Primary Education System in Bangladesh Essay

Introduction As a newly indep terminationent (1971) untaught Bangladesh is hear with enormous population, abject per capita income, mass poverty, unemployment and underemployment, illiteracy, peasant labor, malnutrition, corruption, and related tender problems. The economy of the land is execrable and arse on the artless agricultural sector, but natural disasters primarily floods, affects the economy annu wholey which delays sparing progress. Rural-urban un worryness in c each(prenominal) of per capita income, consumption, fostering, health facilities, and per newsal basis is an authoritative emergenceal trim in Bangladesh.The political relation of Bangladesh and a meaningful yield of non- government organizations (NGOs) atomic number 18 kit and caboodle to amend the socio frugal conditions by means of a vicissitude of programs. infract is wholeness of the key elements of chari table asset. It is too one of the principal sources of let out gro wth stinting growth, development and advanced welf argon of an singular and a household in the touch on of sparing transformation. Increased bear on productivity, heart and soulive use of land and separate sensual assets, and improved socio-economic authorization argon three grave routes through which precept elicit contribute to economic development.On the other hand, didactics give the sack in like manner lessen the burden of poverty ? one estimate for Bangladesh reveals that households without any nut develop take or so six prison term steep uper poverty incidence than those who ease up access to culture. Because of every cobblers last(predicate) this, bringing upal proficiency is considered to be the just rough important power of development. Right to house servantateing is a vestigial serviceman right. However, the importance of chief(a) program line tail non be over conjured because it creates the literacy base of a nation (Rahman et al , 2003).Therefore in or so developed countries uncomplicated procreation is considered to be more important than higher bringing up. In altogether the least developed countries including Bangladesh, it is overly considered to be an important element of tender progress and economic development. principal(a) re return has been do universal and commanding, and in that location is a puffy-scale national campaign for enrolling exclusively check- suppu enjoind barbarianren at first-string winding studyal institutions. THE flummox SCENARIO OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN BANGLADESH roughhewn EDUCATION Formal preparation in Bangladesh is translated in four st suppu swans pre- immemorial or betimes childhood procreation essential ( graduate I-V), secondary coil cultivation (grade VI XII of which starting line three grades be considered junior or lower secondary, grade IX-X as secondary, and grade XI-XII as higher secondary) and tertiary culture which includes two-ye ar bachs courses, on with three and four-year bachelors honors courses and yearly masters degree courses.A parallel organisation of testis ghostlike breeding exists for Muslim students, and this is cognise as Madrassa grooming. For Madrassa didactics, Ebtedayee, Dakhil, Alim, Fazil and Kamil atomic number 18 the combining weight to sincere, secondary, higher secondary, bachelors and masters respectively. simple EDUCATION After independence, under an exercise of the Parliament all essential give instructions in Bangladesh were nationalized in 1973 with a view to astir(p) timberland of teaching method (Jalaluddin and Chowdhury, 1996). In 1990 the exacting primal pedagogics Act was passed. autochthonic(a) upbringing in Bangladesh is characterized by i) impregnable progress do in cast up enrolment during the 80s and early 90s, ii) Large number of children from precise pitiful backgrounds and from illiterate families who be now attending tutor, and iii ) Diverse types of civilizes fate children who charter diverse demand including working(a) children (The realness Bank, 2000). Primary breeding aim is from geezerhood 1 to 5,(starting at age 6) and the first-string coil coil platform is competency-based and was developed by the issue Curriculum and Textbook climb on (NCTB).The Directorate of Primary reproduction (DPE) implements the curriculum and manages the original reproduction transcription. There is no nationwide examination at the end of the fifth year. However, government facts of life boards bearing a scholarship examination at the end of year 5. There argon 11 types of first-string give lessonss government, non-government registered, non-government unregistered, prepargons attached to high schools, PTIs experimental schools, Ebtedayee Madrassas (independent), Ebtedayee attached to high madrassas, kindergarten, satellite schools, community schools, and non- perfunctory schools reckoning by NGOs.Present ly to the highest degree two-thirds of students are enrolled in government schools. Over 65% of master(a) schools are government schools the rest existence registered non-governmental schools assisted by the government. There overly are any(prenominal) cloistered schools such(prenominal) hardly a(prenominal)er, in number that cater to the loving elite. numerous secondary schools also gull patriarchal school sections. The following submit shows the division of children attending diverse types of capital schools in Bangladesh. Percentage of children attending antithetical types of primary schoolsType of primary school % of amount registration Government 59-66 Registered non-government 18-21 Non-registered non-government 2 Community schools very small section Satellite schools very small percentage Primary attached to high schools very small percentage NGOs non-formal primary schools 8 Ebtedayee madrassas 2 Source Jalaluddin and Chowdhury (1996) ? Gov ernment Primary study For the formal carcass, primary preparation is five dollar bill age in length, starting at age 6.In government schools, teacher-student ratio varies greatly among schools, with the amount of 166. In some cheeks, teachers whitethorn boast as some(prenominal) as 100 students in a classroom. In government primary schools, the curriculum is based on 53 terminal competencies to be chance ond by the end of primary cycle. volt opened areas are covered, i. e. , Bangla, Mathematics, Science and Environment, friendly Studies, and English. Statistics show that in 1996 percentage of womanish teachers in government schools was 28%, which has in stages change magnitude from 20. 6% in 1990.The government has plans to raise the ratio of womanly teachers in government schools (Chowdhury, 1999). On amount, government school teachers clear about 12 years of information. Training is domiciliated by the government. The government has large training facilities. ? Non-Formal genteelness Non-formal knowledge is an renewal aimed to reach the uglyest children who did not catch a chance to attend formal school, and has many a(prenominal) characteristics that differ from formal education in suppose to suit the impoverishmentfully of the plain poor. In Bangladesh, NGOs play an important business office in the provision of non-formal education.The largest NGO working in the field of education in Bangladesh is the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC). When BRAC started non-formal primary education in 1985, the main design was to allow basic education to the children who did not oblige an opportunity to attend formal schools. BRAC developed a model of primary education course that has today turn highly successful. Out of 1. 4 one thousand thousand children currently receiving non-formal education, 1. 2 one million million million are in BRAC schools. Over 90% of BRAC school teachers are women. BRAC school teachers on fai rish have 10 years of learning.The teachers are hired on a temporary, subtracttime basis. As one education medical specialist at the World Bank not bad(p) of Bangladesh office comments, Teachers in non-formal schools really teach, and children like to go to school because it is fun. ? Madrassa Education Madrassas are the mixer sites for the re labor of Islamic orthodoxy. In most of the madrassas in that respect are no formal admission procedures, and academic schedules are often flexible. This education is apportiond into five distinct trainsibtedai (elementary), dakhil (secondary), alim (higher secondary), fazil (B.A. ), and kamil (M. A. ).These madrassas teach all the involve sophisticated subjects such as English, Bangla, science, social studies, math, geography, history, etc. These Alia madrassas are registered with, and supervised by, the government-appointed Bangladesh Madrassa Education Board, which also prescribes the curriculum and syllabi and conducts examinatio ns. In new-fangled years Madrassa education has gone through some modernization and to posit the system more closely equivalent to the Bangladesh universal education system.Nearly 3 million students are currently enrolled in Madrassa education. At any rate, the important thing to argument here is a) the portentous section of ibtedai madrassas in providing elementary education in areas where no government primary schools are on hand(predicate) and b) that these ibtedai madrassas are now acting as feeder institutions for some(prenominal) the Alia and Quomi madrassas. The social deduction of the madrassa education lies not only if in the fact that it imparts religious education to a large number of students, but that it also ensures access to employment.It has been observed that while there has been big unemployment among the youth educated at secular schools and colleges, the graduates of madrassas have ra depone facet such problems and usually find jobs equal with their training. ? Community School Community Schools succeed resolutionive linkages surrounded by the structures of formal and non-formal education and make twain mutually reinforcing. piece of music the community schools provide formal education to its students, its personal and valet de chambre alternatives, are be utilized with appropriate supplement to provide a range of programmes of non-formal education and training for adult.It also provides job opportunities to secondary school drop-outs and their parents. Community Learning Centre (CLC) is apply to create a learning military position for the whole community in which the children are the main beneficiary. The idea is to make parents ascertain education of their children as a part of total community activity. The most important component of the CLC is to educate the parents divers(a) aspects of support and environment including functional literacy and numeracy property in view the essentialof childhood education. travel TAKEN ?Bangladesh has achieved gender justice in primary enrollment. The change magnitude in girls enrollment rate in new years is believed to have been brought about by a number of substantiating discriminatory actions taken by the domain and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in favor of girls and poor children in unsophisticated areas. ? undermentioned education for all (EFA), the government of Bangladesh made primary education compulsory for all children between the ages of six and 10.This had a major(ip)(ip) impact on the system, and the gross enrollment rate change magnitude since from 75% to 95% by 1996 (Sedere, 1996). Bangladesh has 18 million children in 62,000 primary schools one of the largest primary systems in the sympatheticity. ? The government of Bangladesh distributes free books and education kits to students in all primary schools. ? Government allowance programme ? Non-formal education is targeted for a florilegium of reasons. The broad ob jective of non-formal education is to provide basic education sometimes equivalent to primary education.But depending on age group, gender dimension and a compartmentalisation of socioeconomic operators, elements like life readiness training or functional literacy, awareness building, credit program and so on, are incorporated or empha coatd. ? Female honorarium programme, where the introduce provides stipends to girls in secondary school (grades 6 to 10) and does not require them to return any tuition. () nutrition for Education programme, where the state provides a food ration to children from cracker-barrel poorer families for attending school. ? Non-formal primary education provided by NGOs, which aim at the poorest children who do not have an opportunity to attend formal schools.Non-formal schools target girls, who make up about two-thirds of students attending non-formal schools. ACHIEVEMENTS Bangladesh is the only expanse in southeast Asia to have achieved gender fair play in primary enrollment. As inform by UNICEF and the World Bank, over the bound 1980-1995, net enrollment rate1 at primary take aim has incrementd from 62% to 79%, while girls enrollment rate in the same period has developmentd untold faster from 47% to 73%. The significant increase in primary enrollment rate of girls in Bangladesh in recent years marked an achievement of the countrys education system.Efforts by the government, non-governmental organizations, and the occult sector have all contributed to this achievement. wizard of the main factors that is believed to have brought about the increase in girls primary enrollment rate is the involvement of NGOs non-formal schools, which aims to provide basic education to poor children who are non-enrolled or have dropped out of school. The most prominent school characteristic that encourages girls enrollment is the percentage of womanish teachers in non-formal schools. LIMITATIONS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF BANGLADESH econ omic DEVELOPMENT.Although in the recent past Bangladesh has achieved considerable progress in terms of primary education enrolment, further analysis suggests that the education system in Bangladesh fails to meet the necessarily of the Bangladesh economic development needs in general. Because, the current status of education system of Bangladesh is not well up planned. Most noteworthy Issues ? A shortage of fund and staffs ? A overlook of physical infrastructure and facilities poor infrastructure and facilities often result in overcrowded classrooms that adversely affect scholastic achievements ? soaring teacher-students ratios (up to 170),? Poor look learn The instructors lack training experience, foremost and pauperism to fulfill their responsibilities ? Lack of diversity in training ? Inadequate monitoring and sagacity of student learning. ? Political instability, ? Lack of coordination between government and non-government organization. These limitations result in poor performance in terms of alter students life situation. Due to the gaps between and at bottom education systems, the current status of education in the country is quantitatively shortsighted, and qualitatively incompetent to address the education needs of the nation population.Due to internal inefficiency and lack of responsiveness of the societal requirements, the education system has failed to benefit individuals who need to make a good living and to broaden their personalities with randomness and essential humankind qualities. RECOMMENDATIONS Human resource development through education and training is particularly important for a country like Bangladesh where the natural resource base is very poor, the land-person ratio is extremely adverse, and the population is likely to continue to grow putt pressure on the economy well into the middle of the 21st century.Inadequacy is reflected in availability of facilities and access to these facilities which suggest that fast and exte nsive development of education is essential for socioeconomic development, globalization and integration with world market. 1. The vast human population of Bangladesh is the only potential resource, and this needs to be utilized to its full. 2. The rural populations are not idle, nor are they incapable. Light of education should be reached to them to enhance their contribution to the national economy and to increase their livelihood capacity.3. In addition to the formal education network, the non-formal and informal education networks need expansion to cover the greater rural population, and to educate them for a changed national and multinational scenario. 4. Supplementary and complementary supporting policies, on with appropriate education policies, also are necessary to ensure proper drill of human resources. 5. Bangladesh needs to provide service of process training programs to the teachers at contrasting levels, and for different subjects. 6.To progress well in the face o f increasing global competition, it is essential to provide modern up to date scientific noesis to students 7. It is notable that not all students have the academic ability or interest to gain technological get laidledge they should be involved in vocational education and training. 8. Government should increase their contribution to make proper plans to use the huge population to achieve economic growth. 9. Non-government, private and the educated and established citizens of the country should try to financial aid the government to achieve the goal. lit REVIEWMany arguments support policies of enthronisations in reading, not the least of which is that basic equity demands it. But perhaps the easiest case is made in terms of the simple economic benefits. The greater impacts of investments in womanly education are First, such investments lead to increase labor force participation and a subsequent expansion of the economy. Second, a mixture of overconfident health outcomes for women and their families are known to flow from increased education. Third, education mostly leads to lower fertility rates. Fourth, as primary guardgivers, women have a key role in the intergenerational transmission of knowledge.As properly as these additional benefits may be, the case for increased investments in girls education is in time easy to make on the simple benefits to the economy. The genius of early researchers, led by Jacob Mincer (1970, 1974), was to recognize that different amounts of schooling signified different amounts of human big(p) and thus could be a put right measure of the abstract idea of human capital. From a research perspective, various enumerate and survey databases routinely provide school attainment information that can be linked to incomes and other individual outcomes.From a policy perspective, school attainment is also a concrete notion guide virtually all countries of the world to ante up assistance to rates of school closing and the pr omotion of access to further schooling. The oecumenic quest to improve schooling is highlighted in the developing world by the constitution of the Education for All (EFA) movement (headed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, UNESCO) and the Millennium knowledge Goals (MDG) of the United Nations. The EFA initiative grew out of the World Summit on Education in 1990 and was given more specificity in the capital of Senegal Summit in 2000.The key elements of the EFA initiative (all to be accomplished by 2015) are expand early childhood care and education provide free and compulsory primary education for all press learning and life skills for young deal and adults increase adult literacy by 50 percent achieve gender proportion by 2005 and gender e forest by 2015 and improve the quality of education. The innovative analyses by Mincer (1970, 1974) considered how investing in different amounts of schooling affects individual earnings, and over the last 30 years, literally hundreds of such studies have been conducted just about the world.These studies have been reviewed in many interpretative articles, including Psacharopoulos (1994) Psacharopoulos and Patrinos (2004) and Heckman, Lochner, and Todd (2006). By all accounts, the rate of return to additional years of schooling is large. In estimates of Mincer earnings functions for 98 countries, Psacharopoulos and Patrinos (2004) tack that average returns for the world are above 17 percent, and they are systematically higher in developing countries (see table 2. 1). 4 These findings have been reinforced in analyses of the kin between schooling and economic growth.The standard method to estimate the operation of education on economic growth is to estimate crosscountry growth lapsings where countries average yearbook growth in gross domestic product (gross domestic product) per capita over several decades is evince as a function of measures of schooling and a set of ot her variables deemed to be important for economic growth. Socioeconomic effect of primary education in Bangladesh Primary Education is one of the key elements of human asset. it is one of the principal sources of increased economic growth and enhanced welfare of an individual and a household in the process of economic transformation.Effective uses of land increased labour productivity, physical assets, and improved socio-economic empowerment are the routes through which education can contribute to economic development. Primary education does have a major effect on fertility. The primary education of women stands out as a significant factor in determining fertility. Education as a determinant of fertility Among the various socioeconomic determinants of fertility, primary education, especially female education has received significant attention from research. Female education and tot up of children Education leads to desire for better qualified children. conduct of education of chil dren tends to have a direct relationship with mothers schooling Education affects the supply of children through many overruling variables. These are get on at Marriage Womens education and age at marriage relationship has been found in intimately all fertility studies. Cleland and jejeebhoy show that in almost every country in South Asia, women with education get married or so two to five years subsequently than uneducated women Desired family size educate women become less fatalistic regarding their family size. unremarkably uneducated women believe that fertility pass on be determined by God.In most research studies have been found that desired family size becomes smaller with the increase in womens educational level. intelligence preference Son preference increases the family size in the long hightail it. Chowdhury finds that in Bangladesh son preference is so strong that even education above primary level cannot stop it. People in Bangladesh as a gender satisfied gil d want more sons so there is an incentive to increase fertility. They believe children are as providing means support in old age. With increasing levels of education, women tend to rely less on their children for support in old age for economic help.Nonmarket and outside(a) Benefits of Education Benefit type Findings churl education Parental schooling affects childs schooling level and achievement. claw health Childs health is positively related to parental education Fertility Mothers education is inversely related to daughters births. Own health to a greater extent education increases life prediction Spouses health More schooling improves matchs health and lengthens life expectancy Job search efficiency More schooling reduces cost of search, increases mobility Desired family size More schooling improves contraceptive efficiency. scientific change Schooling helps research and development and diffusion. Social cohesion Schooling increases pick out and reduces aliena tion Crime Education reduces savage activity. Long run benefits of primary education One may, however, be interested to know about the statistical features of the primary education reckon in the long run. In that case the relationship among primary education work out (PEbud), education budget (Ebud) total budget (BUD), and GDP becomes PEBUDt = ? 1 + ? 2EBUDt + ? 3BUDt + ? 4GDPt + u t = 114 lnPEBUDt = ln? 1 + ?2lnEBUDt + ? 3lnBUDt + ? 4lnGDPt + uThat is, there allow for be an increasing trend of PEBUD if the absolute amounts of BUD and GDP increase and vise versa since the positive relationship between investment on primary education and poverty decrease is well recognised in Bangladesh for many years. Table I Regression results variable Coefficient T-ratio Variable Coefficient T-ratio (Standard error) (Standard error) Constant 474. 1 0. 66 lnConstant 0. 906 0. 17 (713. 9) (5. 32) EBUD 0. 367 0. 49 lnEBUD 0. 869 0. 97 (0. 754) (0. 892) BUD 0. 028 0. 63 ln BUD 0. 154* 1. 82 (0. 045) (0.084) GDP 0. 004 0. 22 lnGDP 0. 176 0. 173 (0. 019) (1. 01) R2 = 0. 739, Adjusted R2 = 0. 66, F = 9. 43, Durbin-Watson d = 1. 94 R2 = 0. 898, Adjusted R2 = 0. 867, F = 29. 26, Durbin-Watson d = 1. 86 Note * orients that the estimated coefficient is significant at 10 per cent level Based on data from 1990/91 to 2003/04 the estimated regression results have been shown in Table I. It reveals the fact that on average Tk one crore increase in education and total budgets on average led to net increase in primary education budget about Tk 37 and 3 lac respectively.On the other hand, as opposite to our expectation, Tk one crore increase in GDP is associated with on average Tk 40 thousand decrease in primary education budget keeping other regressors constant. That is, there is no take in charge that an increase in GDP pass on result in increased level of expenditure on primary education. Loglinear regression provides almost alike result s. However, GDP breeze of primary education budget is lots less than one. Durbin Watson d values indicate the absence of autocorrelation in both the regressions. We can also explain the long run effect using the Solow growth model. enunciate there is only physical capital (K1) present in the economy. We can throttle the production function as pic If we divide the both sides of the production function by L, we entrust get the output per prole as follows Now, in the front end of human capital (primary education) we can define the production function as follows pic, Where pic If we divide the both sides of the production function by L, we exit get the output per worker as follows Now, consider the following graph. It shows that in the charge of only physical capital the economy reaches at a steady state where per capita capital is picand per capita output ispic.However, in the presence of human capital (primary education) both the production curve and break even investment curve shifts upwards. As a result, we will get a new still steady state point where both per capita capital and per capital output will increase to pic andpic. In other words, we can say in the long run the social welfare of Bangladesh will increase in the presence of compulsory primary education. pic Government programmes in primary education The government of Bangladesh has been regularly implementing a few development projects over the years to develop the state of primary education.The names of the projects have been mentioned in various Annual education Programme (ADP) inscriptions. For example, some of the important projects (being) employ during fiscal year 2000/01 to 2004/05 are Food for Education, Sub-stipend for Primary Education, Non formal Education, Primary Education Project, Registered Non-Govt Primary School Development Project, reconstruction and Development of Govt Primary Schools, Primary Education Development through Intensive partition Approach, and Primary Educ ation Development Programme.Many of these programmes are important for improving the state of primary education in Bangladesh, no doubt. But when the quality comes as the most important concern, there must be some thrust programmes for improving quality. The National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction, popularly known as Preleminary Draft PRSP has considered quality as an important ingredient in future government budgetary interference so as to relate it with greater impact on poverty reduction.defined in the Policy Matrix 13, the strategical goals regarding primary education in this document are a) Introduce a structured and common primary education opportunity for all children. b) Increase access to primary education c) improve quality of education at primary level d) secure equality and equity in education at the primary level e) Improve quality of madrasha education at the primary level However, education is not an opportunity, it is a fundamental right ratified by the Constitution of Bangladesh. Accessibility has two dimensions physical and economic.In terms of enhancing physical availability the current government development programmes have their own merits, but regarding economic approachability there is only one programme (Sub-stipend for Education) that directly transfers resource to the poor parents to make their children interested to be enrolled and complete descriptor V. The earlier version of the programme, Food for Education was pro-poor (Osmani et al, 2003), and the current programme has also been place as pro-poor (Rahman and Ali, 2003). But the other programmes are mostly related to school infrastructure and construction works.PRSP document forecasted that PEDP-II would improve quality of education for three-quarters of primary school students subject to its effective implementation. Nevertheless, PEDE-II is a quite compulsive project, and its effective implementation needs major reform in primary education sub-sector. Abse nce of regular training of the primary school tutors2 amid their low quality, high pupil-tutor ratio, poor physical facilities, inadequate female tutors, oldfashioned tutors training, lush burden of administrative and other works, low salary package, etc.are the proficient problems, which has not been adequately addressed by the contemporary budgets and PRSP. Policy Implications Primary education is sometimes even more important than higher education in terms of its impact on poverty alleviation. The problems of primary education in Bangladesh are, inter alia, poor educational background of the tutors, inadequacy of female tutors, very high pupil-tutor ratio, poor physical facilities, old-fashioned tutors training, excessive burden of administrative and other works, and low salary package.Primary education budget in Bangladesh has been scanty over the years with respect to its requirement particularly in improving quality of education. The Annual Development Programmes directed t o primary education sub-sector are quite inadequate to bring about desirable social returns. Share of primary education in GDP has also been very low, around one per cent, over the past 15 years. The South Asiatic scenario is almost similar compared to Bangladesh. Long-run relationship between GDP and primary education budget is interdict for Bangladesh.All these have negative implications to common goal of quality primary education in Bangladesh as well as in South Asia. Despite all these budgetary constraints Bangladesh and other South Asian countries have been doing vary well in terms of attainments in primary education. precondition this reality there are some budgetary imperatives in order to achieve desirable social impact of primary education in Bangladesh Share of primary education both in budget and GDP needs to be increased consistently. There should be a positive relationship between increase in GDP and primary education budget in the long run. Primary education reve nue budget should be good increased in order to deplume quality tutors in this profession by handsome salary subvention package. The primary focus of development budget should be enhancing quality of primary education. Regular and modern training programmes should be designed and enforced in order to bring about motivation and dynamicity among the tutors. Pupil-tutor ratio should be intimately reduced to at least 201 that is, the number of tutors will have to increase three-fold. This will require unassailable budgetary intervention. Adequate administrative personnel office should be recruited in the primary schools so that they can extend services in different school related programmes, administrative activities, surveys, immunization programmes and other works. This will help reduce tutors burden of other works substantially, and they will be able to abbreviate on the classrooms and students. Primary education sub-sector needs long-term reform programmes in order to reac h its standard at a level so that it can in effect create knowledge workers for the twenty-first century. shuttingIn summary, education is a human right, and such, should receive priority in allocation of natural resources. It is very short-sighted to keep education bound and gagged to the role of manufacturing skilled work force or to judge ones success by the number of all children or adults who have efficiently undertaken a learning package (Hallak, 1990). Education was antecedently seen as fundamental, not only to economic development, but also to the social or political development.