Beyond Gender Parity: Actualization of Benefits Verses Fallacy of Promises A Case Study on Bangladesh Syed Rashed Al-Zayed (World Bank) Faiyaz Talukdar (World Bank) Ferdous Jahan (Professor, Dhaka University) T.M. Asaduzzaman (World Bank) Farzana Shams (World Bank) December 2018 Acknowledgements The report was prepared under direct guidance of Jaime Saavedra (Senior Director, Education Global Practice), Qimiao Fan (Country Director, World Bank office of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan), Amit Dar (Director, Human Development, World Bank), Keiko Miwa (Director, Education, World Bank), Mario Cristian Aedo Inostroza (Practice Manager, South Asia Education, World Bank), Rajashree Paralkar (Operations Manager, World Bank office of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan) and Tekabe Ayalew Belay (Program Leader, Human development, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan). The authors particularly want to thank Tazeen Fasih (Lead Economist, World Bank), Saurav Dev Bhatta (Senior Economist, World Bank), Mokhlesur Rahman (Senior Operations Officer, World Bank), Yoko Nagashima (Senior Education Specialist, World Bank), Shinsaku Nomura (Senior Economist, World Bank), Sabah Moyeen (Senior Social Development Specialist, World Bank), Shiro Nakata (Senior Economist, World Bank), Tashmina Rahman (Research Analyst, GEDDR, World Bank) for their guidance, review and comments on earlier drafts. The peer reviewers for this report were Keiko Inoue (Program Leader, EACVF, World Bank) and Aneeka Rahman (Senior Social Protection Economist, World Bank). DFAT, Australia provided financial and technical support to this research. Technical review along with valuable suggestions and guidance from DFAT, Australia immensely helped the authors. Development Research Institute (dRi) provided excellent support in qualitative data collection and analysis for this study. Nazma Sultana (Program Assistant, SACBD), Mahtab Alam (Program Assistant, SACBD) and Shourav Sharma (Team Assistant, GEDDR) provided all necessary logistical supports for this study. 1 List of Acronyms: APSC Annual Primary School Census BDT Bangladesh Taka BRAC Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee DPE Directorate of Primary Education DSHE Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education DTE Directorate of Technical Education EHS Education Household Survey FGD Focus Group Discussion FYP Five Year Plan GER Gross Enrollment Rate GoB Government of Bangladesh GPS Government Primary School KII Key Informant Interview LASI Learning Assessment of Secondary Institutions LFP Labor Force Participation MoE Ministry of Education MoPME Ministry of Primary and Mass Education NCTB National Curriculum and Textbook Board NEP National Education Plan NER Net Enrollment Rate NGO Non-Governmental Organization NSA National Student Assessment OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development PES Primary Education Stipend PSCE Primary Schooling Certification Exam PTA Parent Teacher Association RMG Ready Made Garments SMC School Management Committee TVET Technical and Vocational Education and Training UNESCO United Nations Education Scientific Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund USS Urban Slum Survey WB World Bank WDI World Development Index 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary 4 1. Introduction 7 2. Policy Achievements and Emerging Challenges from A Gender Perspective 10 3. Current State of Education Through A Gender Lens 14 4. Actualization of Benefits of Gender Parity at Early Grades: Role of Economic, Social and Institutional Factors 24 5. Conclusion and Policy Recommendations – The Way Forward 36 References 43 3 Executive Summary Introduction. Increased educational attainment, particularly amongst females, has provided favorable conditions to access better jobs in Bangladesh. However, only a small share of the labor force comprises of skilled female workers; the reality is that most women are still unable to complete the level of secondary and post-secondary education necessary to obtain decent work and actualize improved livelihood outcomes. Therefore, higher enrolment of women at the basic education level, or gender disparity in favor of girls, does not necessarily mean that they can successfully transform this initial advantage into creating positive changes in their future lives and society. Objective and Methodology. The report aims to take stock of the education outcomes realized by Bangladeshi children and youth, particularly females, and analyze the extent to which public investments in female education have succeeded in actualizing the desired medium-to-long term outcomes and results of said investments. The report used the data from two nationally representative household surveys and follow up qualitative Study. The qualitative study included focus group discussions (FGDs), case studies, and key informant interviews (KIIs). National Education Policies and Emerging Issues. In devising policies and designing programs to boost student enrolment and retention, GoB has made efforts to address the prime challenges historically faced by the youths. National policy has, however, not sufficiently addressed emerging concerns, nor thoroughly addressed how the interaction between socio-economic and geo-political dynamics may eventually shape the parents' decision of sending their children to school. For example, the country is experiencing a gender disparity, disadvantaging boys for whom policy response has historically been “less focused�. To add, subtle gender disparities that may negatively affect female children as well as recently emerged issues such as delayed initiation of schooling, security issues for girl students and evolving new economic goals for the country are not necessarily well addressed in the policies. Actualization of Benefits of Gender Parity at Early Grades. Low completion of basic education, less than efficient participation at the higher level of education, concerning learning outcomes and market relevance of education, existence of vulnerable population pockets, child labor, early marriage and increased safety concerns of female education and participation in the labor market impede actualization of benefits of hard earned gender parity in enrolment in the basic education levels. A. Low Retention Rate. The impressive enrolment rate achievement at primary shadows the fact that retention of students remains worryingly low in Bangladesh. Around 22 percent of the primary aged children do not attend any kind of formal school during the survey. Only half of all secondary-aged children are currently enrolled in secondary schools. Around 2.9 million primary aged children and 4 million secondary aged children and adolescents remained out of school in Bangladesh during 2014-15. A total of around 7 million 6-16 years old children and adolescent were out of school in 2014-15. B. Low female Access at Later Age. Uptake of post-secondary education, however, continues to remain worryingly low, especially for females. At the national level, less than 20 per cent of all adolescents between the ages of 16 to 19 are attending (or have attended) grades 11 and 12; an even smaller share (10 per cent) attend university. Males (adolescents and young 4 adults) are more likely to be enrolled in higher secondary and tertiary education than females as Bangladeshi families continue to show a preference in investing in higher education for male offspring. Less than 25% of the Technical students are female. FGD participants pointed that, due to the location of the technical education centers, rural girls have little access to technical and vocational education. C. Varying Quality and Relevance of Education. Both National Student Assessments (NSA) and Secondary Student Assessment known as LASI reported concerning level of educational attainment in Bangladesh. At the primary level, there are no visible gender differences in learning outcomes for languages over time; however, girls are seemingly improving more in Mathematics. Both boys and girls show similar improvements in achieving a specific band (exam result score ranges) for Bangla in Grades 3 and 5. At the secondary level, however, learning outcomes for boys show a greater improvement. The latest LASI reports showcase that boys display greater improvement in Bangla and Math exam scores compared to girls in secondary schools. D. Economic Opportunity. For the majority of poor Bangladeshi households, the need to contribute labor both inside and outside homes have important negative implications for the education outcomes of girls. While the majority of children aged 6-10 at the national level are engaged only in education (55.2 per cent), a higher proportion of girls (33.2 per cent) than boys (23.3 per cent) are involved in labor along with education. Girls face greater challenges after the age of 14. Job opportunity increases for the girls drastically mostly due to job opportunities in the garment industries – one of the shapers of the economy. E. Social Norms. It is evident from the qualitative study that, once they grow up and reach to the age of 12 or 13, females are encouraged to stay at home to help their mothers, often despite having completed primary education. In urban slums, the household condition has a different dimension, but the outcome has remained the same. This does not always result in dropouts, it leads to absenteeism and less than expected educational outcomes. Moreover, Qualitative findings indicate that even when the households send both the male and female children to school, they are likely to spend more for educating their male children. Schooling expenses for girls is about 60 per cent of the corresponding expenses for boys in the urban area and about 37 per cent in the rural areas. F. Early Marriage. Early marriage is still a major issue that has a huge impact on attendance and completion rates. Around 13.4 per cent of girls who are below 18 years of age, got married at least once according to EHS 2015. A strong correlation between educational status and early marriage is evident, with much higher incidence of early marriage among women with no education for all income groups. G. Security Issues and Incidences of Harassment. Increased prevalence of sexual harassment in public places as well as socio-cultural attitudes act as deterrents for the mobility of girls and hence participation in education and job market. In addition to restricting the movement of the girl, such incidences accelerate the process of child marriage. An analysis of sexual violence on girls based on media reports reveals that incidents of such violence have reached to a concerning level in Bangladesh. Among the reports of violence against girls published in four major dailies over a period of two years (July 2014 - June 2016), out of 1120 reported cases, 38 percent was rape, at least 52 girls had been murdered after rape and at least 7 suicides. Teachers accounted for a significant group of perpetrators of sexual violence (10.2 per cent), followed by classmates (2.05 per cent), and other individuals affiliated with educational institutions (1.6 per cent). FGD 5 participants unequivocally expressed that, these incidences tend to have a strong demonstration effect on the parents and society, captured through the frequency of crimes reported in the media. H. Female Friendly School Infrastructure. The 2017 Annual Primary School Census (APSC) reports that less than a third of all primary schools nationwide have separate sanitary facilities for girls, which presents a growing concern for female students. FGDs highlight that school infrastructure, particularly separate toilets for girls, sometimes plays an important role in determining the level and degree of attendance of the children to school. The emergence of late entry into education (as evinced in the previous chapter) has resulted in a large share of over-aged primary school female students experiencing menstruation without access to adequate sanitary facilities. Conclusion and Policy Recommendations – The Way Forward The report concludes with nine sets of recommendations. Actualization of benefits of gender parity at early grades calls for a holistic approach as interaction of various factors play a causal role in educational outcomes and subsequent changes in socio-economic livelihoods. Concept of Multidimensional Policy Dashboard, motivated by the Human Capital Project, aims to build political commitment for reforms and investments to improve human capital outcomes. Bangladesh needs to enhance access to education and remove negative factors through equitably extension of provision of stipends to slum-dwelling children, targeted innovative programs for vulnerable population pockets, providing alternatives to formal primary/secondary education (such as vocational courses and technical education that are out of reach of most rural female), non- formal education with accelerated mode and reforming SSC (vocational) and Madrsha vocational programs. In addition, Bangladesh will be benefitted from promoting female empowerment at the institution and communal level through awareness raising programs, greater gender-sensitive teacher training activities, promotion of gender-sensitive curricula along with greater provision of female-friendly sanitation facilities and awareness regarding female hygiene and reproductive health. The report further emphasized on ensuring the necessary conditions for timely entry into primary school, strengthened monitoring, evaluation, targeting and tracking mechanisms, establishing a proper Child Identification Mechanism and broadening the horizon through engaging private sectors, madrashas and enhancing GO-NGO collaboration. 6 1. Introduction Higher enrolment of women at the basic education level, or gender disparity in favor of girls, does not necessarily mean that they can successfully transform this initial advantage into creating positive changes in their future lives and society. A. Background 1.1 Increased educational attainment, particularly amongst females, has provided favorable conditions to access better jobs. During the 2000s, Bangladesh observed rapid growth in female Labor Force Participation (LFP), potentially reflecting increased employability of females as female education attainment catches up with their male counterparts (Das and Tas, 2015). Figure 1.1 shows that the male-female wage gape based on monthly and hourly earnings has (on the whole) declined significantly since the turn of the millennium; this phenomenon has largely been driven by increased employment in manufacturing and salaried jobs amongst young urban females (World Bank Jobs Diagnostic Report, 2017). The share of female wage (skilled) employees, on the whole, has nearly tripled (as a share of total female employment) from 1999 (8.2 per cent) to 2013 (25.5 per cent), largely driven by large reduction in the incidence of female unpaid family helpers (Asian Development Bank Brief, 2016). Skilled and salaried employment requires a certain level of education (post-secondary and above), highlighting that the gains to female educational uptake is now translating into improved skilled employment outcomes for a small share of Bangladeshi females. The 2017 World Bank Bangladesh Jobs Diagnostic report further states that ‘the gender wage gap has declined steadily over time………. implying that the appealing aspect of female labor (such as lower wage rates) compared to the male counterpart with equivalent educational attainment is now less pertinent and indicates a more competitive environment for female workers’. Figure 1.1: Changes in LFP and the Gender Wage Gap over Time in Bangladesh Labor Force Participation Rate (%) Male-to-Female Wage Gap (%) Source: Bangladesh Labor Force Surveys (LFS) from 1991, 1996, 1999/00, 2003, 2006, 2010, 2013 and 2016 7 1.2 However, only a small share of the labor force comprises of skilled female workers; the reality is that most women are still unable to complete the level of secondary and post- secondary education necessary to obtain decent work and actualize improved livelihood outcomes. A high share of females is still unable to complete the secondary education cycle and are dropping out before obtaining the necessary credentials and certifications to enter the skilled labor market. The majority of Bangladesh’s female population resides in rural areas where their employment is still largely restricted to subsistence agriculture (World Bank, 2017). 1.3 As a result, even though Bangladesh has observed Gender Parity in enrolment in early grades, the lack of improvements in secondary school completion continues to inhibit opportunities for improved labor market outcomes for the majority of the country’s female population. As quality education is the foundation of building skillsets necessary for decent employment, policy dialogue for improving Bangladesh’s socio-economic outcomes must first address ways of improving the overall uptake (and completion) of education cycles. As documented by the World Development Report 2018, while girls tend to outperform boys in reading, they score lower in math and science tests in similar countries. Coupled with occupational segregation and social norms that discourage women to take full advantage of labor market opportunities, this leads to large gaps in earnings between men and women. In addition, low educational attainment for girls has potential negative impacts on a wide range of other development outcomes not only for the girls themselves, but also for their children, families, communities, and societies (Wodon et al., 2018). 1.4 Therefore, women’s higher enrolment at the primary level, or gender disparity in favor of girls, does not necessarily mean that they are successfully transforming this initial advantage into creating positive changes in their future lives. While the numerical gender parity at Primary and Secondary levels has been achieved in enrolment, subtle qualitative disparities along with multidimensional socio-economic factors that affect participation and performance of a girl child continue to inhibit realization of education and social outcomes and thus highlights Fallacy of Promises of achieving gender parity in access. The households’ decision to send (or not to send) their female children to school is essentially an economic one, and thus the household’s ultimate goal is to make a financially viable decision. However, while making this decision, the poorest households, driven by persistent lack of income and often unable to afford basic necessities, mainly focus on their short-term livelihoods at the expense of improving long- term outcomes. That is why, the school or societal level factors have a greater opportunity in reshaping their original decisions. B. Objective of The Report and Structure 1.5 This report aims to take stock of the education outcomes realized by Bangladeshi children and youth, particularly females, and analyze the extent to which public investments in female education have succeeded in actualizing the desired medium-to-long term outcomes and results of said investments. The report conducts a stock-taking exercise of the current primary and secondary education climate, focusing on the state of female education uptake; it also provides policy recommendations for improving equitable access to formal education in order to improve female livelihoods through short-run learning outcome improvements, and better labor market outcomes in the long run. The report aims to analyze current policies and programmatic interventions adopted by the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and how these aforementioned 8 factors can be further addressed to improve enrolment and reduce the nature of subtle gender disparities that still affect the uptake of quality education in Bangladesh. 1.6 The remainder of the report is organized as follows. Chapter 2 describes current policies and identifies gaps in policy formulation in the view of ever changing environment. Chapter 3 analyzes the current state of education, focusing on gender-centric accomplishments and existing drawbacks to universal enrolment and grade completion. Chapter 4 explores the various roles that economic, social and institutional factors play in explaining current gender-centric trends in education uptake and actualizing the benefit of gender parity. Chapter 5 concludes this report and highlights the key findings and related policy recommendations. C. Sources of Information and Assumptions 1.7 This report used data from two nationally representative household surveys and follow up qualitative surveys and Focus Group Discussions (FGD). The 2015 Education Household Survey (EHS) was undertaken under the initiative of the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) to provide a comprehensive overview of the education system in Bangladesh. As a nationally representative survey, the EHS provides a wealth of information on socio-economic conditions of households, with a strong focus on the linkage with education. The 2012 Urban Slum Survey (USS), a nationally representative survey conducted by the World Bank, covers both low-income households and schools from urban slum areas. The two surveys in combination provide a statistical overview of enrolment, grade retention, schooling completion, non-enrolment, and other key areas of education that merit critical analysis. 1.8 In addition to quantitative analysis, in-depth qualitative research was undertaken to provide key insight into the uptake of education and fill in crucial information gaps that the quantitative data is unable to address. The qualitative study included focus group discussions (FGDs), case studies, and key informant interviews (KIIs). The locations chosen for the qualitative study included one urban location and one rural location in each of the selected divisions Dhaka, Rangpur and Chittagong. The urban location in Dhaka was Darussalam Balurmath Bosti (Slum), while the rural location in Dhaka was a union of Dhamrai; the urban location in Rangpur was a settlement (not slum) within Rangpur City, while the rural location was a union of Gangachara Upazila; and, the urban location in Chittagong was a large slum within the Chittagong City Corporation, while the rural location was a union of an upazila of the district of Chittagong. 1.9 FGDs were conducted based on the following groupings: mothers, fathers, girls currently attending school, boys currently attending school, girls never enrolled or not currently attending school, and boys never enrolled or not currently attending school. One FGD was conducted with each of these groups in the urban area and another in the rural area of the three divisions selected for the study, giving rise to six FGDs per group, and hence a total of 36 FGDs. FGD participants who were mothers and fathers were selected from those households that have one/more than one children of age between 6-17 years old irrespective of their school going status. The remaining FGDs of boys and of girls included participants aged 12-17. For each division, there were four case studies, leading to a total of 12 case studies. Also, KIIs were conducted with school management committees (SMCs), parent-teacher associations (PTAs), and teachers as well as with NGO staff and government officials. Hence, a total of three KIIs were conducted per location studied, meaning that 6 were conducted per division, leading to a total of 18 KIIs. 9 2 Policy Achievements and Emerging Challenges from a Gender Perspective A. Role of National Education Policies – Achievements and Gaps 2.1 In devising policies and designing programs to boost student enrolment and retention, GoB has made efforts to address the prime challenges historically faced by the female students. For instance, design of the female stipend program concentrated on assisting the female students to enhance cultural capability (e.g. protection from early marriage and child-bearing), economic capability (i.e. protection from poverty related factors), and social capabilities (e.g. restrictive purdah and harassment). The 7th Five Year Plan (FYP), identify poverty as the single- most important reasons that reduce enrolment, gender parity and promote drop-out and suggest the introduction of more financial benefits for students to keep them in the educational institutions. The GoB’s National Education Plan (NEP, 2010) further outlines a key objective “to motivate women at all levels to acquire skills in order to participate in the socio-economic development of, and affairs of running, the country�, highlighting a call for using education as an effective instrument to link females to the formal economic sector. 2.2 National policy has, however, not sufficiently addressed emerging concerns, nor thoroughly addressed how the interaction between socio-economic and geo-political dynamics may eventually shape the parents' decision of sending their children to school. For instance, even in the latest FYP, early marriage has been considered as a social problem, while ignoring the fact that decisions related with early marriage also incorporate a "difficult cost-benefit trade-off to parents especially those under resource constraints...in the marriage market". Similarly, whereas poverty is indeed an important factor in preventing enrolment of female students to the secondary education, it alone cannot explain why despite being poor some parents still send their children to schools whereas financial assistance often fails to prevent drop-out. From this perspective, developing a holistic understanding is necessary and from this perspective, the NEP of 2010 is a step towards the right direction as it tries to address the individual, societal and household level problems simultaneously. From the GoB's perspective, a key challenge will be to translate this policy into effective and implementable programs as the sector merits further and more stringent review. 2.3 In addition, the country is experiencing a gender disparity, disadvantaging boys for whom policy response has historically been “less focused�. According to the latest Annual Sector Performance Report (ASPR) 2016, while there are more boys than girls in grade 1, "from grades 2 to 5, the proportion of boys began to decline due to their higher dropout rate". In other words, the concern regarding gender disparity has remained even though its nature has changed. This is particularly relevant for out of school children, as almost one in every five primary-aged male children do not go to school as opposed to one in every ten for female children. Incentives offered through stipend and school feeding programs may not be sufficient to ensure enrolment and grade retention for many of these children, particularly those from vulnerable populations. Timely reflection and evaluation of the key priority areas of the NEP 2010 is therefore a welcome initiative in order to reflect the country’s ever-changing education environment 10 Figure 2.2: Evolution of Education Related Policies in Bangladesh •Guarantee basic human rights and fundamental freedoms to Post- women "on a basis of equality Independence with men" through the Period (1971- "political, social, economic, 1990) and cultural fields. (CEDAW, UN 1979) •Education finally became a "right" for women and Beginning of efforts were taken to ensure that women have equal Fourth Five access to educational institutions especially at the Year Plan primary and secondary level (FYP) (1991- •Ensuring access and equity became the major area 1996) of focus •Education being considered as an National instrument for women which could Education effectively link them with the formal Policy (NEP) economic sector, allow them to play an 2010, Seventh important role in societal development FYP (2010- and open up the opportunity to 2017) contribute in ensuring the socio- economic development of the country Source: Authors(self) B. Subtle Qualitative Disparities However Continued to Inhibit Realization of Education and Social Outcomes 2.4 Even though Bangladesh has succeeded in reducing gender disparity in primary and secondary education over the years, it is possible that subtle gender disparities that may negatively affect female children may exist. According to Amin & Chandrasekhar (2012), "subtle" gender disparities may persist in three ways: first, "competing demands for domestic work are likely to vary by gender", which will eventually affect "amount of time spent studying at home". As such, it is possible that whereas enrolment at both the primary and secondary level has increased for girls, they are essentially spending less time at home studying, which in turn may affect their educational achievement. Second, it is also possible that parents are "more willing to incur direct schooling costs for boys than for girls because perceived gender differences in returns of schooling". Economic hardships and repeated exposures to wealth shocks can potentially lead families to withdrawal of female children from schools in order to cope. Third, gender disparities may also emerge from "differences in alternative ways of spending time outside school". Whereas boys can participate in recreational activities outside school, "as girls mature, their lives become increasingly restricted to the confines of home". Both boys and girls need recreational activities to strengthen and rejuvenate the mind and the body, and unfortunately this is somewhat lacking for the latter group. Unfortunately, the policy and programmatic interventions adopted by the GoB have made insufficient efforts to capture these "subtle disparities". As a result, these qualitative disparities highlight a lack of efficiency in effective policy implementation to achieve the desired outcomes which is much beyond achieving the gender parity in enrolment. 11 2.5 Moreover, seemingly impressive improvements in uptake of education may mask issues that can hinder (a) equitable access to quality education, and (b) realization of better life outcomes for females. Higher female enrolment at the primary and secondary levels, coupled with continual improvements in female learning outcomes in grade-wise competencies (NSA 2014, NSA 2016, LASI 2014, LASI 2016) does not necessarily mean that they are successfully transforming this initial advantage into creating positive changes in their future lives. A few studies (Amin & Chandrasekhar, 2012; Shohel, 2012; Mahmud & Amin, 2006) have shown that multi- dimensional socio-economic factors affect the participation and performance of girl students, particularly at the secondary level. Parents generally tend to pay less attention or spend less for education of the female children. In addition, due to safety and security issues, the participation of female children as they grow up, particularly in secondary education, decrease significantly. Societal pressures and family expectations, often preached through mediums such as mass media and the entertainment industry, provide further disincentives to families for sending their daughters to school after a certain age. Female participation at post-secondary levels (higher secondary, tertiary and vocational) of education is thus even lower and is largely limited to students hailing from affluent families. The role played by societal, economic, geographic and political factors in promoting or hindering the expected outcome of higher female participation in education therefore cannot be ignored. C. Emerging Challenges 2.6 Recent critical challenges have also emerged regarding the lack of educational services in certain population pockets, as lack of accessible and affordable schools in urban slums and hard-to-reach regions across the country suffer from low participation in education. Unique geospatial and/or political constraints act as barriers to access to education for female children from these small but equally important sub-populations. In fact, according to the Urban Slum Survey (2012-13), only 62 per cent of the children living in the slums have access to the educational institutions which means that more than one-third of the children aged 6-10 have remained out of school. A lack of development of formal schools in hard to reach, remote areas such as the Chittagong Hill Tracks provides little scope for attaining quality education for the 1.1 million indigenous children living there, and as such concerns regarding provision of inclusive education remain. 2.7 Many children enter primary and secondary level education at a late (beyond the official entry) age, presenting a serious challenge in modern Bangladesh. A significant share of students is entering school at a late age, a recently emergent phenomenon potentially driven by the inclusion of pre-primary education which many children start at a late age; with children spending as many as 4 years in pre-primary education in private schools, their entry into primary education is noticeably delayed. Though public schools have only 1 year of Pre-Primary, as parents do not take the students to the schools before age six, about a year is lost. As a result, girls in later grades even at the primary level face unfamiliar situations that the national policy is yet to adequately address; for instance, an increasing share of primary school female students face barriers to good menstrual hygiene due to a dearth of relevant infrastructure in schools, potentially facilitating increased dropping out. 2.8 Security issues for girl students had always been there but emerged as a major challenge in recent days. Incidences of harassing have been reportedly increased in media outlets, and 12 regular incidences of abuse, verbal harassment, eve-teasing and bullying pose a detrimental risk to regular school attendance. These issues, largely prevalent in urban areas but not rare in rural areas at all, could potentially inhibit the lack of human capital development amongst the vulnerable females. Fear of harassment during school commutes or, even worse, inside school compounds, could stimulate many females to reduce regular classroom attendance, or even to drop out of school. 2.9 New economic goals for the country involving the uptake of technical education do not work in favor of females. Most technical institutions are situated in urban centers or in the district headquarters. This poses a challenge for most female youth situated in rural areas, far away from the institutions themselves. Social conservative norms further discourage young women from travelling far by themselves, thereby inhibiting access to vocational training even more. Girls without formal secondary education living in villages or peripheries face a huge challenge as enrollment in technical education institutions is conditional upon completion of secondary schooling. As a result, participation in technical education institutes for girls is not at the expected level and requires a serious policy response. . 13 3 Current State of Education through a Gender Lens Numerical Gender Parity has been achieved at early levels of education, though large shares of “out of formal education� children and adolescents showcase much work remains to be done. A. Gender Parity, Enrolment and Out of School Children 3.1 Numerical Gender Parity in enrolment in formal schools has been achieved in Bangladesh both at primary and secondary levels. Policy measures aimed at promoting female enrolment boosted primary enrolment towards gender parity by the late 2000s. With more girls (9.6 million) than boys (9.3 million) currently in primary school (ASPR, 2016), the GoB has done a commendable job on building on the success of prior policy initiatives. Coupled with this fact, Bangladesh is one of the early countries that has also achieved Gender Parity in enrolment at the secondary level. Out of 10.18 million secondary students enrolled in formal schools in 2016, 54 per cent were girls (BANBEIS, 2016). Coupled with high early enrolment, this achievement has provided a strong foundation for society to reap the educational benefits of gender parity, especially since national learning assessments have indicated small but steady improvements in grade-wise competencies for females (NSA 2014 & 2016, LASI 2014 & 2016). Nevertheless, this may not be as promising as expected be due to the existence of a large share of out of school children, considerable chances of dropping out and a lack of participation at the later stages of education for both boys and girls. Bangladesh cannot expect reaping full benefit of Gender Parity (for both boys and girls) at the early levels of education until these issues are addressed. 3.2 The Primary Net Enrolment Rate (NER), capturing the share of primary-aged children1 who are or were once enrolled in primary education (a definition that is officially used in all GoB policy literature), has made tremendous progress through policy efforts and systemic increase in the demand for education. As evident from a generation-wise enrolment analysis for both genders, recent generations are way ahead of the older generations in terms of enrolling in the primary education as older generations have progressively larger gender gaps in favor of males, which reduces substantially for younger generations (Figure 3.1). At 92 per cent (Figure 3.2), the Primary NER has eclipsed the 2014 global average of 89 per cent (World Bank WDI, 2017), and is only slightly lagging behind the 2014 OECD countries’ NER of 95 per cent, thereby on course to achieving the nation’s SDG-centric goal of universal enrollment in primary education. 1 The official school going ages are 6 to 10 years for primary education, and 11 to 16 for secondary education. 14 Figure 3.1: National Primary Enrolment Scenario - by Age and Gender (%) 100% Net Enrolment Rate (NER, %) 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56 61 Age Male Female Source: Author calculations using EHS (2015) data 3.3 At the secondary level, though Bangladesh has made tremendous progress in terms of enrolment, especially for girls, overall achievement is somewhat lagging for both boys and girls. With less than 60 per cent of secondary school aged children in secondary school (Figure 3.2), Bangladesh lags behind the global secondary NER2 of 65 per cent (UNESCO UIS, 2017), and is substantially behind the secondary NER of 89 per cent observed amongst OECD member countries (World Bank WDI, 2017). Figure 3.2: Net and Current Enrollment Rates3 for Primary Aged (6 to 10 years) and Secondary Aged (11 to 16 years) children Participation in primary school Participation in secondary school (%) (%) 100 100 90 90 80 80 70 70 60 60 50 50 40 40 30 30 Female Male Total Male Female Total Net Enrollment Rate Current Enrollment Rate Net Enrollment Rate Current Enrollment Rate Source: Author calculations using EHS (2015) data 2 The global NER reported here considers children who are or were once enrolled in secondary education, and is consistent with the GoB definition used throughout the report. 3 The standard definition for NER refers to the proportion of children who are attending school at a specific point in time. This report uses the GoB definition of NER for ensuring consistency with the NER reported by national stakeholders. As a result, the Current Enrollment Rate mentioned here is to showcase the difference between the standard definition of NER (which is what the Current Enrollment Rate is in this report) and the GoB NER. 15 3.4 However, these seemingly impressive figures, especially at the primary level, may mask the fact that actual (current) enrollment4 numbers are below expectations. NER, capturing all children who have “ever enrolled� into school, does not capture the share of children who do not regularly attend school, nor those who have since dropped out after initial registration. Over 83 per cent of all children between the ages of 6 to 10 were enrolled in primary education at the time of survey (Figure 3.2). This essentially means, at least 17 per cent of the primary aged children were not attending regular schools during the survey. Most of these children remained (incorrectly) registered in school databases, resulting in a difference between the administrative data and household survey. These figures are more concerning at the later stages; only half of all secondary- aged children were “currently enrolled� in secondary schools during the survey. 3.5 Primary enrolment across the nation also shows signs of late entry amongst both male and female students, which is an emerging concern for Bangladesh’s education sector. Figure 3.1 showed that enrolment increase with age from 6 to 10, indicating that a high share of children enters primary school after the official age of entry. This is evinced in Table 3.1, which shows that only 54 per cent of all students in Grade 1 are 6 years (the official entry age into primary education) or younger. The share of over-aged students in higher grades increases with each grade, peaking at Grade 5 where over 72 per cent of all students are over the age of 10 (the official primary school leaving age). A large share of late entry students comprises of males from poor families (representing over a fifth of all male children enrolled in primary school) who, due to difficulties that arise from delayed uptake of formal education, are potentially more prone to dropping out of school and less likely to transition to secondary education. Table 3.1: Distribution of Age of Primary School Students – by Grade of Attendance (%)5 Student Age Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 5 17.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 6 37.3 13.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 7 26.8 31.9 6.2 0.0 0.0 8 12.1 28.2 24.7 7.1 0.0 9 4.8 16.6 29.0 19.9 7.5 10 0.8 5.4 19.2 28.9 20.3 11 0.8 2.9 12.0 22.3 31.0 12 0.0 0.5 6.0 12.0 24.4 13 0.0 0.5 2.2 6.4 10.8 14 0.0 0.2 0.6 1.9 5.2 15 0.0 0.0 0.3 1.0 0.5 16 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.3 Cumulative 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Source: Author calculations using EHS (2015) data 4 Current enrolment refers to the share of children who were attending school at the time of survey. 5 The green cells indicate the official age for attending each grade in primary school. 16 3.6 Participation in post-secondary education remains considerably low with a negative bias towards the women. At the national level, less than 20 per cent of all adolescents between the ages of 16 to 19 are attending (or have attended) grades 11 and 12 (Table 3.1); an even smaller share (10 per cent) attend university level education. Enrolment in higher education has traditionally been relatively accessible for students from wealthier families where child/adolescent labor needs are less prevalent. Males (adolescents and young adults) are more likely to be enrolled in higher secondary and tertiary education than females as Bangladeshi families continue to show a preference in investing in higher education for male offspring. Higher participation in higher secondary and tertiary education is evident in urban Bangladesh, largely due to limited provision of higher education in rural parts of the country. 3.7 Technical education is a relatively modern policy priority, and as such its uptake remains quite low as less than 3 per cent of all individuals between the ages of 10 to 25 enroll in vocational training programs. A companion study on the state of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Bangladesh shows that less than 12 per cent of all adolescent females engage in skills training, albeit displaying a higher enrolment rate compared to their male counterparts. Low enrolment figures are perpetuated by under-provision of affordable training institutions, non-availability of female friendly courses, reputational issues (as TVET sector is associated with the image of male-domination), and lack of awareness regarding skills training programs (WB, 2017). Accommodation and security issues also arise as most of the technical institutions are in the urban centers, further dis-incentivizing females from enrolling into vocational training. Table 3.2: Post-Secondary/Other Current Enrolment Rates for Survey Respondents of Relevant Age Groups – by Level of Education, Region and Gender (%) Level of education National Rural Urban Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Higher Secondary 19.8 16.8 18.3 18.8 14.9 16.9 23.7 21.9 22.7 (age=16-19) University/Bachelors 11.6 8.5 9.9 10.4 7.1 8.6 15.4 12.9 14.0 (Age=18-25) Technical/Vocational 2.7 3.1 2.9 2.2 3.0 2.6 4.1 3.2 3.7 (Age=10-25) Source: Author calculations using EHS (2015) data 3.8 A large share of children remains out of formal education, and are unable to reap the short-and-long term benefits of formal education. Over 17 per cent of all primary-school aged children remain out of school (Table 3.3), comprising of children who have never enrolled into formal education (8 per cent) and children who have dropped out during grades 1 through 5 (9 per cent). At over 2.9 million, the number of primary school-aged out of school children is considerably high for a high achiever country like Bangladesh. Relatively low enrolment figures amongst adolescent children has resulted in a fair share of secondary aged out of school children, as two in every five 11 to 16-year-old children remain unenrolled. At over 4 million, the number of secondary school-aged out of school children (who have at least completed primary school) is extremely high (albeit less so for females than for males), largely driven by a high share of un- enrolled children in rural Bangladesh. 17 Table 3.3: Total Number and Share of Out of School Children – by School-Going Age Group, Region and Gender National Rural Urban Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Primary School Going Age (6-10) Total (N) 1,551,920 1,366,172 2,918,092 1,234,163 1,124,859 2,359,022 317,757 241,313 559,070 Share (%) 17.3 16.0 16.7 17.1 16.6 16.9 18.1 13.7 15.9 Secondary School Going Age (11-16) Total (N) 2,617,543 1,445,910 4,063,453 2,161,660 1,039,547 3,201,207 455,883 406,363 862,246 Share (%) 45.9 35.7 41.1 47.7 31.9 42.5 42.1 37.8 39.4 Source: Author calculations using EHS (2015) data 3.9 The life-cycle trend is largely consistent with the prior discussion of enrolment, grade retention and non-enrolment, showcasing that Bangladesh’s progress in the education sector, while impressive overall, still struggles to ensure sufficient students are able to proceed to higher secondary and tertiary education from the beginning of primary schooling. Across the board, the average child, from the age of 6 up to 20, is highly likely (90 per cent) to enroll into primary education and stay in school up to grade 3 during childhood. Sharp dropout trends are observed towards the end of the primary education cycle, particularly in grades 4 and 5. Roughly 75 per cent of the total cohort complete primary education, which is low compared to the global average primary cohort survival rate of 82.8 per cent (UIS, 2017). Enrollment into secondary education drops, as 66 per cent of the initial cohort enroll into Grade 6. However, with a small but consistent dropout trend across all secondary education grades, only 32 per cent6 of the initial overall cohort graduate from secondary school (Figure 3.3). Figure 3.3: Education Life-Cycle for Children Aged 6 to 19 – by Share of Total Cohort to Have Ever Enrolled into Each Subsequent Grade/stage of Education (%) 100 80 60 40 20 0 All children Enrolled Enrolled Enrolled Enrolled Enrolled Enrolled Enrolled Enrolled Enrolled Enrolled Enrolled Enrolled into Grade into Grade into Grade into Grade into Grade into Grade into Grade into Grade into Grade into Grade into higher into 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 secondary tertiary All Male Female Source: Author calculations using EHS (2015) data 3.10 A good indication of progress is reflected in the reduced incidence of dropouts amongst school-going children. Improvements in enrolment have partially been achieved through 6 This figure represents the share of dropouts of the cohort, and should not be confused with the grade-year specific dropout rate (which is conditional upon entry into secondary school and thereby excludes those who have never completed primary or enrolled into Grade 6), which is 8 per cent on average across all levels of secondary school. 18 improvements in student retention in grades 1 through 5. Dropout rates at the primary level have fallen below 9 per cent in 2015 nationally (EHS, 2015). This is a tremendous achievement, as dropout rates were as high as 33 per cent across Bangladesh as recently as 2009 (UNESCO UIS, 2017). Student retention at the secondary level, however, shows a less optimistic scenario as 38.3 per cent of students in secondary level have dropped out in 2016 (BANBEIS, 2017). This is still some improvement over previous years, as the secondary dropout rate was as high as 54 per cent in 2011 (BANBEIS, 2017), and a steady improvement is indicative that, though delayed, the nation is on the right track. B. Poverty, Location and Access to Education 3.11 The wealth group that a household belongs to affects the school attendance and completion rate at both the primary and secondary levels of education, irrespective of gender. Typically, higher cost of education, coupled with poor income, contributes to the lack of enrollment and increased tendency of dropouts amongst children from poorer families. Often, families tend to educate their children up to a certain education tier, such as primary or secondary, and then stop sending them to school. On the other hand, the wealthier households tend to continue the education of their children irrespective of gender, and even arrange for sending them to the capital to avail better educational opportunities. Hence, the economic status of the household plays an important role in determining whether the household would choose children’s education and long-term development over short-term income flows for smoothening out consumption patterns. The report also observes that urban-rural differentials arise in non-enrolment, highlighting that children may face different obstacles to enrolment by location as well. 3.12 Non-enrolment amongst primary school-aged children is intrinsically linked to poverty, as poor households have substantially more out of school children in comparison to more affluent families. This effect is particularly felt in urban areas, where poverty constrains a high share of children from enrolling in, or staying in, school (Table 3.3). Poor male urban children are the most at-risk group, facing severe constraints to access to decent education in metropolitan areas where public schools face a crisis of limited affordable student seats. 3.13 Gender equity in primary school student retention has been achieved at the national level; however, inequalities remain across rural and urban regions. Girls from poorer households at the rural level (10.4 per cent) are more likely to drop out of primary school than boys (8.2 per cent). The urban scenario is however, quite different as boys at all levels of household wealth (10.8 per cent) are significantly more likely than girls (7.8 per cent) to have dropped out of primary school. In fact, almost a quarter of all urban males at the lowest wealth level have dropped out of school, fueled by existence of large slum populations in the Metropolitan cities, signaling a timely response from policymakers for implementing effective policies designed to keep these children in school. Even though the dropout figures are at an all-time low in Bangladesh, they remain significantly higher than the OECD average (WDI, 2018), and therefore issues plaguing dropouts amongst both males and females should be a policy focus for further analysis. 19 Table 3.4: Out of School Children Aged 6 to 10 – by Poverty Status, Region and Gender (%) Wealth group National Rural Urban Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Bottom 40% 19.8 19.2 19.4 19.3 19.1 19.2 31.5 19.1 25.3 Middle 40% 17.1 15.0 16.0 15.3 14.0 14.6 29.0 18.8 24.5 Top 20% 11.0 11.0 11.0 13.0 12.8 12.9 10.0 10.0 10.0 Total 17.3 16.0 16. 7 17.1 16.6 16.9 18.1 13.7 15.9 Source: Author calculations using EHS (2015) data 3.14 The linkage between poverty and non-enrollment is even more striking for secondary school aged children; over 27 per cent of all children from poor families do not attend school. Similar to the case with primary aged children, poor male children between the ages of 11 and 16 remain the most vulnerable group, as almost 37 per cent are not enrolled (Table 3.5). Facing a relatively grim socio-economic outlook, these groups require timely policy assistance. Gender differentials persist across almost all levels of wealth as girls are less likely to be out of school than boys; however, this reverses at the highest wealth level, indicating gender related social issues such as early marriage, security concerns play a causal role, independent of wealth, in deterring females from staying in school at the adolescent age. Table 3.5: Out of School Children Aged 11 to 16 – by Poverty Status, Region and Gender (%) Wealth group National Rural Urban Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Bottom 40% 33.0 20.1 27.1 32.8 19.8 26.7 36.9 26.6 32.8 Middle 40% 27.1 12.6 20.3 24.8 10.3 18.0 36.5 20.3 28.7 Top 20% 8.5 15.2 11.8 8.4 9.7 9.1 8.6 18.4 13.5 Total 26.1 16.1 21.4 27.5 14.9 21.6 21.1 20.0 20.6 Source: Author calculations using EHS (2015) data 3.15 While on aggregate, both male and female adolescents in rural Bangladesh remain more likely to be out of school compared to their urban peers, the opposite is true when only considering poor families, meaning that wealth constraints are far more likely to inhibit secondary school enrolment in urban areas. A companion World Bank report on the state of education in the metropolitan slums of Dhaka and Chittagong (World Bank, 2018) found that Slum enrolment is at least 21 percentage points lower than the national average at the primary level and about 25 percentage points lower at the secondary. 3.16 Primary school enrollment in some urban population pockets (slum children in particular), is well below the national average, and is indicative of a ‘slum’ effect in uptake of formal education. The primary school Net Enrollment Rate (share of children who were ‘ever enrolled’ into primary school) is considerably lower in slums (70.3 per cent) than the national (91.9 per cent) and urban (76.9 per cent) averages (Figure 3.5). This issue is more prevalent in over- crowded metropolitan slums in Dhaka and Chittagong where the majority of slum-dwellers reside. Less crowded slums in Khulna (77.3 per cent) and Rangpur (73.4 per cent), which until recently were treated as non-metropolitan areas and received rural educational assistance from the government, display noticeably higher net enrollment rates, though these rates still fall well below the national average. The urban non-slum primary school NER, at 98.6 per cent is significantly 20 higher than the corresponding slum NER, which indicates that non-slum dwelling children from similar socio-economic backgrounds are much more likely to be enrolled than their slum counterparts, indicative of an overarching ‘slum’ effect that extends beyond income constraints and availability of affordable and accessible schooling options. While female participation exceeds that of males in urban slums, both genders fall significantly behind their national counterparts, indicative of slum-centric issues that plague all genders. Further analysis reveals the major obstacles that continue to inhibit equitable access to quality education stems from a host of inter- connected and multi-dimensional factors, which are discussed in detail in the following chapter. Figure 3.4: Primary School NER Among Urban and Slum Children Aged 6 to 10 (%) 100 80 60 40 20 0 National Urban Slum Non-slum Female Male All Source: Author calculations using EHS (2015) and USS (2012) data C. Learning Outcomes 3.17 The relevance of learning outcomes has recently come into the public foray as primary and secondary school performances in core grade-wise competencies for both boys and girls continually remain low in Bangladesh with respect to global outcomes. The GoB’s National Learning Assessments (NSA) and Learning Assessments of Secondary Institutions (LASI) were thus recently launched in 2011 to provide accurate and timely data-driven information to support policy and planning, enhance teacher education programs, and improve classroom instruction in order to increase student learning. Policy agents aspire to continually utilize findings from these nationally representative assessments to improve policies targeted to pedagogy and curriculum, particularly for female students, so that that they have the foundation skills to access higher education and, in turn, have the means to aspire for better livelihoods in the long run. 3.18 At the primary level, there are no visible gendered differences in learning outcomes for languages over time; however, girls are seemingly improving more in Mathematics. Both boys and girls show similar improvements in achieving a specific band (exam result score ranges) for Bangla in Grades 3 and 5. Girls in Grade 3 and 5 show the largest improvements in achieving higher bands for Mathematics between 2013 and 2015. 21 Figure 3.5: Bangla Performance by Band Level, Gender and Grade in 2013 and 2015 50 30 10 Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls -10 2013 2015 2013 2015 Grade 3 Grade 5 Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4 Band 5 Source: Author calculations using NSA (2014 and 2016) data Figure 3.6: Mathematics Performance by Band Level, Gender and Grade in 2013 and 2015 Source: Author calculations using NSA (2014 and 2016) data 3.19 At the secondary level, however, learning outcomes for boys show a greater improvement. The latest LASI reports showcase that boys display greater improvement in Bangla and Math exam scores compared to girls in secondary schools. No gendered differences are observed, however, in the mean score for English. Therefore, while more girls are attending secondary school than ever before, their mean performance has not improved sufficiently enough. 22 Figure 3.7: Mean Scores by Grade and Gender in 2013 and 2015 Source: Author calculations using LASI (2014 and 2016) data 23 4 Actualization of Benefits of Gender Parity at Early Grades: Role of Economic, Social and Institutional Factors 4.1 This chapter aims at discussing the roles of economic, social and institutional factors in actualizing the benefits of Gender Parity in formal education participation. As described in section 3, though Bangladesh has achieved Numerical Gender Parity at the early stages of education, the country is yet to see the social benefits due to having relatively large share of children out of school, high risk of dropping out at later stages and limited scope of higher and technical education. As a result, a large share of boys and girls join the potential labor force without having basic skills. Along with this, subtle factors of girls’ participation in formal education along with social and institutional issues play important roles in actualizing the benefits of already achieved numerical gender parity. A recent World Bank report estimates that across the globe, the losses in lifetime productivity and earnings for girls of not completing twelve years of education is as high as 30 trillion USD (Wodon et al., 2018). The report analyzes how the households consider different factors and how these factors interact with each other in formulating the final decision regarding sending their children, particularly females, to school. 4.2 Qualitative findings have been used to gain a better understanding of the underlying factors. Studies do take in to consideration factors like poverty and/or cultural barriers that impede girls' access to, and improving learning outcomes in, education, they often overlook how these different factors interact with each other. Furthermore, it is important to explore the broader environmental or macro-level factors that affects decision-making at the micro level and by doing so, it will be possible to identify the areas where further policy interventions are required. To a large extent, the report relies on Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory which takes a broader view in analyzing the experiences of the individuals within the educational system and argue that these experiences are dependent on "personal, cultural and economic factors through school and home, family and religion, to be seen in connection with changing or dominant aspects of the culture, society and community" (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). 4.3 Under Bronfenbrenner’s methodology, the initial household level decision is not necessarily the final one and the school level and the societal level factors may encourage the households to reconsider their initial decisions. It is important to note that these factors have both positive and negative influence in shaping the decisions. The following diagram summarizes the decision-making process of sending a child (particularly female) to school, and highlights the major factors that determine enrolment and grade retention, to be discussed in the remainder of the chapter. 24 Figure 4.1: The Interaction of Different Factors That Determine School Enrolment Household Level Factors Household’s Financial Household’s Condition Characteristics (Parents’ Occupations, Number of Siblings) Aspiration for Female Education Initial Decision of School Level Factors Household to Defy Socio-Cultural Factors or Not to Defy Infrastructure Child Mobility & Level of Location of Impact of Role of SMC Religious Communit the School & Cost Marriage Technology Concerns y (Near/Far) Final Decision of Household to Defy or Not to Defy Source: Authors(self) A. Economic Opportunity 4.4 For the majority of poor Bangladeshi households, the need to contribute labor both inside and outside homes have important negative implications for the education outcomes of girls. As the male members spend most of the times outside of the house, the female members assume the role of the homemakers and are expected to contribute to household chores extensively. While at the early stages the proportion of boys involved in income generating activities is higher than that of girls, the proportion of girls joining income generating activities increases relatively drastically as the girls enter adolescence. 4.5 Involvement of school-going children in income generating and home-duty activities occurs quite frequently, reducing the amount of time that can be allocated towards formal education for both genders. The majority of children aged 6-10 at the national level are engaged only in education (55.2 per cent), with the proportion being higher for boys (59.4 per cent) than 25 for girls (50.8 per cent). A higher proportion of girls (33.2 per cent) than boys (23.3 per cent) are involved in labor along with education, while 7 per cent of the girls and 9 per cent of the boys are not enrolled in school but contribute in the formal and informal sector of the economy (Figure 4.2). Among the children aged 11-16, at the national level, 35.6 per cent are engaged in education only, with the proportion being higher for boys (41.5 per cent) than for girls (28.9 per cent). A higher proportion of girls (55 per cent) than boys (32.4 per cent) are involved in labor along with education, while 15 per cent of the girls and 22.5 per cent of the boys are not enrolled in school but contribute in the formal and informal sector of the economy (Figure 4.3). Girls across both age groups are at a disadvantage here, as a noticeably smaller portion of females are solely attending school; more often than with boys, these girls are constrained to provide labor both inside and outside their homes. Figure 4.2: Education and Labor Force Figure 4.3: Education and Labor Force Participation of Population Aged 6-10(%) Participation of Population Aged 11-16 (%) 100.0 100.0 6.5 7.3 7.0 9.7 6.3 7.9 0.5 1.7 1.1 90.0 8.9 90.0 8.3 8.6 5.3 16.2 11.0 1.1 80.0 80.0 2.5 3.7 70.0 23.3 28.1 70.0 33.2 60.0 60.0 55.0 32.4 43.1 50.0 50.0 40.0 40.0 30.0 59.4 30.0 50.8 55.2 20.0 20.0 41.5 35.6 28.9 10.0 10.0 0.0 0.0 Female Male Total Female Male Total Not enrolled and participation in non-formal Not enrolled and participation in non-formal activities activities Not enrolled and participation in formal income Not enrolled and participation in formal income earning activities earning activities Not enrolled and no participation in income Not enrolled and no participation in income earning earning activities activities Education and participation in labor Education and participation in labor Education Only Education Only Source: Author calculations using EHS (2015) data 4.6 The prevailing opportunity cost of sending a child to school is thus determined by the local context governed by economic opportunities, socio-cultural setting and access to infrastructure and resources. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) found that while parents do understand the necessity of educating their children, including the female children, many of these families tend to focus on the short-term benefit of higher incomes and fail to appreciate the value of educating their children. FGD participants also highlight the importance of work opportunities available for girls at garment factories, especially in the urban and slum areas in determining the parents' decision. Higher employment opportunities in the ready-made garments sector are a key factor that affects dropout of girls, and households that are located near such factories or near key infrastructure such as improved roads and highways, are more likely to send their children to avail 26 such work opportunities, often at a young age. The qualitative study also shows that boys from poor urban households are expected to engage in income generating activities such as rickshaw pulling, working as a vendor, garment factory worker, shop assistant or transport helper, and so on after completing their secondary education. Thus, in the context of Bronfenbrenner’s model, the final household decision regarding schooling is strongly dictated by the household’s aggregate access to resources. 4.7 In this context, unfavorable economic opportunities have the unfortunate off-setting effect on the education uptake of adolescent boys, many of whom are vulnerable to sacrificing educational uptake in favor of unsavory income earning practices. A complementary report on the state of education in Bangladesh’s urban slums (World Bank, 2018) reveals that peer pressure leads adolescent boys into organized crime and violence, and dangerous habits such as drug-abuse and drug-peddling from an early age. Facing limited income earning opportunities, many such adolescents from the burgeoning slum population (5.6 million) of urban Bangladesh are drawn towards quick sources of income. The lack of parental involvements amongst these vulnerable groups further exacerbates the situation, as slum Focus Group Discussions reveal that a lack of paternal interest in children’s education removes scope for guardian motivation for adolescent boys to attend school. 4.8 An obvious gap in this analysis is girls’ contribution to the household activities at the early stages, as reported in the FGDs, is not recognized by the families as no direct income generation is involved. Nevertheless, girls spent more time on economic activities (and less on education) compared to boys which can potentially lead the girls to early dropout, early entry in to the labor market, child marriage and less than expected labor market outcome. As a whole, this seemingly innocent family norms result in lower level of female empowerment than what the nation would expect thorough equal participation in formal education. B. Social norms 4.9 A common social norm in Bangladesh is, once they grow up and reach to the age of 12 or 13, females are encouraged to stay at home to help their mothers, often in spite of having completed primary education. Poor learning outcomes amongst female students and failure in secondary school examinations often lead poor parents into coercing their teenage daughters to provide home duty. In urban slums, the household condition has a different dimension, but the outcome has remained the same. Although this does not always result in dropouts, it leads to absenteeism and less than expected educational outcomes. Furthermore, as evident from the FGD comments, illness or death of an economically active household member as well as breakdown of a family (parents get separated) tends to put economic pressures on the other members, forcing the girl child to engage in some income generating activities, often by dropping out of school. 4.10 Qualitative findings indicate that even when the households send both the male and female children to school, they are likely to spend more for educating their male children. Schooling expenses for girls is about 60 per cent of the corresponding expenses for boys in the urban area and about 37 per cent in the rural areas (Table 4.1). This implies that there is a gender divide in the quality of the education experienced by boys and girls, and that this divide is greater in the rural areas than in the urban areas. Poor quality of education attained could indeed be a serious problem since weaker students ultimately lose interest in their studies, become irregular and often dropout. Research indicates that to a large extent, this is a part of the economic calculation made by parents and thus, the availability of stipends for female students, when it outweighs the other benefits (e.g. employment opportunities or the potential benefits of keeping 27 the female children at home), encourages the parents to send their girls to schools. However, this does not necessarily mean that the households have realized the importance of female education or they have understood how female education can be linked with future employment opportunities in the economic sector. In fact, the qualitative study shows that that many poor households still believe that educating boys will safeguard their future incomes, as the boys will start working and contributing to the household expenditures. On the other hand, girls will be married off soon and will not be able to make any economic contributions. Table 4.1: Expenditure on Education for Children (Derived From Qualitative Interviews)7 Private Books & School Fees Coaching Other Costs Total Costs Location Participant Tuition fees Stationery (BDT) Fees (BDT) (BDT) (BDT) (BDT) (BDT) Male Urban 300 1000 800 500 100 2700 Student (Grade VIII, same Female school) 300 1000 - 300 - 1600 Student Male 150 - 400 300 100 950 Rural Student (Grade VII) Female 150 - - 200 - 350 Student Source: Author calculations using field interview data from 2016 Focus Group Discussions Box 1: Migration and Female School Attendance The qualitative study conducted shows that a key factor that mainly affects the children living in the slums and forces them to drop out is the fact that their households usually migrate from one place to another in search of better livelihoods. Many of the study participants in Chittagong account for internal migrants from Kishoregonj, Feni, Comilla, Chandpur, and other less developed areas of greater Chittagong. These households were often trapped in a vicious cycle of debt including microcredit in their rural homes, ultimately forcing them to migrate into the urban areas where there are higher opportunities of paid work. The incomes earned by economically active members of such migrant households are not only useful for maintaining their household expenditures, but also for repaying their microcredit loans back at home. Most of the girl children of these households used to study in Grades II to IV. Following migration, they dropped out of school due to two primary reasons. First, the households prioritize paying off debts over educating their girl children, and so, they prefer that their girl children work in garment factories and contribute to household incomes. Second, a certificate of approval by the Ward Commissioner is required to enroll migrated students into schools. Parents are generally uninterested in going through the entire process of acquiring required documentation, and hence, rather send their children to work. Source: Condensed from Focus Group Discussions 7 Coaching and private tuition represent out-of-school learning opportunities that many students avail when in-class pedagogy does not provide sufficient scope for learning grade-level competencies. 28 C. Early Marriage 4.11 Early marriage is still a major issue that has a huge impact on attendance and completion rates, which is in line with the stance of policymakers. Around 13.4 per cent of girls who are below 18 years of age, got married at least once according to EHS 2015. As shown in Table 4.2, there is a strong correlation between educational status and early marriage, with much higher incidence of early marriage among women with no education for all income groups. FGD findings confirm that while societal forces play a significant role in expediting child marriage, it will be wrong to consider child marriage as solely a "social issue" while ignoring the school level and economic factors that also affect influence this. Parents expressed their concern in the FGDs that, as a relatively recent phenomenon, early “affairs, eloping and getting married� influenced by the modern social communication causes school dropouts, which affects girls more severely than boys. Further evidence from Field and Ambrus (2008) quantitatively shows that, in rural Bangladesh across all levels of household wealth, getting married at an early age of 14 can reduce female schooling attainment by up to a full academic year. This is indicative that, through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s model, the socio-cultural factors may be outweighing the school-level factors for many families irrespective of the level of household resources. Table 4.2: Share of Females Aged 12 to 18 That are or were Once Married – By Poverty Status and Level of Education (%) Wealth No education Some/completed Some/completed Above Group primary secondary secondary education education Bottom 40% 33.3 9.9 8.2 N/A Middle 40% 26.1 11.3 14.3 15.3 Top 20% 40.3 12.5 16.4 1.9 Total 33.4 10.8 13.1 10.3 29 Case Study 1: Weighing the Costs of Education against that of Delaying Marriage Nasima (15) belongs to a poor family living in the Pora Colony of Chittagong. She used to be a student of Grade VII at Gulezar Begum KG School, where her academic performance was excellent. In spite of poverty, her parents succeeded in defying the initial odds and she was allowed to continue through junior secondary school. However, at the age of 15, her family decided to get her married to a man from their village. Whereas the societal factors. i.e. the tendency of getting girls married at the early age have played an important role, the study shows that two other economic factors were also at play: first, the family could not see any possible way that would allow higher education of their girl to achieve a respectable role in the formal economic sector. In fact, as the girl is getting older, the cost of her education is going up which may result in zero or low return. As a result, the calculation regarding financial benefit was changing. Second, within the poorest households of the country, dowry is still a concern and a key factor that leads to child marriage is that the amount of dowry demanded by the groom's family tends to increase as the girl becomes older. This also changes the economic dimension significantly because if the female student cannot be linked with the economic sector effectively and if the cost of sending the girls to school is higher than getting her married, it is likely that the household would go for early marriage. And this is exactly what happened in Nasima's case. When Nasima was asked about her views regarding the marriage prospect, she said that she did not have any objections to her family’s decision. At present, she lives at her village with her husband’s family and has discontinued her studies. Case Study 2: Social Awareness as well as roles played by local level administration results A strong resistance was put up by the UNO, UP Chairperson, UP Members and locals work toward preventing child marriage in rural West Icholi, Rangpur. As a result, Child Marriage incidences have come down drastically in the region, and school attendance has dramatically improved. As parents cannot marry their daughters soon now, they tend to send them to school regularly. It is important to note that, even in this case, the economic calculation also plays an important role. In the rural areas, girls get stipends if they continue their education and thus, for the poorest households, sending the girls to school, where other employment opportunities, like the Ready-Made Garments (RMG) sector, are unavailable, is financially more meaningful than marrying them at an early age. Quantitative evidence further complements the qualitative findings, as, across the nation, girls in school are twelve times less likely to be married by the age of 18 in comparison to those who do not attend school. Source: Author calculations using EHS (2015) dataSource: Condensed from Focus Group Discussions D. Security Issues and Incidences of Harassment 4.12 Increased prevalence of sexual harassment in public places as well as socio-cultural attitudes act as deterrents for the mobility of girls and hence school participation. From the FGD participants, it appeared to be a common phenomenon both in rural and urban Bangladesh that unemployed youth who waste their time roaming around and get addicted to illegal drugs often tend to sexually harass young women and girls on the streets on their way to school. Urban Rangpur FGD participants even reported that conservative members within the community tend 30 to spread rumors about girls being in relationships, tarnishing their family’s reputation, in case girls exhibit “too much� mobility – going to school in most cases. Hence, mothers generally accompany their daughters to school while the girls return home in groups to avoid sexual harassment. Sexual harassment on the streets not only deters the girl from going to school, but also accelerates the process of child marriage. 4.13 An analysis of sexual violence on girls based on media reports reveals that incidents of such violence have reached to a concerning level in Bangladesh. Table 3.4 presents the frequency on reports of violence against girls published in four major dailies over a period of two years (July 2014 - June 2016). Out of 1120 reported cases, 38 percent was rape, at least 52 girls had been murdered after rape and at least 7 suicides. Teachers accounted for the largest group of perpetrators of sexual violence (10.2 per cent), followed by classmates (2.05 per cent), and other individuals affiliated with educational institutions (1.6 per cent). This showcases that sexual conflict often happens in schools and colleges, and pursuit of education can potentially be derailed due to the threat of violence. FGD participants unequivocally expressed that, these incidences tend to have a strong demonstration effect on the parents and society, captured through the frequency of crimes reported in the media. Table 3.4: Category of Violence (Multiple Options) Violence type Frequency Percent Abduction 150 13 Abduction & rape 38 3 Abduction & murder 14 1 Abduction, rape & murder 6 1 Abduction, rape & suicide 1 0 Rape 442 38 Rape & Murder 32 3 Rape & suicide 6 1 Eve teasing & physical harassment 45 4 Eve teasing 75 7 Eve teasing & suicide 24 2 Injury/Physical Harassment 69 6 Acid violence 20 2 ICT crime 32 3 Political violence 10 1 Sexual Harassment 86 8 Attempt to rape 58 5 Attempt to rape & Murder 3 0 Murder 41 4 N 1120 100 Source: Author calculations using qualitative count data from four of the most commonly circulated news dailies 31 E. School location 4.14 Focus group discussions indicate that the location of the school often plays an important role in determining whether male and female children will be sent to school. Even when the parents decide to send the girls to schools defying the problems of economic and household condition, the distance of the schools may very well force them to rethink the decision. Qualitative findings corroborate that in many cases while an area may have a primary school situated nearby, more often than not, secondary schools are located much further away. Thus, even though the enrollment and completion rate of primary schools are quite good, many students drop out, as they are not being able to transition into secondary schools. The situation is harder for girls who are unable to travel longer distances on their own because of personal safety issues. Hence, if the schools are situated at a significant distance from home, parents are reluctant to send their daughters to school. In the urban slums, instead of distance, it is complicacy of reaching the school that plays crucial roles. Most parents in the FGDs pointed out to the fact that, students have to cross a large and busy road to reach to the nearest school which tends the parents to decide against schooling. School location, along with safety issues of adolescent girls, together make it comparatively difficult for the girl students. F. Female Friendly School Infrastructure 4.15 The 2017 Annual Primary School Census (APSC) reports that less than a third of all primary schools nationwide have separate sanitary facilities for girls, which presents a growing concern for female students. A combination of shame, negative stigma and a lack of awareness can lead to many girls missing class during their cycles, or (even worse) dropping out of school altogether. It is, however, important to note the process through which the infrastructure factors affect the decision-making process of the parents: in most cases, the lack of available infrastructure facilities force the parents to look for another school (given that they do not have any financial or household level difficulties or they are willing to ignore them) close to their home and when they fail to find such an educational institution, they may eventually decide not to send their female children to school. 4.16 FGDs highlight that school infrastructure, particularly separate toilets for girls, sometimes plays an important role in determining the level and degree of attendance of the children to school. In fact, schools that have playground, library, computer room or "Pucca" (proper) compound are considered to be "attractive" by the parents and children and often encourage the parents to send their children to schools while defying their economic problems. At the same time, for the girls, an important issue considered by the parents and the children is, whether the schools have separate toilets for girls and the absence of such facilities may make the parents think twice about sending their girls to that particular school. 4.17 The emergence of late entry into education (as evinced in the previous chapter) has resulted in a large share of over-aged primary school female students experiencing menstruation without access to adequate sanitary facilities. Historically this phenomenon has only been observed from the secondary education level and above; as a result, existing infrastructure in primary schools (and indeed in many secondary schools as well) lack the capacity to provide these girls with a safe clean environment necessary to undertake schooling while on their menstrual cycles. G. Teaching attitude towards female students 32 4.18 The negative attitude of the teachers may quite negatively affect the students' perception about schools and education at large. Qualitative study findings show that especially in the urban areas and urban slums, the fear of corporal punishment has indeed stopped some students from attending schools. Girls in particular, in fear of public punishment and ostracizing, are even more vulnerable to poor classroom attendance. A Dhaka slum respondent said, "I know Molly and she was really interested in joining the local NGO school here. However, once she started coming in, she found that our teacher Ms. Amina is very tough and she, to some extent, loves corporal punishment. Once Molly observes Ms. Amina in action, she decided to leave school. The problem is, there is no other schools close to where Molly lives and she has eventually dropped out even before completing her primary education"8. H. Schooling expenses 4.19 Cost of schooling has a huge bearing on the attendance and successful completion of primary and secondary schooling, particularly for vulnerable groups such as girls coming from poor households. The cost of schooling does not simply include the fees and cost of books and stationery; distance to school from home affects the cost of travel to and from school, and the quality of education in the classroom impacts the need for additional tuitions or coaching classes. Poorer quality of education at the schools means that students need to invest greater time and resources for maintaining a competent level of results, as inability to attain acceptable grades at the end of the year would mean that the student may have to repeat classes or dropout. EHS 2014- 15 data shows that yearly per child costs for primary and secondary schooling at the national level were BDT 5,733 and BDT 14,484 (in 2015 prices) respectively, implying that the cost of secondary schooling is much higher than that of primary schooling. This may explain why the dropout rate is higher at the secondary level. Figure 4.4: The High Cost of Not Educating West African Girls Source: Condensed from Wodon et al., 2018. 8 False names have been used to protect the identity and preserve anonymity of the respondents/persons. 33 Box 2: Why Do Sub-Saharan African Youth Drop Out of School? A World Bank diagnostic study from 2015 uses nationally representative survey data from twenty Sub-Saharan countries to explore the magnitude and nature of the out-of-school youth population and the reasons why youth drop out of school. The analyses show the following: • The out-of-school youth problem is widespread in Sub-Saharan Africa, with more than half of all youth between the ages of 12 and 24 years out of school. • The out-of-school problem is particularly large in low-income countries, Francophone countries, and fragile or conflict-affected countries. • Most youth drop out before the beginning of the secondary cycle. In countries where the incidence of out-of-school youth is high, a larger share of youth has never attended school. • Young girls, rural youth, and older youth are more likely to be out of school. • Poverty amplifies these effects. Gender and urban-rural disparities and the gap in school attendance between the poorest and richest households increase with age. • Early marriage has a detrimental effect on the educational outcomes of young women, but married young women, if they can make it to secondary school, are more likely to stay in school and finish, compared with their male counterparts. • Parental attitudes toward education and households’ income-earning potential are the two most important determinants of education outcomes: youth from households where the head of the household is more educated are less likely to work and more likely to attend school. Similarly, the more working adults in a household, the more likely youth are to focus on school only and to continue to upper secondary education. • When one controls for the education level of the head of household, the explanatory power of household income decreases, but remains significant. Incremental increases in household income have a much greater impact on school/work outcomes in low- income countries and those with a history of conflict. • School/work outcomes for youth are very sensitive to the household’s sector of employment and the income-generating capacity of the household (measured as the number of working adults). Youth from households engaged in agriculture are less likely to focus just on school and more likely to work only, or to juggle work and school. Youth from households with working adults are more likely to be focused on school only. Source: Condensed from Inoue et al., 2015. 4.20 In summation, the report observes a host of socio-economic, geographical, cultural and infrastructural factors continue to pose obstacles to improving girls’ access to quality education and thereby actualizing the benefits of gender parity in education. The opportunity cost from missing paid employment or providing home duty can be a significant factor for determining whether the household would want to send the girl and/or the boy to school, particularly amongst poorer families. Household characteristics pertaining to the guardian’s age, level of education and work experience affect the likelihood of enrolment and dropout. 34 Infrastructural factors pertaining to seat availability, commute distance, provision of decent sanitary facilities and school stipend provision also affect the probability of enrolling, and staying, in school. Socio-cultural factors pertaining to child marriage, sexual harassment, gender violence and widespread access to mobile technology provide additional barriers to enrolment, particularly at the secondary level, for female students. 35 5 Conclusion and Policy Recommendations – The Way Forward 5.1 The negative impacts of not adequately educating both boys and girls are substantial as well as wide-ranging. Ensuring universal primary education for both boys and girls is not enough, as the benefits from education are much larger at the secondary and tertiary levels (Wodon et al., 2018). New evidence highlights emerging drawbacks to lack of skilled employment outcomes for young women, low female uptake of higher education, security issues that constrain attendance and grade retention, and growing population pockets that face systemic barriers to attaining formal education. In-depth analysis, using key quantitative and qualitative findings, provides the groundwork to formulate ways of thinking how policy improvements can be made. Policymakers’ focus must strive to ensure pathways for students to successfully integrate themselves into the labor market; uptake of primary and secondary education is indeed the ideal pathway for all youth to develop their dreams and aspirations. 5.2 This section discusses policy recommendations that (a) increase scope for improving education outcomes of males and females, and, in turn, (b) helps to actualize the benefits of gender parity in education participation through improved long-run outcomes. The theoretical framework from previous chapters highlight a plethora of dimensions that a household considers for choosing to send a child to school; actualization of the final decision, however, varies significantly from family to family. As a result, a multi-dimensional approach has been undertaken in this section to provide pathways to tackle the various barriers that prevent actualization of the decision to attend, and stay in, school. Analysis from the previous chapters provides the foundations upon which the report discusses recommendations; the key messages address demand- generation measures and supply-chain improvements to help guide policy dialogue for the GoB with relevant stakeholders. A. Holistic Policy Response. 5.3 Actualization of benefits of gender parity at early grades calls for a holistic approach as interaction of various factors play a causal role in educational outcomes and subsequent changes in socio-economic livelihoods. This calls for a targeted policy response approach from the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) that both (a) enhances scope for further increasing education attainment and improving education outcomes of males and females, and, (b) helps to actualize the benefits of gender parity in education participation through improved long-run outcomes. 5.6 Concept of Multidimensional Policy Dashboard, motivated by the Human Capital Project, aims to build political commitment for reforms and investments to improve human capital outcomes. To tackle the learning crisis, achieving and sustaining learning gains at scale, Bangladesh needs to know where they stand on all three of these dimensions—practices (or service delivery), policies, and politics. In doing so, the dashboard will (1) highlight gaps between what the evidence suggests is effective in promoting learning and what is happening in practice in each system; and (2) allow a way for governments to track progress as they take action to close those gaps. B. Enhanced Access to Education and Removal of Negative Factors. 5.7 Poor children, especially females, face monetary constraints to regular enrolment and attendance; government continuation of Conditional and Labeled Cash Transfer subsidy programs with better targeting has the potential to stimulate better education uptake. 36 Children from extremely poor families are likely to be the largest beneficiaries of reduced school fees in public education up to basic education (Grade 8). Tuition, textbooks, and uniforms, while provided to some students at low-to-no cost under certain school arrangements, could potentially be provided at no charge to less affluent students across the country irrespective of gender. This policy is evident in rural Bangladesh, it is yet to be sufficiently extended to metropolitan areas, and thereby requires national expansion. Diligent efforts to strategically target vulnerable females (based on carefully designed and well implemented targeting mechanisms) would ensure limited spillage and efficiently provide the inputs necessary for poor females to regularly attend school. 5.8 Provision of stipends should be equitably extended to all vulnerable female populations. While student stipend programs can help offset direct costs to families, they are generally limited to rural areas; therefore, extension of stipend programs to urban areas requires a timely response given the high incidence of non-enrolment amongst the vulnerable urban poor. Particularly relevant for slum-dwelling children, feasible and more accessible provision of education remains a crucial priority. 5.9 Various opportunity costs to availing education constrains enrolment for many young children; policy initiatives can help alleviate the burden of home duty and unsafe commutes for female children. With an increasing share of households sending both parents to the workforce, the burden of family care falls inequitably on older and female children, leaving them with more time to invest in their education. Not only does this reduce the child’s opportunity to attend school, home duty also decreases the amount of time the child can dedicate towards studying and completing homework, thereby reducing the overall quantity and quality of education uptake. First, increased provision of day-care facilities for working household heads and spouses would help reduce this burden on children, particularly in urban slums where child’s home duties are relatively most prevalent. Second, provision of financial/cash incentives for good academic performance can alleviate income constraints on the family and help pay for child-care expenses, thereby encouraging parents to prioritize their female child’s time spent on education. Finally, greater efforts to reduce strenuous commute times faced by many children is necessary to reduce the opportunity cost of time lost due to difficult travel conditions, limited availability of public transport options and heavy traffic. Urban Slum FGD participants clearly argued for Learning Centers within the slum vicinity. C. Targeted Innovative Programs for Vulnerable Population Pockets. 5.11 Peculiarities of nature of issues of the vulnerable population pockets call for targeted innovative approaches. Disadvantaged children, slum-dwellers, and female youth face additional barriers to access, which require communal strengthening, educational awareness campaigns in vulnerable population pockets, equitable infrastructural development, and superior pedagogical training to boost the quality of education delivered. As, in terms of urbanization, Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing nation, slum children who are the most lagging behind segment of population at this moment require immediate policy responses. FGD participants from the slum emphasized on (i) non-formal and accelerated education in learning centers within the slums; (ii) greater access to technical and vocational trainings especially for the stock of uneducated youth in the slums; (iii) social events in slums campaigning benefits of education, child and women rights and opportunities and adverse effects of drug uses and hazardous and risky activities including , drug paddling, prostitutions and human trafficking. D. Provide Alternatives to Formal Primary/Secondary Education 37 5.12 Out of school children, especially the over aged ones with limited literacy skills, need greater facilitation of alternative education options. Many female children are unable to continue formal education due to poverty, child marriage, early pregnancy, competing time needs, and other challenges. Further development of ‘second chance education’ options would them continue their education. Such programs can also help educate young women without basic. The provision of night-shift schools at existing institutions could provide working children (unable to attend classes during the day) with a chance to go to school. Temporary schools have recently popped up, providing accelerated curriculum to children in certain population pockets. Such schools, currently provided by the GoB’s Reaching Out of School Children (ROSC) program, as well as private programs run by NGOs such as BRAC’s Snehaloy program, provide pathways to complete primary education in four years only. Public expansion of such non-formal education programs across the nation is a welcome initiative. 5.13 Improving the provision and uptake of technical education services provides an alternate venue for adolescent females to attain skills necessary to improve their long run labor market outcomes. Expansion of TVET programs at the rural sub-district level, and to vulnerable populations in slums, should create provisions for all adolescent populations in the form of training programs or apprenticeships. Provision of these programs must be supplemented with adequate living accommodations (with separate dormitories for females), a decent allowance and female-friendly facilities. Finally, the ‘social stigma’ of vocational training must be eradicated through awareness raising campaigns targeted towards youth who otherwise are unaware or unwilling to partake in technical education. GoB, with financial assistance from the World Bank, under the Skills and Technical Education Program (STEP) is taking some steps necessary to address these issues; however, further expansion and facilitation of these policies is needed on a national level, particularly for rural youth who reside outside their district headquarters (where most rural programs are run from) to increase accessibility. 5.14 At the same time, geographic expansion of TVET programs may be complemented with introduction of TVET at earlier ages so that there is potential for families to value education as their children emerge with more relevant skills catered to the job market. The GoB, under the ROSC program has already started to facilitate Pre-Vocational Training programs for over- aged primary school graduates at the sub-district level, where males and females (who have limited opportunities to continue formal education) are given three months of training in semi-skilled trades. Facilitation of service-oriented diploma programs under DTE’s guidance would also create greater incentives for enrolment, as students would have official credentials for securing decent work post-graduation. Coupled with greater linkages to job placement programs, service-oriented diplomas would provide an alternative pathway to income earning opportunities for those unable to complete secondary education. Leveraging partnerships with the private sector, particularly NGOs who are already working in this subject area, would greatly help promote the necessity of skills development for females (World Bank (a), 2017). 5.15 Increased reforms to Secondary and Madrasa Education Vocational systems can stimulate greater enrolment for out-of-school female youth. Curriculum and content of the SSC & Madrasa Vocational program needs to be distinctive and specialized through female-friendly job-placement provision linkages with the vocational labor market. For Instance, SSC vocational program can accommodate soft skills and language training in English. Advanced training in Math and other science subjects can be tailored to selected vocational subjects. Additionally, Madrasa 38 vocational program needs to be reformed with better labor market linkages so that Madrasa students are more likely to find employment after graduation. E. Promote Female Empowerment at The Communal Level Through Awareness Raising Programs 5.16 Raising awareness about the benefits of formal education and its linkages with better livelihood outcomes for young women. The public and private sector have a long and fruitful history of awareness-raising campaigns aiming to promote female empowerment; however, these are often conducted on a mass scale and the message does not always reach all of its target audience. Stronger provision of door-to-door services via trained female community workers can greatly help educate less-motivated parents of the benefits of educating their female child; the female community workers, or ‘shikhkha apas’, can relay their own training and experiences as examples of female empowerment to incentivize parents to send their children to school. This is particularly relevant and needed in urban slums and hard-to-reach rural areas, where parental education levels and appreciation of female empowerment are relatively low. F. Ensure the Necessary Conditions for Timely and Efficient Entry into Primary School 5.17 The increasing incidence of over-aged students in primary school presents new challenges that must be addressed to increase grade retention and schooling completion rates. As a large share of late entry students comprises of females from poor families (EHS, 2015), these children face additional difficulties to regular school attendance and are potentially more prone to dropping out of school before transitioning to secondary education. 9 The biggest challenge is that a growing number of adolescent girls are starting their menstrual cycles during primary school as a result of starting primary school at a late age. These girls risk missing school regularly (or dropping out altogether) unless primary schools are able to provide safe and secure menstrual and hygiene facilities (including gender-specific toilets) on site. National policy should therefore promote development of female menstruation facilities in primary schools. 5.18 At the same time, policies to increase the uptake and efficiency of early childhood development programs such as pre-primary education has the potential to increase timely entry into primary education. Enrolment into early childhood programs at the appropriate age would significantly ease transition into primary school at the age of 6. Starting with a strong literacy and numeracy skills base can further ease the child’s capacity to learn in primary school, and potentially reduce the risk of dropping out due to a lack of competency. A major challenge, however, persists through the continual lack of aggregate early-life cognitive development due to food insecurity and malnutrition. While the national stunting rate has reduced significantly in recent years to 36 percent in 2016 10 , it remains well above the global average (22 percent). Furthermore, health experts have highlighted the long-run issues that arise from stunting, as under- nourished girls tend to grow up and give birth to under-nourished babies 11 . Early-life child development programs therefore must prioritize child nutrition; poor families, through stringent 9 Current policy analytics have identified some of the major factors responsible for this phenomena, but there are still a plethora of issues leading from late entry to dropouts that merit further review. 10 http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/rate-stunting-dropping-fast-166978 11 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bangladesh-health-stunting/bangladesh-falls-short-in-tackling-childhood- stunting-idUSKBN14V02Q 39 targeting mechanisms, can be chosen to receive food aid aimed to provide the necessary nutrients for children (and their mothers) for proper cognitive development. G. Increase Supply-Side Measures to Reduce Gender Biases in Education Outcomes 5.19 Greater gender-sensitive teacher training activities could help to address gender imbalances in school. Equitable gender balance amongst teachers, SMC members and school leadership positions are evident in Bangladeshi primary schools (ASPR, 2016); however, this does not necessarily translate into gender-equitable learning environments for the students. School officials should receive good quality pre- and/or in-service training in gender-sensitive practices, so they can challenge social norms and their own gender attitudes. Training should be designed so it is relevant to local contexts and include comprehensive sexuality education. Teachers should also be supported with teaching and learning materials that question gender stereotypes and promote equitable behavior. The expected result is that female students will have access to a female-friendly learning environment, one that is free of on-site harassment and gender biases that ultimately can help improve the quality of their education uptake. 5.20 Limited female uptake of math and science education can stifle pursuit of higher education in fields that offer better income earning opportunities; therefore, reduction of gender bias in education outcomes must be encouraged. Increased enforcement of national policies dedicated to increased and equitable participation and performance in math and the sciences has the potential to increase the skilled female labor force and improve their labor market opportunities; a combination of technical scholarships, post-graduation career development programs and superior teacher mentoring could incentivize significantly improved numeracy, technical and analytical skills. 5.21 Promotion of gender-sensitive curricula in the classroom can help challenge traditional gender stereotypes and reduce gender bias within the classroom. Gender-sensitive training that equips teachers to improve diversity in teaching and assessment styles and promote positive attitudes and behavior among students can ensure that girls and boys participate equally in class (Plan UK, 2013). Updating of national curriculum with add-on content regarding gender roles, civics, inequality and violence can encourage children to question existing gender stereotypes and promote equitable behavior among students. Introduction of a standardized uniform curriculum across all branches of formal education could potentially improve the consistency of quality pedagogy. Removing barriers to gender stereotyping and societal expectations can lead girls to be more confident in their own ability, which in turn can positively affect learning outcomes (Bharadwaj et al., 2012). 5.22 Greater provision of female-friendly sanitation facilities and awareness regarding female hygiene and reproductive health is also needed at the secondary level. FGDs show that many adolescent females face shame and social stigma in school during their menstrual cycles, and are reluctant to attend school during that time. Repeated lack of classroom participation also increases the likelihood of dropping out before completing secondary school. While most schools now provide comprehensive sanitary facilities through provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) blocks, the supply is insufficient to cater to the growing body of female students, maintenance is often non-existent, and provision of menstrual facilities is yet to be established for primary schools. 40 5.23 Promoting female empowerment through education also provides scope for reducing child marriage. Bangladesh has the highest rate of child marriage in Asia, yet limited efforts are being made to reduce this phenomenon (Human Rights Watch, 2016) 12 . The GoB recently implemented the Child Marriage Restraint Act (2017) that only allows for marriage before the age of 18 ‘under special circumstances’; a growing body of think-tanks and policy-actors, however, are concerned that the law might be subject to interpretation and do little to stem the flow of child marriage rates. A strong body of global evidence (UNESCO, 2014) also indicates girls’ participation in formal education is itself an important factor in delaying marriage and child- bearing. Teaching parents of young females that education, skills uptake and pursuit of employment is a more productive pathway to better livelihoods than marriage can potentially boost formal education uptake during the child’s adolescent years, potentially delaying marriage and child-bearing until the child is of adult age and equipped with the skills necessary to provide for her family through better income-earning opportunities upon marriage. H. Improve Female Safety and Security, and Curb Unsavory Employment Practices 5.24 Whereas reducing poverty and creating more opportunities for girls may essentially reduce disparity, these efforts will not be successful unless and until a safe and secured societal environment is ensured for girls which would ensure their safe mobility and protect them from any and all forms of sexual harassment. Girls, particularly from urban slums, suffer from additional threats to personal security and safety as law and order is enforced in a very limited capacity. Safety commutes plague many adolescent girls (as highlighted in the previous chapter) as reported by the FGD participants, which the GoB must crack down upon with greater intensity; improved law enforcement and regulation, coupled with severe punishments for perpetrators, could potentially make school commutes much safer. 5.25 In-class efforts to train students for reducing the incidence of harassment, teasing and bullying would help foster a more positive, equitable learning environment and potentially boost regular classroom attendance. School curriculum should also be updated to reflect cultural changes in the way female education and empowerment are perceived and understood; this is especially crucial to change male teachers’ and children’s perceptions about the ‘historic’ norms of limited female social mobility. I. Monitoring, Evaluation, Targeting and Tracking. 5.26 Strengthening the national database of children with special education should be scaled up and linked with mainstreaming of special needs education programs to ensure children with special needs are provided with equitable chances for availing education. The APSC has mainstreamed data collection of enrolled children who have special needs at primary level. Unfortunately, primary and secondary databases are difficult to match and cross-check. Moreover, as National Census data is used to identify children at locations, all these information needs to use similar platform and coding mechanism. BBS and BANBEIS can play substantial roles in this regard. 5.27 In absence of a Proper Child Identification Mechanism neither dropped out students can be traced, nor student transition can be tracked. An identification mechanism would also 12 https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/01/huge-step-backwards-child-marriage-bangladesh 41 help to reduce child marriage, multiple counting of students, locating the never enrolled and tackling child trafficking. This identification mechanism should be developed in collaboration of multiple agencies including the Election Commission that manages the National Identity Mechanism and Passport Authority. I. Broadening the Horizon. 5.28 Engaging private schools and madrasas for reaching out-of-school children will broaden the horizon of education access points. As suggested by Ashley (2005), private school outreach in which these schools can go beyond their usual business of providing education to the middle upper classes for fee. They can be encouraged through policies for extending their services by ‘outreach programs’ to provide a free or affordable education to needy out-of-school children in the local area. In a careful review of contribution of madrasas, Asadullah and Chaudhury (2008) conclude that supports to these schools can play important complementary role. Conclusion 5.29 The report has utilized a combination of literature and policy review with quantitative and qualitative research to portray a detailed snapshot of Bangladeshi primary and secondary education through a gender lens. Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in education, achieving gender parity in primary and secondary education through impressive improvements to access to education and student retention. However, several obstacles remain to fully capture the benefits of gender parity; ‘subtle’ disparities in the quantity and quality of education provision and infrastructure curb the country’s potential to adequately match education uptake with decent employment. With a long-term vision of ensuring a decent pathway to the skilled labor market, the report highlights the current success stories of the primary (and secondary) education scenario, and identifies drawbacks to uptake of quality education, particularly for females. The report shows that the initial decision of the households is pretty straight-forward and depends on individual aspiration, financial condition and household characteristics. To a large extent, this means that whereas households with better financial and favorable household characteristics are likely to continue the education of their girls. For the poor households, the decision-making process is far more difficult as their initial aspiration may not translate into actual action due to the negative household level factors. 42 References Asian Development Bank, 2016. “Employment and the Labor Market in Bangladesh: Overview of Trends and Challenges�, ADB Briefs vol. 62. Amin, S. and Chandrasekhar, S., 2012. “Looking Beyond Universal Primary Education: Gender Differences in Time Use among Children in Rural Bangladesh�, Poverty, Gender, and Youth vol. 8: 23-38 BBS, 2015. “Education Household Survey 2014/15 Report�, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Dhaka Bharadwaj, B., Yadav, S.K. and Pal, S., 2012. “Mining Education Data to Predict Student’s Retention: A Comparative Study�, International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, vol. 10(2): 113-117 Bronfenbrenner, U., 1979. “The Ecology of Human Development.�, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Das, M., and Tas, E., 2015. “Gender and Jobs in Bangladesh.� Working paper, World Bank, Washington, DC Field, E. and Ambrus, A., 2008. “Early Marriage, Age of Menarche, and Female Schooling Attainment in Bangladesh.� Journal of Political Economy, 116(5): 881-930 Government of Bangladesh (GoB), 2010. “The National Education Plan�, Ministry of Planning, GoB, Dhaka Government of Bangladesh (GoB), 2014. “The National Student Assessment 2013: Grade 3 and 5�, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, GoB, Dhaka Government of Bangladesh (GoB), 2014. “The Learning Assessment of Secondary Institutions 2013: Public Report�, Ministry of Education, GoB, Dhaka Government of Bangladesh (GoB), 2015. “The Seventh Five Year Plan 2016-2020.�, Ministry of Planning, GoB, Dhaka Government of Bangladesh (GoB), 2016. “The National Student Assessment 2015: Grade 3 and 5�, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, GoB, Dhaka Government of Bangladesh (GoB), 2016. “The Learning Assessment of Secondary Institutions 2015: Public Report�, Ministry of Education, GoB, Dhaka Government of Bangladesh (GoB), 2017. “Annual Primary School Census 2017.�, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, GoB, Dhaka Inoue, K., Gropello, E.D., Taylor, Y.S. and Gresham, J., 2015. “Why Do Sub-Saharan African Youth Drop Out of School?�, Out-of-School Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Policy Perspective, 25-59, World Bank, Washington, DC Latif, S, 2004. “Improvements in the Quality of Primary Education in Bangladesh 1990-2002.�, Unpublished background paper for EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005, UNESCO, New York Mahmud, S. and Amin, S., 2006. “Girls’ Schooling and Marriage in Rural Bangladesh�, Research on the Sociology of Education, vol. 15: 71-99 43 Plan UK, 2013. “Girls’ Learning: Investigating the Classroom Practices that Promote Girls’ Learning.� [Online] Available at: http://www.plan-uk.org/resources/documents/260260. Schurmann, A.T., 2009. “Review of the Bangladesh Female Secondary School Stipend Project Using a Social Exclusion Framework,� Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition vol. 27: 505- 517 Shohel, M. M. C., 2012. “Childhood Poverty and Education in Bangladesh: Policy implications for disadvantaged children�, Working Paper, UNICEF Office of Research, Florence UNICEF, 2014. “Ending Child Marriage: Progress and Prospects�, UNICEF, New York Wodon, Q., Montenegro, C., Nguyen, H., and Onagoruwa, A., 2018. “Missed Opportunities: The High Cost of Not Educating Girls.�, The Cost of Not Educating Girls Note Series, World Bank, Washington, DC World Bank (a), 2017. “Tracking Survey on Graduates of Polytechnics in Bangladesh: Bumpy Transition from Post-Secondary TVET to Employment?�, Working Paper, World Bank, Dhaka World Bank (b), 2018. “Equitable Access to Education for All in Bangladesh: Has the Elephant Left the Room?�, Working Paper, World Bank, Dhaka World Bank (c), 2017. “Jobs Diagnostic Bangladesh�, World Bank, Washington DC 44