With educational institutions closed for a long time, 19 percent of primary students and 25 percent of secondary students, estimated to be about 6 million in total, are at risk of learning loss.
In addition, parents of 97.7 percent of primary school students and 96 percent of secondary school students said they would send their children to school when schools reopen.
This was revealed in a private research survey conducted by the Power and Participation Research Center (PPRC) and the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD).
Hossain Zillur Rahman, PPRC Executive Chairman, and Imran Matin, Executive Director of BIGD shared the findings in an online programme yesterday.
The study was based on a survey of about 6,099 parents conducted in the city and in the countryside from March 11 to 31.
Research shows that students who are at risk of learning loss will drop out if they are not with recovery programmes.
In this regard, Hossain Zillur Rahman said, "If the percentage of students who are at risk of not being able to learn is combined with the total number of primary and secondary students in the country, we find about 6 million students who are at risk of dropping out. They are, already, fairly out of school. If not recovered, they will be forced to drop out. So we have to take up a recovery programme for them."
Research has also focused on reopening schools. However, considering the situation of Coronavirus pandemic, the date of reopening of schools has to be fixed.
Imran Matin said, "A section of school-going students are at risk of education loss. Arrangements must be made so that the students can make up for this loss after schools reopen."
According to the research, 51 to 61 percent of students across the country are keeping private tutors or going to coaching centers due to the closure of educational institutions for a long time. Through this, the cost for parents has increased by 11 percent at the rural level and 13 percent at the urban level.
Educational institutions of the country have been closed since March 17 last year due to the outbreak of Coronavirus. However, the Department of Education has scheduled to reopen the educational institutions on May 23.