narrowed.
Volunteers Association for Bangladesh (VAB) , a US-based non-governmental organization, started its activities in Bangladesh from 2000 in high school education for poor students in rural areas. It works in 34 rural high schools in different localities in 22 upazilas in 15 districts. It has four programs namely-(i) High School Scholarship, (ii) Teachers Training, (iii) Facilities Improvement (with science laboratory equipment and supplies, library books, computers, sports and cultural equipment,) (iv)Tutoring SSC Examinees and Tutoring 6th graders. Over 80 percent high school students quit schools without having their secondary school certificates while 36.52 percent of intermediate college level students dropped out without having their higher sedentary certificates in 2005. Female students have a higher dropout rate than male students in 2005 , 83.29 percent.
Poor families in rural Bangladesh cannot afford school tuition let alone pay for a private tutor. But for supplementing low-quality classroom education and achieving success, private tutoring or coaching has become a necessity in the system that has developed in Bangladesh over the past years. Most poor parent in rural areas is compelled to sacrifice education and choose work over school for their children to supplement the meager family income that is insufficient for the maintenance of the family.
Besides poverty and early marriage a few additional factors have been identified for dropout. Getting afraid of English , mathematics and other hard subjects and easy promotion from class six to ten is another cause. When students need to take preparation for the national level exams many cannot cope with the situation and leave schools.. In some cases dropout has been associated with specific behavioral problems such as drug abuse. Another recurrent cause of dropping out is persistently low academic achievement.
Female students’ early marriage account for 60% dropout rate proves to be a significant and important issue in this sector. 27 percent girls leave school to do domestic activities. Lack of interest in school or education in general, issues of adjustments in schools, difficulties with coping with the curriculum and its complexities and even fear of teachers have been pointed out in this context.
Social factors such as apathy or antipathy originating from religion, caste or ethnicity as well as outright discouragement by religious leaders or guardians are not ignoring factors.
A tutoring program for SSC examinees may save the poor guardians from spending extra money for their education. Volunteers Association of Bangladesh and brac have started this tutoring programme for the SSC examinees which directly help the poor students and guardians. If similar programmes are taken by other NGOs and government , the poor students will be benefitted and drop out rate will reduce. Scholarship programmes for the real poor learners also can also help reduce drop out. Volunteers Association of Bangladesh run a scholarship programme for poor village students and a research shows that these schools see 17percent less dropout than other schools. Of course, government has some scholarship projects for the poor students but it is not known whether any research has been conducted or not to see how much dropout rate has been reduced.

Md. Masum Billah
Programme Manager: BRAC Education Programme, PACE
Cell: 01714-091431
Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com