Literacy, enrolment rates decline
The literacy rate and the enrolment rate in primary schools in the country have declined, although infrastructure facilities for education and teachers training have increased over the years, according to the Education Watch Report 2008.
The literacy rate of the population aged seven and above came down to 48.5 percent in 2008 from 49.7 percent in 2005, while the literacy rate of the population aged 15 and above declined to 52.1 percent from 52.6 percent, the report said.
However, the figures were 37 percent and 41.4 percent respectively in 2000.
Besides, the net enrolment rate in primary schools came down to 86.4 percent in 2008 from 86.8 percent in 2005, showing stagnation of the enrolment over the last few years after a rapid increase from 1998 when the rate was 77 percent.
The Education Watch Report prepared by the Campaign for Popular Education (Campe) was launched at the LGED auditorium in the city yesterday. The report was prepared on the basis of surveys on 7,093 students from 440 educational institutions and 24,007 households of 1003 villages across the country in 2008.
The report titled 'State of primary education in Bangladesh: Progress made, challenges remained' also revealed that the rates of dropouts and failure in final exams in various classes in primary schools also went up in the last decade.
"The dropout and repetition rates in each class were 5.6 percent and 8 percent respectively in 1998, which went up to 11.5 percent and 10.9 percent in 2008," said Education Watch Working Group Member Samir Ranjan Nath while presenting the report.
On an average, 77.4 percent of students who enrolled in class one could reach up to class three, 58.4 percent up to class five and only 50.1 percent complete the primary education.
In 1998, only 44.5 percent of government schools and 47.9 percent of private primary schools had brick-built structures, which went up to 67.6 percent and 90 percent respectively in 2008, the report said. Water and sanitation status has also been upgraded.
Besides, the rate of students taking help from private tutors has increased. During the period from 1998 to 2000, around 20 percent of students had private tutors, and the figure rose to 38 percent in 2008, the report said.
On an average, 85 percent of teachers in the government, private and non-formal schools received training in the years up to 2008, while the figure was only 25.9 percent in 1998. However, less than 11 percent of madrasa teachers received training.
"The rate of teachers' absence in schools ranged between 12 and 13 percent in the last one decade. This has been a serious problem," the report said. On the day of survey, 42.5 percent of teachers came to school half an hour late on an average.
To address these problems, the Education Watch Report suggested that Upazila education offices should play the key role in implementing and flourishing primary education and that minimum standards of education should be fixed for all types of schools.
Addressing the ceremony, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said the main reason behind dropouts is poverty. The other reason, however, is indifferent attitude to poor students who are often provided with old books that discourage them to go to schools. "From next year we are going to distribute new books to all the students from class one to ten," he added.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith said cooperation between NGOs and local government institutions has to be stepped up to improve standards of education.
Campe Executive Director Rasheda K Choudhury and Education Watch Chairperson Kazi Fazlur Rahman also spoke.
Comments