It is a disquieting feature that there has been a big surge recently in dropouts in primary education in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has, in fact, expanded its secondary and tertiary education through public and private initiatives and investments. Bangladesh made a noteworthy improvements in reducing dropout rates over the last decade. But a recent assessment revealed a reversal and after about 14 years of the decline in school dropouts, it increases again. The primary school dropout in the country now stands at 16.25 percent from 13.15 percent in 2023.
It remains, therefore, a great puzzle why so many children’s education is cut short at a very tender age. One important reason for declining enrollment and increasing dropouts may be acute poverty, which compels a large number of children to support their families through labour and, that is why, they leave the school. In low- income families, parents are forced to send their children to work to supplement the income of the family.
The earlier progress in primary education in the country was achieved largely through measures like free textbook distribution, expanded stipend coverage, and mid-day meals. It is found that the closure of school feeding programmes has led to declining enrollment among poor students. For many poor-income families, the promise of a free daily meal was a key incentive to send children to school. Parents, especially in rural and marginalised areas, facing food insecurity are unlikely to enroll or keep their children in school without food support. The children are instead sent to work to help their families meet basic needs.
This is all due to poverty in the country. A recent survey shows that in Bangladesh poverty has significantly increased, with nearly 28 percent of the population leaving below the poverty line, up from 18.7 percent and extreme poverty rising to 9.35 percent from 5.6 percent. Mounting economic pressure, particularly high inflation and job scarcity are responsible for poverty in a large number of families as almost 55 percent of household expenditures are used for food. It is evident that poverty may be the driving force behind keeping the children away from school and sending them to work.
Another feature is the gender dimension of dropouts from school. A study shows that boys dropped out of school are in greater number than that of girls. For boys, the dropout rate is over 19 percent- about 6 points higher than for girls, as the parents in abject poverty are inclined to send boys rather than girls to work for supporting family livelihood. Furthermore, inflationary pressures and rising living cost may also have pushed poor families to prioritise short-term survival over continued schooling. Seasonal migration and climate vulnerabilities also force disadvantaged families to withdraw children from school.
This high rate of school dropouts is unacceptable. Addressing this big problem requires targeted support for poor families to ease up on the economic hurdles to education. A full reintroduction of school feeding programme could help increasing enrollment and supporting vulnerable children. The authorities concerned need to pay urgent and serious attention to the areas where high dropout trends are seen in primary education. The surge in dropouts must be curbed and it needs greater investment in primary education to remove the chronic bottlenecks it is suffering from sooner than later.
