31 8 Women in Bangladesh : Their

Role As Educators

Nurun Nahar Kabfr

Contents

FYJi$

1. Eomen in Bangladesh: State of the Art (General feature, characteristics) 1

1.1 Statistical Overview vn htlen and Womt;n in the Society 1

1.2 Men and ‘Ct’omcn’s Role in the Family and Communiticc (Productive, 2 Reproduclion and Communily)

2. Parent’s Role in Raising and Educating Children 7

2.1 hloiivation and ;\spiration 7

2.2 Health and Nutrition Practice and their Relationship with Children’s Education 8

2.3 Relationship behvccn hlnther’a E.ducation and Children’s Perfcxmance

2.4 Parent’s Role as Promoter of Values and Norms

3. Analytical l&view of National Women Polic.ies and Major !n - Going ~h;2fk’S DvVdOI>ITk’Llkt PW#Titkkkkke

3.1

3.2

3.3

Xntionnl %‘omcn’s Poliq

Objectivest Po!icies and Strategies of Education in Various Filre Year Plans

Introduction to hdajor On-going WID Projects in Rangladesh (Coverage, Objectives, Strategies and ;\ctivities )

3.4 Credit, Training and Educational .k tivities and their- Impact okk

Children’s Education. IIealth, Fertility behaviour and Empowerment etc.

3.4.1 Impact of Training and Education on Health

3.4.2 Impact of Savings and Credit ktivities on Children’s Education

3.4.3 Education and Reproductive Health

3.4.4 Women’s Empowermcnl, Parlicipalion in De&ion hkking and Polic\* Planning

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12

14

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20

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4. Role of Distance Education Programme in Advancing Women’s Status

4.1 Scope and At’eas of Leallkitkg

4.2 Achicvcmcnts

5.1 Girl’s Education in Bangladesh

5.1.1 Primary Education

5.1:2 Secondary Education

5.1.3 Stipend Programme for Promotion of Girl’s Participation in Education

5.2 Role of Women Teachers in Promoting Girl’s Participation

5.2.1 Reasons for Recruiting Female Teacher

5.2.2 Polic;ies and Strategies for Elksklrilkg Workktxk’s Participation as Educators

5.2.3 Problems and Prospects

5.3 Curricula

5.3.1 Gender Bias Content

6. Observations and Recommendations 48

7. Conclusion 53

8. References 54

9. Tables 57

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1. Women in Bangiadesh: State-of-the-Art (General feature, characteristicsj

Eilucatiotk is tlke ba&boIkz of atky tkatiork as it etkriclkcs rkational socio-ecotkonkic

and political development. It is essential for all citizens of a county so that they can

understand tlkeir problems, can make decisions and have the capacity to implement them.

The principle architect of any de\relopment plans and activities and the implementers of

these are the men and women of the. c.ountry. Pdwation pro\:ides enormous support to

enable peoples to perform tlkese responsibilities througlk flourishing their inherent

capabilities and qualities. Its help them to utilize fully countiy’s resources and their own

potentialities. But a major problem faced by the developing countries like Bangladesh is

the !Ugh rnle of illiteracy. The nver;Jl literacy rate (7 years and above) in Pnngladeah is

about ,142 per cent (1995). If we look in to the literacy rate of female. it is remarkabl>

low around only . 28 5 (for mnl~ 50.4). The gap of litcracv rates bctwccn urban and rural

areas iy i11su ~-tir~g wide 63 per cerkt in urbatk arcas a:kd otkly 36.6 per cetkt in t-~~kl XNS (fat

&tails see tnblc 1 j.Low cnrolmcnt combined with high dropout rate hinders tlkc growth of

lilcracy rate in Bangladesh. C>i’ the Lola1 population, the school agt: population belween 6-

10 stands at 15.8 million. The present enrolment is 12.4 million. The rest remain quite in

tlke dark of illiteracy. On the other side. a significant portion of t!kem still leave the sclkool

?7efnre completing their fkre years schooling. The primary dropout rate for male and

female at thr: national level are 14.8 aikd 17.2 respectively. The rate is more than double

in rural areas than that in urban areas (for details see Table I).

Tn Rangladesh, due to the natural blessings, more females are conceived and horn

than male and the average female infant mortality rate is lower than that male for male

infxkts. But due to negligence towards female child they become victim nf child mortality

(hl Irk& 9.8 iild for fcfrkidt: 10.8). AS ii CO!kSC~Ut”tkCC, tlke SC:s t&o ilk thti Wilktty iS 105

males against 100 females. hMe’s average lifespan is 58.4 years, about 1.3 years longer

Ilkan that fW iwkales (57.1). Village girls are still kkkarried at an early age (average 17

years). According to Muslim Law of Inheritance dnughtet-s get half of the share of sons.

I

Despite having the iegai claim, in most cases women donot avail themselves of this right

(Westergaard: 1983, Quddus et al. 1985, Kabir 1995).

The above mentioned situation prevails more or less in ail areas of the country. In

Bangladesh, low rate of participation of girls in pfimary education and prevailing high

rate of dropout among them remained for a considerable period in the past as the single

most stumbling block for ac.hicving Univcrsai Primary Education (UPE). In the. rcccnt

past, a nukkiber of &.tkifhkt efhls ikav~ been :kkade by tikc: goveilkakt;nt irk the fionk of

nationalization of more and more number of the primary schools, impicmcntation of

Universal Primary Educalion Programme, increased budge&y allocation and assigning

top priority to primary education in the country’s national plan and policies. Still it has

not been possible to overcome all the problems standing on the way of eradication of

illiteracy from the county;. Currently Bangladesh is extensively engaged in the

formulation and implementation of policies, strategies, plans and programmes for rapid

growth in school enrolment and reduction in dropout rate in order to achieve UPE and

hducation for All (EFA) programmes within the target year.

‘l’his article deals with ac.tion taken mainly by the government of Bangladesh on

primary and secondary education and aims at giving analysis of the status of education of

girls and v;omcn. It also anaiyscs the impact of credit, capital and education of mothc.rs

on lht: health, nuiritiun and literacy of [heir children. The melhods followed in preparing

it includes analysis of various reports and research studies conducted by the government

and various academic institutions. Moreover primaq data on the role of family and

women members in women’s education has heen collected from 60 households in two

villages in Comiiia.

1.2 Mrtr atd Wutttett’s Role in ilte Fatttily and Cottttttuttities (Ptwductive, Reproductive and Communityj

hk ijke traditional Society of Bakk&kdcSh nkalky people stro1kgly believe tikat

women’s rightful and proper place is home. Her duties arc rcstrictcd to the motherhood

and household work. Her mobility should, lhtxel’ore, be reslricted lo homeslead areas.

2

Thus her success in life depends tiiiy on her effective role she plays as a housewife and

as a mother.

Various studies show that socio-economic condition of men and women, their

needs and role differ greatly. Women play productive, reproductive and community role,

but men mostly play productive and c.ommunity roic. The rcproductivc roic comprises

biological reproduclion (child hexing and rexing responsibilities) as well as all other

household chores that require to guarantee the maintenance of household and work force

of the past. present and future.

?he productive role: are those which are done by men and women for payment in

cash or kind. Community work is divided into two: community managing and

~onurlunity yuliiics. COklktIkUkkiiy lkMlkaf$lk~ WXk Wltkpkisd activities voluntarily

undertaken primarily by women to ensure the provision and maintenance of scarce

resources SUdk as lkeattlk care. education, water. etc. 'llkt: coirurrurkity politics role

cotnprises activities mostly undertaken by men at the formal political level. It is usually

paid work which directly or indirectly increases status and power. Patriarchal values and

strict ditrision of labour makes reproductive work as women’s ivork. This also reinforce

women’s productive role as co-bread winner though in low income households women’s

productive work is essential for survival.

Some people also think that primary role of women as mothers and as housewives

can be performed without acquiring necessary knowledge and skill. This idea has

generated from two fundamental thinking. First, all the knowledge and skill necessary for

performing women’s rcproductivc rcsponsibi1itic.s is a continues informal learning

PrOGSs Wikicik OcCUl’S ikk tlkc fa!kkilJ’, ilk ti:C WlkklkkWkitS, by tile IkkOtik~t’S, grand IkkOtik’XS,

mother-in-laws and other rziativcs. Second, tlk,- b existing educational system offcrs very

insigniiicanl skill and knowied.ge LO perl‘orm day-lo-day responsibililit-s ol‘ 11~

households. The penetrating comment hy hlukherjee pin pints thig very well. He said

tklt ‘Girls education a\:oids wit&u&i. mother-craft and rnot!ler-in-law-craft”

(;2lul,lxrjze quoted in ‘T’hxl;erscyl 1971): 31)). GencmJ expectation from the girl is that

3

they would continue higher secondary or higher education to fmd out a suitable husband.

Moreover it is desirable that level of education of wife should be lower than her husband.

Another idea prevalent in the society is that highly educated daughter-in-laws would be

less amenable to adopt norms, values and discipline of her in-laws family. Fathered by

customs: traditional concept, perception and belief some people could not recognise the

role of education in quipping women to play rcproductivc, productive and community

managing and political roles.

Education also opens the way to develop skill and knowledge through training

and informationj thus increases productivity, increased greater participation in

community life and better understanding of the surrounding world and ultimately helps in

climbing the ladder of achieving standard of living.

As women have to bear triple burden such as productive, reproductive and

community managing work they have little chance to work outside with cash income like

men. Moreover their expenditure savings activities such as sewing, rearing of livestock

and poultry birds, carrying water? fuel, cul1 ivatiorj of vegetables for consumption have

not recognised as productive work even though the excess of those production is salable

-21 the market. They also perform their cottage craft, sewing,, embroidery in the house and

sell those by their husband. Due to our &ural barriers and non-available marketing

facilities women have to depend on men to ~11 their .‘production. The sexual division of

labour further perpetuate the structural dependence of women. In Bangladesh women

plays vital role in agricultural production. They are engaged in pre-harvest and post

harvest work like preparation of seed bed, parboiling drying threshing and win.nowing,

cooking for labour. But they perform thcsc works as unpaid or low paid and do it inside

tlke hukkke buUkd:ilieS. That is why tlkeir wurks rcnkaitk itkvisible and are not counted as

productive work in the family as wcli as in the statistics. Contrary to this, men’s works

take tit: i‘orm ol’paid, cash earning work uulsidt: the homesle:a4 rewxded as wagtsy sold

in the market or consumed ;tp, food at home.

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As regards to child care women play almost sole responsibilities. Cleaning of

dotim, bathing, preparation of foods, taking care in their sickness, sending them to

school and helping them in preparing class work etc. performed by the women. Besides,

women play role for teaching values and norms, religious aff‘airs, health prac.tic.e and

cooking. ‘4 study was conducted to see the role of parents in discharging above

mzntioncd rzponsibilitics. It was found that women play 80 per xnt roic: in discharging

this a&vi&s while men play 20 per cenl role in rural areas. One detailed analysis of

daily work profile through PRA in two villages in Corn& has shown that women spend

about 14 hauls in several works. Out of that. post harvest operation consume 35.5 per

cent of female labour time, .32.5 per cent is spenl on household works, 18 per cent on

child care and 14 per cent in livestock care. In lcan season women become involve in

sewing, cmbroidcry and other ncccssa~ works.

The analysis of triple role provides the knowledge base for understanding of the

CMkCept Of $X3WC1‘ l’&ktiOkkS bt?tW~ltk fkktXk arkd WOlkkCfk and tlkeil I’datiVt: r>oSitiotk ilk tikr:

society. The inferior status of women is linked with their traditional role they play in the

family and in the society. Evelyn Sullerot quotes a remark made by Nenophon twenty

four centuries ago: “God created women for the discharge of duties inside the home and

men for all the others”. It emphasises that women should re.main withtil the. home and it

will be for them to “hang about” outside. The French Sociologist shows that this outside

inside contrast in i&t is eyuivaient to a superior-htierior di.stinition”(quoted in Chaband,

1970: 18j.

The subordination of women also reduces their bargaining and decision making

power and their access to and control over rcsourccs. In Bangladesh women in Muslim

c;umtklufiily a% ctktithd to owlkt;ra~kiy and cvntrul uf kind. But ilk tkkost cases they have to

forfeit their right to the share of thz parental property. Furthcrmorc: the)* have no control

over the ma_ior inpuls. draughl power, deep lubewell, credit. training, MiliLers etc;. This

pmvcrlesaness is directly related to women’s limited opportunities to education and

training. In the allocation of‘ household resources such as t’ood, education, health,

nutritinn :vomitn get ffx;cr res;ourccs than men. In a..- ~0 of ctlucation it is the women who

5

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get least resources as it is assumed that their works do not require much education vis a

vis system of education, content, methods do not fulfil them required needs.

However this blocked attitude regarding women’s role has been changing day by

day. During the last few years, public attitude towards female education has changed

considerably. Pooplc in gcncxal now rccognisc that participation of women in

developmenl programmes is crucial for comprehensive and su&inable propess in

human life. In the course of development and changing needs women are equally sharing

the responsibility for the development of society in all aspects. Therefore, besides playing

role of mothers and holLsewives many women are required to shoulder economic

responsibility for the survival of the family. They are iixreasingly adopting the career of

their own for contributing in the family income. Thus they xc not only providing

emotional support and secmitg and pa-f;rnning the responsibility of t;aming, fecditk&,

cieaning and rel;roductive responsibilities many women are now bearing equally with

man the educational expenses of their children. Studies repeatedly show that women’s

earning through credit and employment benefit their children to a large extent. They also

get more health care, enrolhnent in the school, cloths and other benefits (Kabir: 1995,

Khan and et al: 1998).

Imparting education to women is essential even when her duties are restricted to

motherhood and to the family. In the present society, family, the most important social

institution is under going considerable changes. Extended families are broken down,

many people migrate to urban areas from rural areas for getting employment. Increasing

male migation, pove,rty, separation, di~u~c * e: widowhoSd and other phenomena demand a

diffcrcnt and more active, c.onsc.ious participation of women in ali activities. Education

wiruld enable women to yerfonn their responsibilities mure eficiently and satisfactorily.

2. Parent’s Rote in Raising and Educating Children

The motivational level of children is influenced hy the ways they are brought up

in ?he family. If the!: are encouraged to be self-dependent, educated and assertive the

children would develop a high achievement motive. The parents themselves may set

esaiuples of ~elf-cl~peiidW~~. It IiS IXCli found that there is d corelationslkip between

mother’s high achievement, motive and children’s demand for achievement. Children

whose mother hi: high a&icvcmeni moiivc tend to make demands ‘it earlier stage than

do mothers of low achievement Aildrcn. Freedom of thought. expression and action is

very important for high achievement in school pcriormnnoe. ‘Ihis c.nn not generally

flourish under a regimented farnii>~ \l;here parents arc illiterate or under educated.

Educ;aiing women has grcrl~er imporirmce th:m men be~aust: it is 111~ molher who

mould the charncteristiis of her children during the most impressionable years of infancy

and childhood. Parent’s shmulalion, specially molher’s slimulaiiun allracl children

towards education and health? habits. Educated mothers take care of every moments of

their children. They play. with them! buy books and toys for them. When mother play

with them their little muscles do escrciscs. V+?len they give them books and toys tn read

and play with other children the)- become acquainted with external world. Their nerve

connections quietly build up which forms the basis of their later abilities. Laboratory

~‘esswlk o\wm’ed ttk;df lkk~hxki’is~k~d rats developed only 10 per cent of nolnkal

exploratory behaviour. Among humans, a stimulating home background can make a

di.fferenc.e of I!) to 20 per c.ent in intelligence test score. Students who scored up to top

20th position in Sccondaw School Certificate and Higher Secondary School Certificate in .

Danglade.sh in 1938 were intenyiewed by the Journalists. All of them replied that one of

the major reasons for their success was their parent’s, specially mother’s aspirations and

stimulations. Study conducted in Jamaica observed that malnourished children with

stimulating home back_ground scored slightly better than well fed children from a non-

stimill:iting Iintne F.ven rrtimlllation cnn play niorc important role in developing

intelligence than good h:al!h care. Illitcratc and under educated women from poor

7

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households usuaily do not realize the above mentioned aspects. They generally harass

their children in front of others. They are unwilling and incapable of giving books and

toys to the children. And they do not realize the importance of playing with the children.

2.2 Health and Nutrition Practice and Their Relationship with Children’s Education

Health and educaiion go hand in hand. Malnulrilion is one of the major reason for

which poor fare so badly from education race. The malnourished child’s school

performance is handicapped by herihis ill health. She will be more susceptible to disease

and lose more time through absence. Even s/he may have to take time off for taking care

if any family member becomes sick. In many cases daughters are stopped fi-om going to

school due to their health care responsibility in the house.

The performance of the child is handicapped by her/his parent’s poverty. Poverty

prevent many able children f?om reaching their educational potential. And in this way

human talent are wasted. In other words it is called ‘internal brain drain’ of poor

households. Pcvclopmcnt economists Scbatian Pincra and Marcclo Sclowsky have

calculatttd that this ‘brain drain’ reduces Lhe economic contribution of educalional

systems. And if educational opportunities could be increased, the value of education’s

contribution to economic development could increased from 26 per cent to 145 per cent.

This brain drain and less intelligence start even from mother’s womb. Tlliterate poor

mothers neither have knowledge on pre and post natal health and nutritional care nor

have ability to effort required nutritious food.

The most tragic part of the poor households is that in most cases these children

have poor caliber and less intelligence than their rich classmates. Yerf&nance tests

conducted in primary schools in Comilla, Bangladesh show that children in rich and

cducatcd parent’s households scored from 9 to 24 pcrccntagc points more than those from

poor and illiiaratt: households, and urban children 3 LO 20 poiniv more than rural ones.

Large poor households dragged down the scores even f&her (Field Study by BCS

Groups, 1993).

At present impact of education has been measured on the whole fabric of

development; economic, social, health and nutrition and fertility control. In fact education

provides necessary conditions for development. It increases income and income along

with knowledge and skill (which comes from education) provides food and nutrition,

ensure shelter: make people able to afford health , water and sanitation services. All these

togcthcr rcduccs fertility and dccrcascs mortality and discascs, incrcascs productivity and

earnings improws nuiriiiunrtl con&lion and ensure parlkipalion in decision making.

Chart Impact of Women's Education in Improving Socio-Economic

Condition of the Family Members.

I (a> Mobility and Exposure I

Women’s education is more related to the health, nutrition and fertility choice of

the family. An educated mother earns more than her uneducated sister. There is ample

evidences that children of educated mothers go to better school, leaves in healthy

atmosphere. Higher the level of education of mother-‘better the chance for the family

member in getting good health care, balanced and nutritious food, healthy habits. An

cducatcd mother ncvcr ncglccts any health hazards, she takes family mcmbcrs for

treatmeni in lime, mainlains charl of the babies growth, weight loses clti. She is more

informed about the latest health facilities available in the world now. A study in Comiila

showed educated mother completed all doses of EPI in time thus reduces infant and child

mortality rate and risk of communicable and harmful diseases. Dreze and Sen stated that

‘Education is not only of direct importance to living (for example, in broadening a

person’s horizon of perception and &roughs) it can also influence the conversion of

income into nutritional capabilities’ (1989: 262).

A study in the Philippines ftiund positive correlation between mother’s yeass of

schooling and child’s weight for age. A study in India and Nepal observed that illiterate

or less educated mothers had under or malnourishid children. -4 signiticant linear

relationship was also observed between child’s mortality and years of schooling in

several South Asian countries (Sastry and Subbalakshmi, 1994: 155). Impact evaluation

study of Major On-going WI3 Projects (GOs and NGGsj on Women in Bangladesh

observed that women need a certain level of education below which effect of education

may not be very significant. Another study conducted by BARD on Impact of Non

formal Education on Women found that illiterate women hut having non formal

education have knowledge about children’s education, health and nutrition than illiterate

women having no non formal education. On the other hand women who have education

upto pimary or sccondaiy level but have less ktkowledge olk tlke above lkkt.lktiOlked issues

have less child sun;ival than with similar lcvcl of education having NFE. Thcsc studies

also observed lhal “lilt; el.Iecl oi’molher’s educalion on child survival increases as Ihe age

of the mother increases, as she gains experience in nourishing children” (Khan et al,

1998. Tilak, 1994: 155).

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These fmdings disclosed three distinct fealures of women’s education, firstly

formal education often lack life experience and reproductive activities. Secondly, women

learn more from non formal and informal sources and thirdly women’s sources of

knowledge on reproductive, practical and useful knowledge are the family members, their

mothers, mother-in-law and relatives. These findings also remind us to undertake !wo

mcasurcs regarding women’s cclucation. &‘c need to incorporate lift skill in formal

educaiion and need lo imxasc knowledge of aged women Ihrough NFE so that they

would be able to guide their dauglkters and daughter-in-laws properly.

2.3 Relationship Retween I\Mhw’s Education and Chiidrcn’s Pwfnrmance

Every family has a SC! of idcns ahnut what filmily members are suppose to

believe lirid 110w they slkuuld aLt ~ll~ou! . Tlkt: childk~ekk are taught these ideology akkd roles

verbally and consciously by parental instructions arkd guidance. Irk this learning process

sex plays ilkk~,CN!:llkt role. 130th frkcfk and women are expected to thirrk aikd belkave

differently. Therefore parents teach different activities to their sons and daughters . As a

result their per%xmance also dtiers from one sex to another. Goldbery and Lewis in their

study of early child behaviour hypothcsize that “in the ftrst year or two7 the parents

reinforce those behaviours they consider sex role appropriate and the child learns these

sex-role bclkaviours irkdepcndent of any irktemal motives”. (1992: XI-33 j.

Ln our sociee mothers are found to handle their daughters more than Iheir sons.

r)3lJghtCtY tended to stay closer to their tnothers, play in the home, dependant on their

mothers while b0J-s tended to go out with their fathers. Boys show more independence

and cxploratok> bclkaviour, to 1~ more vigorous and run outside and talk shou!cclly. Boys

and gills in uuk suLi+ a?rt’ given drusscs uf di.Cfulcrkt W a~lors aJkd difhwkt tilys. Girls are

always scvcrcly rcprimandcd for noisy and loud voice and bolsters behaviour. Parents arc

less cakecltil ahoui the perl’okmanct: of‘ lheir dau_ghlers lhan that 01’ (heir sons. They are

worrirtl ;dwn~ their sons more if they see inadequate performance in the school. athletic

inndqu;~~~ic~, ~hi!,!ifll !vha~kwr. cxitability etc. in !hrir vns. ..I.no!hcr ~!udy tixmd that

pnrents \3luc m;~lIcd:ility. coopcr~!i:~e nttitudc :mtl v;illinpe:;x to tnkr directicms hut

--___. -. - -. -_ _._-

disapprove assertiveness and yuarreisomeness in girls. In boys, independence,

assertiveness and inquisitiveness are valued; timidity and fearfulness are disapproved

(Amundsen, I 97 1 :116-7). These encouraging factors and early independence training

allow a boy to explore and solve problems on his own and it is conducive to the

development of his ability and potentiality. On the other hand discouraging factors and

ovcrprotcction most girl rcccivc seems to result in intcllcctual diffcrcnxs and

perfokmance between boys and girls.

At present an educated parents realise the importance of equal performance of

boys and girls. They differentiate less in providing apportunities in career building of

girls and boys. Thus they allow girls to explore and solve problems on their own to some

extent. Howcvcr, they still make ciiscrimination against girl in setting expected behaviour

iukd attitude. Dauglkiers are rkot allowed to go outside at rkiglkt, iheir clkoice of career is

governed by the wislk of parenis. Tlkus education of parents, as well as their attitudinal

clkatkge are two inkportatkt factors itk providing opporturkities to tlkeir children.

2..4 Parent’s Role as Promoter of Values and Norms

The personality, attitude and behaviour of a child commence their formation long

before a clkild is admitted to a fokmal school. The intker subjective self, concept

formation, consciousness, feelings, moral reasoning, are therefore, heavily influenced by

its surroundings since its birth and much of it even in mothers womb. In the later case it

is the mother who’s thinking, eating, attitude and belief govern her child in her womb.

Thus the duty of a mother as a teacher started before she gave births. Then the child

cross h.is.4kc.r infancy, baby hood, childhood, adolcsccncc period. Thcsc stages arc the

fourkdatiotk age for atk itkdividual’s life spark. Because at tikese stages tlkeir attitude,

emotional cxprcssion, personal liking and disliking arc cstablishcd with the attention,

all&lion guidance of their parenl. The socio-economic condition, allilude and behaviour,

believes and prejudices, food habits and knowledge of hygiene of the parents influence

directly on the life and development of the child.

12

Family is called a ‘lying in room’ of education. A mother is the teacher of that

room. The lcnowiedge and sliili acquired as a part of the family education is clearly

instrumental for forming personality and character of the children. It largely shapes

individual’s interaction with the surrounding world. Family is also an important agent of

sociaiization, with a vital role in shaping norms, values, attitudes and opinions. These

cognitive, attitudinal and socio- economic charac*tcristics acquired during the ‘formative

period mainly under mothers guidance and assistance have strong inlluence on child’s

live. The process of learning bolster the child’s feeling of effkcacy, open’s up economic

opportunities. shapes his/her productive and reproductive roles. In Bangladesh most of

the people work in the informal sector. that their family works. And most of them have

no formal training for this work. The family works as training center where parents and

other family members work as a trainers.

As mentioned earlier chapter that a stud~r has been conducted to see the role of

yiUWktS, SyeCidlJ’ tkkdikWs. bdlOWiIk~ fi.lkdiIkgY k’db.Xt tlke role Cd yXetktS itk f0lItkiIk~

attitudes, norms. values of the children (see Fig. 1).

It was found that mothers played prime role in forming attitude: values and

norms. Father worked mostly as a manager. There is a clear division in the learning

issues. Giris were tauglkt to learn reproductive responsibilities and feminine

characteristics such as t&e care of children and sicli, extend their help to family chores .

They are advised to be modest. polite and decent and not to be stings, obstinate and

hashfirl. On the other hnnd boys are encouraged to be brave, a%sertive;, independent and

inquisitive.

Tikis study otwzk-ved tlkrrt tikusc Faukiiies wcrc mukz aware about tikeir clkiidrcxk’s

education whcrc parents spcciaiiy mothers arc cducatcd. It was found that whcrc mothers

were iili~erale mosl of’ Iheir children’s specially daughlers were also illilerale. The

number of literate children has been found tn lx increased with the increase in the level

of’ cdw:n!l!?n o!’ lhe parcut’;. Ahout I? and 57 per cent literate chilclren Ikix*c come

-.^- -..- l___““_“^ ._---- -.- -

respectively from those households where mother and fathers were literate upto primary

and secondary level (see Fig. 2.).

In case of health education to their children it was found that 95 per cent mothers

played a vital role. On the other hand 60 per cent fathers were not aware about their role

in giving hcaith education to their children. Ail the mothers wcrc found to give more

imporLmce on the religious and ethical deveiopmeni of their children while 70 per cenl

fathers taught their children on this. IIowever, fathers played a vital role in promoting

social and civic responsibility among their children. About 75 per cent fathers taught

these responsibilities to their children while 55 per cent mothers opined that they were

not performing these responsibilities.

The fitkdikk@ of tikC study SikOW tikat tlke akklkuai i.tkLXXkk~ Of the fankiiy i~kcr&-iSes

with the level of education of the husbands and wives. The average annual income of the

f&rkkiiy is only ‘i‘k. 35400 wlkerr: batik ikusband alkd wife were illiterate. ‘lhc average family

income was Tk. 38760 where wife was illiterate but husband was literate upto primary

level. But the level of income was found higher where both husband and wife were

literate upto primary and secondary levels. The level of income of these two groups were

Tk. 54700 and 66600 respectively per annum (for details see Table 9).

3. Analytical Review of National Women Policies and hhjor On-Going Women’s Development Programme

3.1 National Women’s Policy

ln March 1997 the government of Bangladesh announced its National Women’s

Policies. The major policies related to women’s education are given below:

P Eslabiish qualily between men and women

s Develop women as educated and skilled human resources

s Innovate and import technologies in keeping with women’s interest

8 Build a positive image of women and girl children on the mass-media.

14

I

.

Follow an active and clear policy for promoting women’s education, elimbathig

discriminations in rate of literacy and opportunities for education between men and

women and involving women in the mainstream of development

Make an all-out efftir-1 to remove illiteracy by the next ten years, give most emphasis

on education and training of girl children and women in particular

Set up a primaq school in onch village of Bnngladcsh

Make educ;ation up lo lZth ~1x3s free fur girls

Initiate and strengthen formal and non-fotmnl education and training programmes

for women in order to achieve substantial development and continued economic

growth

Ensure equn! rights for women and girl childrcn in education, remove all inequalities

in all sphcrcs of edwn tion, mnkc cdwxtinn univzrsnl

R~trww illiiorsc\i inc;lutIit~g Idising 1’:1t~ of (;nidt:k~.t~t. tskc mt’3surL;s for wtention of

girls

Incorporate gender equality in the curricula at all Icvels tu create opportunities for

education throughout their lives

Give women equal opportunities to take part in training programmes to enhanc.e skill

Determine sector4 and time based targets of the existing policies keeping females in

mind

Undertake special programmes with a view to increasing women’s participation in

all spheres including technological and higher education (M\VCA).

Inst.itetiona! Arrangements and Strategies

Following stratcgks hsvc been undxtakcn for implcmcntation and monitoring the

puli~~ in to ac;ticzn.

Establishment of’ Institutional Set-up lor Women’s Develupmeni

Fstrddishrnent of Kational Women’s lkvelopment (‘ouncil

Formntion d’ Parliamcnt;l!y~ Committee

Scttinp UiT F:.xal Point of !\‘nmen’s l3e-,~elopment

15

. “ - - . _- . I __ . l - “ ” “ _ . . - -

ei Formation of Women’s Development Implementation and Evaluation Committee

0 Cooperation with NWs and social organisations for women’s development

!a Research on women and gender equality

h) Setting up women’s development training institute

9 Arrangement of financing.

3.2 Bbjeciiues, Policies and Shlegies of Education in Various Five Year Plans

In the ancient times and the middle ages education system in Indian subcontinent

was predominantly theological and philosophical in approach. The Rritish for the first

time introduced and implemented modern education system. The Bengal Primary

Education Act was passed in 1930 and was amended in 1351. Tn 1347, soon after the

partition a resolution was made at the National Education Conference to make primary

education universal, compulsory and free. During Pakistan period, an Education

Commission was set up and there was increased allocations for the development of

primary education. After the independence of the country the constitution for the fust

time included that primary education was the responsibility of the state. The provisions

were made to:

I.

II.

III.

Develop and nurture the child’s moral, mental and social personality.

Bring up the child as a patriotic, responsible, inquiring and law-abiding citizen,

and develop in him/her a love for justice, dignity, labour, proper conduct and

uprightness.

Learn to read and write in the mother tongue, and to be able to count and

calculate, to bc. able to acquire the fimdamcntal knowlcdgc and tcchniqucs nccdcd

for a citizen.

Realising the importance of‘ primary educalion and acknowledging fundamental

rights of the people to education the Education Commission 1974 outlined the following

recommendations for the development of primary education and set the following

objective to achieve:

16

___ .------- .- ._-....___ .~ ..“...

0 IJniversal Primary Education upto Class VIII;

u Attract a greater number of female students, appoint female teazhers at the primary

level and if needed, to build girls’ schools;

6a Implementation of Compulsory Primary Education and extension of Primary

education upto Class-VIII;

0 Adopt strict measures for prevention of dropouts. IXstablish an attractive curriculum

and proper environment in scl~ools;

c] Introduction of an unikwm s)*stcm of cdtwation that must bc sckntific, realistic, and

cumpaiibk with swial cordititn~s 4 titlvi~r!nmclk4 needs;

q introduction of pre-primary education;

OE-. xpnnsiw of ilrc k:acllvl’-il ainin, 11 sysletq d~~~lvptrkt~l 0P appwpri;~tr tcsl-lwoks;

0 Settine up a Ptimary Education Academy and a National Primary Education Ronrd.

The Fkt Five Y car Plan of Ranglndesh put stress on training of teachers;

enrolment of students, reduction of dropouts. Ii also intro&wed iivo shifts in existing

schools. The signittcant aspecis of the Second Five Year Plan \vas international

investment on primary education. Creation of 500 posts of female teachers (educated

upto Class \fIII): and the post of‘ Assistant Thana Education Ofker (ATEO), supply of

Gee books to the students and finniture and educational materials to the sc.hools. ‘Ike

added component of Third Five Year Plan was to enhance the quality of education

through ad\:anccd training, inspection and managcmcnt, rcvicwing, rcstrwhkng and

revising UT curriculr~ and s)~llrrbus and developing hkinagemenl Inlknalion System

(MIS j.

The Fourth Five ‘i-ear Plan put pat&t importance to the role of Primary

education and mass education. Education was identified as crucial for the development

of human resources . In 1312 a new Gwwnment Pivisinn - The Primary and h1ass

Edu~ativn Tk~isiun - Wits srsntcd fh strc!lgthenillg the primal?- edwation strL.KtUre.

PliTllill~~ t3luc;lIicn \Va!i matic cc~tn~~UiS0~. In 1330 Ihi: Primar~~ Educalioti (~ompulsot~j

AC L i\‘ilS 1USSCd.

17

3.3 Introduction to Major On-going WI3 Projects in Bangladesh (Coverage, Objectives, Strategies and Activities )

In Bangladesh Government Grganisations(GOs) and several hundreds of non-

govenunent orgarkisations(lYCiOs) are working filr the development of the womenfolk. in

this report activities of two GOs and two NGOs have been discussed to see the impact of

their programme on girls and women’s advancement.

Government Organisations(GOs)

&UXD: Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development conducted several

programmes for the women since 1962. The objective of the programme was to bring

about a functional emancipation of the rural women through package interventions for

ensuing their active participation in development. BARD organised 711 women in 12

villages under 2 thanas of Comilla district under its &‘omcn’s Education, Inzomc and

Nut&ion Improvement Project since 1990. They accumulated Tk. 7.57 lakh as their

capital up to June 1996. The total credit disbursed during this period was Tk. 20.26 lakh.

The recovery rate was 96 per cenl.. Tht: Comprehensive Village Devclopmenl Programme

of BARD has been experimenting since 1989 in 40 villages in four thanas of three

districts under three divisions. In total, 4967 females members of the programme

accumulated Tk. 35.05 lakh as capital since 1996. The credit disbursed by this time was

Tk. 89.34 lakh with 95 per cent recovery rate.

BRI)B: Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) is the largest public

sector organisation working for emancipation of rural poor specially women form abject

poverty _ Integrated Kural Women’s Development Yro@amme (1KWDP) is one of the

largest programme of BRDB which is being implemented in 130 Thanas under 50

distric.ts since 19?5. It is playing an important role for arresting high population growth,

boosling produclion and ensuring better quality of life for Ihe people Ihrough aclivt: and

effective participation of women. As of June 1996 the total groups formed was 5626 with

the membership of 1.99 lakh. The cumulative savings in this period rose to Th= 738.54

18

lakh. The cumulative credit disbursed by this time was TIC 5277.64 lakh and the recovery

rate was 91 per cent.

Rural L,eve!opment Project-I2 was been !unched in IY8Y under HIWL! with the

objectives of improving the socio economic quality of life of the landless/ assetless

households throlngh produotivc economic acti\:itics and creating self zmploycd

opportunities. To14 number UT women groups formed since imxplion up lo June 1996

was 11772 while totai number of membership was 3.25 lakh. They accumulated Tk.

1577.581akhs. Cumulative credit disbursed by this time was TIC. 29292.77 lakhs with 93

percent recovery rate.

RRAC: B,angladcsh Rural Advancement Committee (RRAC) implement a

number iA multi sectiml Wq,riimnc Kuxal L)evelopment Yrogrankmr (NW) is its one

of the major programmes started in 1986 aiming at alleviation of poverty and

empowerment of the poor. It is operating in 185 thanas under 50 districts The

membership increased to 12.19 lakhs with 8:013 Lillage organisations. Gross saving of

the members were 3989.43 l&h. In total TIC 303.55 c.rore was disbursed among them as

credit. The repayment rate was 95 per cent.

Proshika: with its aim to liberate poor women and to eliminate the gender

inequality from the society it slartcd Integrating hlulti-Sectoral 1i70men’s Pevelopmcnt

Programme in 1, 8,. o 3 It is operating in l-10 thanas under 46 districts. Up to June 1996,

total number of women groups was i- 78330 with the total members of 1.84 lakh. Amount

of cumulative credit provided to the members was ‘IX. 2214 million. ‘11~ recovery rate

was 98 per cenr.

3.4 Credit, Training and Educational Activities and Their Impact on Children’s Education, Health, Fertility Behaviour and Jhpowerment

3.4.1 Impact of Training and Education on Health

All these programmes conducted huge training and Non-Formal Education (NFE)

for their members and for the village representatives (VR). The VRs and trained members

disseminated their knowledge, skill and tiormation to the members through weekly

meetings. This paper look into the fmdings of various studies on these programmes to

see the impact of trainins NFE and c.redit on education, health and nutrition of the

children of these members (both literate and illiteratej.

Due to lack of information and knowledge, mothers even avoid many available

mrtritious but less expensive foods both during pregnancy and lactating periods, As a

consequence they give birth to under-weight, immatured, malnourished children. The fate

of these children are again sealed during his/her fmt five years of life when they are

neglected and become under-nourished due to poverty of money, of knowledge and of

education. In fact it is not genetic or hereditary, rather it is the hereditary environment for

which malnourished children from poor households become under previlized group, lag

behind from their rich and urban classmates.

Khan et al (1998) in their study on the Impact “of Major On going WD Projects

on Women Development found that literate mothers received and applied the information

and knowledge more accurately. And there is a positive relationship between mother’s

education and child health, and survival rate. In case of the number of child ever born

(CEB), living and dead children per literate mother was 3.9: 3.6 and 0.25 respectively as

against 3.9, 3.3 and 0.53 per illitcratc mother. It was also found that higher the 1~~1 of

education tht; lower the CEB and dead children (P.92)

Sludies liom diverse selting and periods revealed that the addressing ma1

nutrition of chiidren depends on package programmes which consists af income,

education, health habits of mother, access to drinking water and sanitation, protection

from communicable diseases and proper care during and after illness. The members of

20

the studied projects were given non-formal education and training on the above issues. It

was found that the nutritional status of the under-5 children of the members was much

better than the national average. According to Gomez classification for the nutritional

status at national level was 62, 39.8, 47.2 and 6.8 per c.ent respectively for normal, mild,

moderate and severe under-weight children. From a total household of 345 (who have at

lcast one children under-5) in 39 villages under 23 thanas in 12 distric.ts, 393 ohilclrcn

were selected for measuring weighl. The prevalence of normal, mild moderate and severe

children for the study villages were 22.3, 32.3, 29.1 and 16.3 per cent respectively. The

key reasons for high profile of nutritional status in the study areas were mother’s formal

and non formnl txlucationr family income through credit and health and nutritional

Iaow1edg.e of the mothers (I bid 45 - 6).

Cxr:ss regic:l;iki siudius ark Malaysia, B;u~gladeslk, hkdofkesia, Itkdia and Pa&talk

have reported an inverse relationship between educniion and infant and child mortalit)

rates. hk L~angl!l;~dcslk number of child survival ilkcreases witlk the irkcreases irk nkotlker’s

literacy ( Khan 1979, Kabir 1996: Kabir and et al forth coming). Tn India 87 per cent mal-

nourished children have illiterate mothers. In Bangladesh most of the malnourished

children had illiterate mothers (Tilak 1994, Kabir 1995). And there is an inverse

relationship between fertility and infant and child mortality. Parents take several child

when they see their children are not alive. On the con&q they prefer less children when

they see that their children are alive.

One 4tkldy in Nepal nhscrved that ” average schooling of mothers whose children

were mAnourished was only 0.3 years compared to two years of schooling of mothers of

well-nourished chilclri:n c.vcn Fvhcn the mnlnourishcd children’s father had higher lcvcls

of sdkdifkg ( fuut yxr~)“, (I bid, 1994:15?). This ikktlicatcs tlkat tkkotlkt;r’s hclkooling is

more important than father’s schooling.

3.42 Impact of Savings and Credit Activities on Children’s Education

Analysis of credit and saving show that a significant number of credit specially

saving of women has been using for buying land, construc.tion or repairing of house,

sinking of tubewell and sanitary latrine. One may fmd it as unproductive investment of

savings and credit. But if wz look into the question of sczurity and the provision of

healthy living and working atmosphere [hen we can see that investment of credit in the

above sector help us in many ways. l3etter house provide educational opportunity

through arranging room for living and reading. Sinking of tubewell reduces the women’s

and girl’s workload and time of caring water from distance places. As a result they can EC-I

to school. Sanitation is essential for good health. And good health is necessary for

education.

Findings of the study also show that credit allow women to increase their

productivity and income. ‘l’he most benefited person in their family is the children. A

significant number of respondent opined that it was not possible for them to maintain the

cost of education of health and clothes of their children without the help of their wives

which they derived from IGAs through credit.

3.4.3 Education aud Reproductive Health

Reproductive health has been defmed as a state of complete physical, mental and

social well beitkg (ICYL)). As discussed earlier that reproductive activities is almost the

sole responsibilities of women. They bear and rear the child. But in general they have

least choice in determining their number of children. In this case this report looks into

the aspects of whether education (both formal and non-formal) and income empowered

women in playiig role in fertility decisions. State of W’orld Population Report 1994

mentioned that “empowering women is the key to solve population problems”~&JE~PA:

1994). Women’s level of education, their contribution to household income and

household activities and other qualities are the determining factors in raising their status

and power of de&ion making. World Bank (1993) conducted a cross national study (72

countries) with various equations and they separated different variable such as male’s

22

education, income and services with fertility behaviour. Findings of this study show that

f&ale’s education influences iu reducing child mortality through better use of available

facilities and the parents’ especially, mother’s knowledge of hygiene, sanitation and

health care. Doubling females secondary education would have lowered births by 29 per

cent (,Subbarao and Raney, 1933: 4 and 37).

Educalion is 3 symbol of clxq slatus and prestige. A large number of studies

have documented the relationship between women’s status and fertiliv behaviour.

Education improves the quality of life of a woman by enabling informed choice,

providing esposure to new value and attitudes that promote personal and social

development. The potentialit>. of biological supply of birth, c get reduced because of late

ages of marriage that is fclvcr ycnrs of csposrac to pregnancy. An educated lvomen

I>tSutk:t: awaru uf ilkc II& fol &cking populatiun $~~\cth. SlkC lkilj: bcticr undeistanditkg

with her huslx~~~d. This woman is called ‘forcrumker’ . Slke can foresee the future of her

ClkildrtSlk. ‘l‘lkus sikc licyt lker falkkily size srrkaller to give better opportunities to he1

children. She is also careful about her personal health. In general educated women mat-t-y

a person wlko is more educated than her. In this case not only the woman but also the

husband’s efforts has been used to check population growth and to ma!:e practice of

planned family life.

However, education may increase fertiiity. Due to better health, chances of

fertility and higher probabilities of conceiving increase. Studies in some Asian countries

show that ethXtiOkk inc.renses fertility. c)n aver;ige, 4 -- 6 years of primary dlOOhg is

found to increase in fertility by 0.6 in Bangladesh, 0.2 in Indonesia, 0.4 irk Mepal and 0.8

in ths Philippin c compare to no schooling (Tilak, 19?4:161). Rcccnt data in 18 countries

it1 ,4si;i 511~1% llkdt rtztilitj, is lakiversall~~ curxlaicd \Yith education.

training and it is also interesting that the dominancy by the husband regarding the

contraception is gradually decreasing in Bangladesh. The number of couples made the

decision together are out-numbered by the decision taken solely by the husband (I bid:

110).

3.44 IWomen’s Empowerment, Participation in Decision Making and Policy Planning

_.^ .:- - Ed-ucation is the prime avenue for ernpoheruLg -women, with 1liCKC education

Women have greater access to employment and increased ability to secure their own

economic resources. Financial benefits of women’s active involvement in IGAs clearly

outweighs possible drawbacks, make her able to contribute in family income, more

importantly secure education and health care of her children. Access to credit enhances

their income earning opportunities, increase their ability to contribute in family income.

Various studies rcvcal that dcspitc women’s vital role in family income, women have

been marginalized in the decision making process at the household level. But cases where

the fcmalc mcmbcr is cducatcd and carncd money she is often consulted and she holds

higher degree ol‘ decision making capacity. Education plays a crucial role Ior

strengthening women’s confidence to play more visible role. Tn the educated family,

decisions are mostly taken jointly. This is the advantage of literacy of male. An educated

man is more open to allow women’s participation in decision making process at the

household level. As women have gained knowledge, information and skill through

education, their feeling of self worth increases, their level of confidence increases and

they gain necessary knowledge to take a more strong stand and acquire more bargaining

power.

At present the core concept of development-. is empowerment of powerless,

disadvantagccl section of p~oplc. Empowcrmcnt has been dcfmcd “ as the process of

challenging existing power r&lion and 01 gaining greater control over Lht: sources 01

power” (Rahman quoted in Ostergaard). According to Ostergaard (1992), “Empowerment

of women can be defined as increasing women’s control over choices in their lives. It

seeks to increase their self-reliance and self-confidence, so they will become more active

players in the society”.

l&&ion making is considered as an most irnportnnt indicator of measuring

empowerment. \170men’s education: income: access to resources increases their status

and position. The outcome of thcsc’ is gcncrally seen in their ciccision making power.

In conceptuaiizing woincn’s status and autonomy three dimensions of inequality:

in prestige. m power and in access to and control over resources are commonly

considered as major concern. Tt has been observed that education provide women with a

power base. the autonomies of knowledge and information that lead to opportunity to

work, to incrcxsc cnrning income and ability to cnntrol over income and decision making

POWCS.

One trr;tiot’ aspect ot power is political participation. it incseascs WcJllltm’B

mobility: create awareness about her surrounding world, increases managerial and

!eadership cnpabilitv and decision making power. l?ealizing these the Government of

Bangladesh protides structural conditions by keeping three seats reserved for direct

partic.ipation of women in electoral proc.ess. In the Union Parishad election three seats

have been kepi reserved for women where competition has been held among the women

members. ln the last election about 15CWl women competed for about 14UUO seats and

they for the first time were elected as people’s representatives. This forced them to make

accountable to their people, because people’s mandate is their sources of power for their

capacity building and skill development. This has transformed the structure and

institutions in the political ficlcl which rcinforcc and pcrpctuatc gcndcr inequality in the

pulific;al ~ICIS. It challenges the basic power relation in our society. These plivilized

women can contribute to the cmpowcrmcnt of poor pcoplz by being a model of

developmeni. They wenl nook and comer 01’ Lht: villages i’ur seeking volt: and this was

helpf~~i for their tr, gain knowied~e and information on needs, problems and demands of

the \.illn~~. ~pccinll!. r!!’ the womcnfi!lk. That’s ~vh; n~v Ihe!, nr’c lountl t!! bargain wi!b

the members and chairperson of the Union Parishad (local bodyj for getting equal status

alld responsibilities.

It is very dificult to establish a direct relationship of empowerment with other

variable like education, income: etc. Because these variables are interrelated and depend

on each other. Socio-economic. stahts of the family plays important role in ensuring

women’s partic;ipalion in decision making process. In order lo analyse the relationship

between the socio-economic status of women and decision making power, educational

attainment, income, occupation land ownership: use of contraceptive were considered as

socio economic status in several studies. The findings of relationship of income earnings

and decision making show that in general decisions were shared with men. More of these

decisions were confined in domestic matters, agricultural production and financial

~natters. Womm extxtcxl the greatesi influence in mrriters relating to domestic chores,

disciplined bchaviors of daughters and daughters-in-laws. Decision making pattern is

more egalitarian in families where women are educated earn income and undergo

training.

Education has long been recognised as the key to socio economic development

process. Its open up economic. and social independence and leads to increase one’s power

to participate in decision making process. However the degree of power depends on the

level of education. Begum and Biswas (1998) found that primaiy level of education of

women could not play substantive role in decision making process. It starts at secondary

level They also found positive relationship of both personal income of women and

annual income of households with decision making. Other study also observed that

women’s involvcmcnt in IGAs, cmploymcnt provides them mom control and mom

autonomy over important decisions in the family (Shuler and Hashemi, 1994, Kabir,

(1995).

Mobility is another important factor in increasing empowerment. Education

reinforces parents to allow their girls to go to educational institutes and institute itself

provides opportunities to tall; with and to do necessary activities such as buying books,

pens, going to bank, lending books from one another, discussion about social events,

Radio, ‘1-V programmes etc. Girls get many social inputs through this which enhance their

knowledge and ability. This knowledge and ability work as an weapon to empower

women through increasing self-re1ianc.e and c.onfidence.

Hole of Distance Education Programme in Advancing Women’s Development Programme

4.1 Scope and ..lreas of Learning

B~igidd (.)pen L~nivcrsity came into esistcnie on XI* Oztohcr, 19~x2 thxlgh

the Bangladesh @en Llniversity Act 1992 passed by the Parliament. It has ushered a new

approach to education in the country. In this app’nnch~ etluan tinn is no longer is talcher-

centred, it is now student-centred. It is the only uni\lersity in the county; to enable one to

study at secondary and higher l~\:cls staying at home. Thi: Open LTnivcrsiQ* offers the

oppvrtunity to study at any timr: and age, in afy subject to one’s liking and at one’s own

speed.

Tn case of other university, one is required to got to the campus to pt admission

and aHend classes. But Bangladesh Open University has come c.lose to one’s home. It

proT,ider, hetter oppnrtunities for women, they can learn by sitting in their home and

without disturbhlg their household’s responsibilities. It has 10 regional centres and 80

iocal centres all over the country. Admission to any set semester is possible through any

centre in the country. The text-books of Upen University are carefully written by experts

keeping in mind the need of the students and those are sent to them. In addition,

educative programmes arc broadcast on radio and ‘1’V in which renowned teachers of- the

country give e as>’ lessons on contents of the syllabus. The students can also collect

c.asscttc:; of thcsc broadcast or can watch them in the ncarcst regional ccntrc libraries. The

uni\wsil) 1~;s alsu tutorial centres to guide the student in their sludies and give km 11x

pleasure of gstting lsssons in the classroom. Selected teac.hers take classes in their centres

evcr\T month. It has a plan to npl)l~. a multi-media cducntion system through introduction

nf intcrnet r:cstntnunic;ltion anti tcle-c.~)nlmuniz;Iti[~ns \frith the regional ccntrw postal

27

communication, radio and TV programmes and use of audio-video cassettes. Besides

fbk-ma1 education, the University also offers non-formal education through different

channels including radio and TV with a view to making people aware in different ways.

To make the vast majority of people speciaily the women and disadvantaged

group cduc.atccl and aware, the University has introduced a diffcrcnt and altcmativc

approach to education in the c;ountry. The courses started from secondary (&US LX and

Xj to MDA. There are provision of getting certificate courses on primary teacher’s

training, secondary school teacher’s training. One can also complete skill development

courses like nursing> English languagej livestock, poultry and fishing. These courses are

mostly job-oriented. Therefore guardian are motivated to allow their daughters to

complete the courses. On average, 46 per cent of the students in these courses are female.

Tlke UnivekYity wih start si@ificant rkuikkber of fomkal rukd rkon-fomkal programmes

through six academic schools by 13%. The overall cost of the programmes is lower than

formal school, college and university, thus women akkd poor can effort it.

4.2 Achievements

IIistance education opens up opportunities of education for students of all ages and

both sexes and specially females.

It enables a person to acquire knowledge independently even remaining outside the

rules and regulations of traditional formal education.

It gives opportunity to women and men to study her/his suitable time and place, thus

there is rko conflict with reproductive responsibilities.

Offers student’s freedom to choose subjects according to their choice.

Studetkts get study-nkaterials to tlke students according to tlkeiI need arkd itk tlkc lkonke.

Helps the student make self-evaluation of his/her knowlcdgc.

Applies modern l~hnoiogies in education and ensures educalion supporls and

services when necessary.

Women need not face the problems of distance of educational institute.

28

9 Provides opportunities to get education at one’s leisure time while carrying out one’s

professional and reproductive responsibilities regularly.

= It has been observed that many aged female and male are coming forwards to

complete the courses.

5 L. Girl’s Education in Canglsdesh

Bangladesh hos!ed the South and Central Ma Conkrcnce on Education t% All in

1989. lt nctivclv prticil~~kd in \!‘:xld C’cx-&rence on FAncation for ,111 (F,P.2) held in

.TOlilkill ii1 1990. She \~-as also a signatory to illc wx~1.1d deilalatia!i (>li the Survival,

Proteclion and Dct-clopment of Children at the UTorld Summit for Children held at New

Y-o& in 19!Wwhich iniludi;d bask edu&xtion for &ildren and reduition of adult

illiteracy. These declarations and commitment pose formidable challenges for

Hangladesh both in quantitative and qualitative terms. ‘1’0 achieve the goals and

objectixTes of these conferences and summits the Government of Bangladesh launched

following projx.ts~programmmcs and undertook scvcral mcasurcs.

4 ‘liniversal Primary Education: This programme started in 1993 which provides

highest priority to B‘asic Education for All. It covers 6-10 year age group who

numhered 15.48 million in 1555. The enrolment rate has heen increasing (to 78.6

per cent in 1997) while dropout rate is also decreasing (to 16 per cent) for this

programme.

W Enriy Childhood Deveioyment (ECD) and Early Chiidlwod Education(ECE):

In Hanglade~h ~cl~ools arc generally far tram the household. ‘1’1~~s parents are

reiuctant to send their children in early years. This programme aims at creating

awareness of the importance of sending children to the school in 1 to 5 years age,

developing the child’:; cognikfe: social and phyknl faculties and motivate child

cager 11.; liam and c~~rknt TV ;ppI~. the knonkdge.

cl Satellite Schooi: As efforts have been made to increase enrolment and decrease

dropouts rate the demand for class rooms increased to about 50,920 and it will be

increased to 100:570 in 2000 years. To solve this problem and to bring the

schools nearer to the children an experimental programme named Satellite School

has been launched. There are about 1261 schools set up by 1997. These schools

arc fillly managed by the fcmalc tcac.hcrs. The attcndancc of the students is

highly sciMartc;lory (100%).

Community School: This school programme has been launched to ensure

participation of the community. T,ocal people donated lands and provide

necessary support and government constructed 19,684 less expensive registered

non-government primary school. The government pays about 60 per cent of the

salary wvlkile the cunnuurkity pays fhc rest ankomkt. The govenmient also provide

learning aids to these schools.

e> Food for Education Programme: In Bangladesh poverty is the main reason for

which many guardians do not send their c.hildren spec.ially daughters to school.

On the other hand, many children leave school before completion of five years of

their schooling. As many of the children spec.ially the daughters have to extend

their hand to help in reproductive as well as productive activities of the

households. They could not avail formal school time. With the above view

govemment launched Food for Education Programme in 1993-94 fiscal year. At

present 21,74,X0 families covering 17,203 schopls in 1,293 unions are benefited.

The number of students in these schools is 22?80,468. One child from each

cligiblc family is given 15 kg of wheat or 12 kg of rice or for more than one child

20 kg of wheat or 16 kg of rice every month. This programme is playing

significant role in attracting children specially fcmalc to the school, in improving

Iheir nutrilional status and in ailevialing poverty.

f ? School Attractiveness Programme: Under the general education project this

programme has been started in 689 schools in 10 thanas of the five division with

30

gj

the objectives of making the chiidren eager to schools and scl~ools to be student

friendly. About 70 lakhs students have been benefited from this school. This

programme has been introduced through NGOs and School Management

Committees (YM-k). ‘l’hc uniqueness of this programme is to provide kentives

to the poor students. particularly the girls in the form of school uniforms:

cdui-ntionnl materials, sports cquipmcnt and occasionally nutritious food on the

brrsis of ;illen&mce and peifwmlmc;e. The main feature of the programme is to

ensure community participation.

Non-fnrm;d F’clndion (WI?): Tt is dcsipxi to provide schnnl equivalence

education for imparting knowledge and life skill to those missed school or

dropped out early, The main fcahlrc of the progrxnmc is to impart useful

Lnowkdgc and shill tu the adolesc;ents, youths and adults without removing

people from their normal environment and responsibilities. It has been mostly

thlW$$?h -%<;o ilkitiatiVes. CiiJVellUkkelkt has SOtkke ~WO@‘ltlkUkkeS cif tkidkt SClkOdS,

conununit!, literacy centre. mosque and hlaktabs based school. etc. Upto 1997, in

total 3.138 pknan: 1iterac.y centres have been launched ?ry giving tinancial

assistance to the NGOs. This programme covered 4,97,358 children through 17

NGOs. h,lost notable NGOs in Bangladesh are Rural Advanxment Committee

(BR;\C j, SwanitTar Bangladesh (SB), Village Education Resource Centre

( C’ r&K‘), Proshika. &sociation for Social Advancement, etc. The XFPE and

programmes for adult and other children are two special programmes set up by

BR-A(Y’ and other NGOs and GOs. These programmes are very effective specially

in case of girl learners who forrn 70 per cent school population. Children from

landless, poor and dissdvantagc households arc ndmittcd hcrc. One of the

ilrkj.w!‘iull~ f&lure uT?CE is djusIlrkd of likklikkg according to the local rx&.

suppiemeniary accommodation for basic education and for modernizing the

content to enable them to pursue further education in general institutions if they

want. As a result student of these institute could continue their education in

general line or any technical line.

0 Adult Education: The adult over the age of 15 rcprcscnt about 41 per cent of the

total population. Mosl of these people specially the women are illiterate. Their

productivity and potentiality is seriously restricted for lathing of basic education.

Therefore the government started Mass Education Project to remove illiteracy

among the adults. This programme mostly cater the groups nf 1 l-l 4 years and 15

to 35 years adult to cover most productive section of population (for details see

Table 2 & 3).

5.1.2 Secondary Education

Female education at secondary level has been an area of concern since the country

gained independence in 1971. This concern has been reiterated in diflerent policies, plans

and programmes. But participation rates of secondary schools were very low. There was

a great gap between boys and girls. This disparity is further compounded by urban- rural

disparities. Tlke problems of dropout and retention are also quite serious in secondary

school.

Secondary school in our country can be divided in to three stages, junior

secondary, secondary and higher secondary, In this paper mostly the junior and secondary

level of education of girls have been discussed. Junior secondary school consists of

classes six to eidkt. wlkde secondary education consists of classes six to ten. After

completion of class ten, a public examination is held and students who succeed arc being

awarded with the certilicate.

Girls in the junior and secondary sclkools were in the stage of teenage and early

adolescence. These are the periods of cultivation of inherent qualities and potentialities.

32

In own socio cultural setting these are the ages for learning household activities as many

of them become the victim of early marriage. Our misfortune is that we fought for

equality, but after gaining independence we did not practice much to develop a culture

where men and women can get equal acc.ess to development interventions like education,

income: land: training etc. As a result the number of girls attending school, getting

cmploymcnt is ncartq cvcq~\~hcrc below that of boat. This crcatc a social dis-

eyuilibriam. 11 is usual in our suciely lhal highly educakd men marry 1~s educaied girls.

Moreover men some times are afraid of marqing women who are too well educated.

‘l’here reluctance and fear creates a condition where parents become afraid of sending

their dmghters for hisher even secondary cducntion.

Girls in remote rum1 mm rvhcrc distmcc, fear for the safes of girl en route to

school milit;ikd sg;ailHt ~rltellclrt!kCc and enrulment of the girl. Parelk us4 to xnd theil

children in an older age where the school is far from the house. .4n older entry age

increases the lil,zlihood of girls dropping out from school in grades \‘I to \.lli due to

social pressure of marriage commitments and insecurity.

Early marriage 1 ‘9 still prevalence in our society though the average marriage age

for girl has increased to 17 years. General prejudices against women’s cduc.ation is that a

girl taught to read and write is useless as she will leave the house after marriage. The cost

of marriage is increasing in the county and it has inverse relationship with higher

education. .4n educated girl wants to many bridegrooms who is more educated than her.

_A.nrl higher the &cation of bt-idegroom, the greater the demand for dew.

Studies conducted in Ganglaclcsh rcpcatccl~ pointed out scvcral factors afkting

f&n& rtu~olmu~rt and Ictvntiun at secundaq kvcl. Thr;sc: are lal;h t?f interest of parents,

lack of pcrccivcd cost bcncfits of educating girls. Th c content. cuniculum and the system

01‘ educalion Lils lo provide opporluniks 01‘ higher cducalion and 10 gel job. The

oppor-tunily cost for daughters is hizhcr then sons as parents have to find out alternative

fhr msistinp 1~ou9~!wlil chew lh;lt i!: wuall\~ pcr!i~mwd 1y. the c!aughIfxs in the t&nil!:.

33

Lack of safety in the road and lack of enforced disciplinary action against sexual

harassment of female students by the terrorist people, male students and male teachers is

another cause for which guardians are reluctant to send their daughter to school.

However the social prejudices against women’s education is diminishing. And the need

for educating women at different level is being established. Our society, though very

reluctantly accepting the role of women as educators, this has cnhanc.cd the. scope and

sphere of t;ducational avenues open to women. Besides the general edur;alion, more and

more branches of professional education are being opened up to women (for details see

Table 4, 5 (4i 6).

5.1.3 Stipend Programmes for Promotion of Girls’ Participation

The go~~ernment of Bangladesh abolished school fees at piinuuy level for all.

Monthly school fees at the government secondary school is amount a quarter of the

minimum daily wage. Besides that there are the text books, the pencils, the pen, the

paper, the uniforms and the shoes. An enquiry was made to know the reasons for school

non attendance at both the primary and secondary level. Most of the respondents (8594~)

opined they are incapable of providing dresses, books, pens etc. The poor are ready to

make all sacrifices for their children if they saw it cost effec.tive. They pull him/her out if

they find it not useful. In this case the poor family pull out female child first as they need

their help in family in absence of their mother who goes out for work. It has been

observed that even seven years old daughter has to carry all responsibilities (including

cooking and child care) if her mother is sick or go out for work.

With a view to promoting women’s education in Bangladesh at the secondary

level Female Secondary School Assistance Project (FSSAP), Female Secondary Stipend

Project (FSSP), Secondary Education Dcvclopmcnt Project (SEDP) and Fcmalc

Secondary Stipend Project (FSSP) have been lunched since 1994 wilh lht: assislmce 01’

various donor agencies. Resides that, the government also provides financial awistance to

those schools not covered by the donors in order to give equal opportunities through out

the country.

., ., --

The female secondary stipend project, undertaken by the Government of

Bangladesh marked a new epoch in the spread of female education. The prqject is a joint

venture of the government and the development partner donor agencies. It has been

launched as a nation-wide programme to ensure increased participation of girls in

secondary education with a \iew to making one half of the population educated: aware

and self-rctiant, dcvclop the cnvironnxnt of cdilcation. crcatc a positive nttitudc for

female educdion thruugh raising svcid awmmess and lo climinale esisling

discriminations bctiveen men and women in education. Through this yrojzct, Plangladesh

has become the pioneer in implementing such a programme.

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

f.

h.

i.

J.

k.

The speizific objec!ivec: of the project are to :

cn.?r1re participation nf qunlificd women in work through spread of female

~ducaiiun at ih~ st;wndq lwel.

increase the rate of female education and assisl in curbing the population growth.

increase women’s inwlvement in socio-economic development activities.

enable women for poverty alleviation through self-employment.

pre\‘cnt child mayiage,

assist in enhancing women‘s social status increase: enrolment of girls at the

secondary level, to re.tain them at school from c-lass TTI to class S and to help them

pass the S.S.C,Dakhil examination,

arrange for recruitment of teachers in proportion to number of students iu the

educational institutes under the project and increase the number of female teacher

pJ-Nhldl~,

dclrelop professional skill of girl drop-ou.., ,, *c w that the!, can have access to labour

mat-l&

raisu I~I~sS-;~\V;~I‘T~~~SS drout wl’om~n‘s etluc::lit~n and gain social apprwal

ar-rangi for supply of pure water and sanitation in educational institutes under the

pr(yecl and makt: school environment salti. healthy and alIr;tcIi\:c lix girls ~hwugh

iticrc:lsing communitJv involvement anti to

help inlf~lctlt~ntati,?li 91 the pyjcct tlwcwf?l crcntitx of’ irlstitr!licwnl infrastructure

2nd dillctl m3f:po,.L --r nt rutionnl 3x1 I:K:~! Ic:*el::.

Eiigibility for Stipend

To be eligible for getting stipend, unmarried girls at the secondary level (from

class VI to class X) have to be admitted to school by 31 January excluding therein the

metropolitan areas are entitled to this stipend.

Girls are eligible for this stipend if their guardiaw’parents agree; and ensure thal

the girls a) attend 75% of the total classes; b) obtain at least second division marks (45%

to 59%) and c) remain unmarried till S.S.C. examination.

Rates of the Stipend and Tuition

ClW

VI VII VIII Ix X

Amouni of Taka S lip end Tuition Fee (Taka) Purchase of Rooks

1 S.S.C. Exam. Fee

Govt. Private Govt. Private 35 40 25 10 15 w 42 45 30 12 lj - ‘-

1 47 50 35 12 15 - 75 1 80 60 15 20 250 - 75 80 60 15 20 - 250

The SSC examinees receive stipend and tuilion fees for lhree additional months.

Project Components

The component activities of the Female Secondary School Assistance Project are :

4 Stipend and b’ree ‘l‘uition Programme

W Additional Teacher Employment Programme (TEP)

Professional Skill Uevelopment Yro~amme

Female Education and Awareness Programme (FEAP)

Pure Water Supply and Sanitation Programme (WSSP) and

Inslilulional Dwclopmenl Progranmt: (IDP)

36

Recruiiment of Atiditiomi Teachers

It is to planned that 8Or3 additional teachers will be recruited from 1994 to 1999

within the projec.t period IO ensure adequate teac.hers for the schools under the project.

The ratio of student and teachers will be made ,10:1. In case of recruitment of teacher

women will by given priority. The FSSAI’ in rtdditiou to making girls intcrcstcd in

education iluough giving slipend il also encouraging women lo ~hoost: leaching as a

profession. l3p this time 275 females and 33 1 male teachers has been appointed.

Pmfessicmal Skill Thwrhpmcnt Prwgrammc

This pmgmmme (OSDP) is to assist those girls in gaining skill for self-

<mpluym~rlt \~lw fwrrlaliy drupu\~t fk:;l sc;l~ul. hsyite uF gainhg stipend, wmc students

leave school before compleling their secondary education. They become drop outs either

iOr lack ot &rest in education, or tor lack of ability to pass the examination or for the

family’s inability ta bear the overall espenses of education. Many girls become dropouts

for early marriage.

The OSDF will provide employment to those girls who lta\:e dropped out after

studying up to class VIII and passing their time at home. They are imparted skill

development training through this programme. Generally secondary level girl dropouts

are selected for imparting them training on bee keeping, gardening: production of jute

materials, quilt and mat making, pwltly and duck raising, flower cultivation, sewing and

embroidey,, and other trades in practice so that they can get cmplo?rment in the industrial

sector. got?. scrvicc sc.ctor, self <mploymcnt projects in lhc pri\:atc sector or can cam

ilG liv~lihuucl though wtgc;s.

Assistance Project. The students’ families and the surrounding environment will benefit

once the girls deveiop the habit of practicing sanitation and using pure water at school.

One outstanding feature of this programme is to form a users group that will

comprise the user of water and sanitation facilities. Besides, the programme includes

motivational publicity in the schools under the project and their neighbouring arcas to

raise people’s awareness, leadership training and organisalion of workshops and seminars

to work out strategies for promoting the habit of hygiene and maintaining health and

sanitation facilities and for reviewing and sharing knowledge and awareness gained

though training on there issues.

Women’s Educat.ion and Awareness Programme

This programme aims at winning public support for female education in the

project areas through publicity. Publicity is given through organising nkotivational

gathering at school and thana levels on necessity of participation of girls in secondary

education, distribution of posters, ledlets, brochures highlighting facilities provided by

the government for making the girls of class five and their families interested in

secondary education, making and showing short motivational films on female education,

selection of best students for individual classes through competition among the girls in

the prqject areas, use of the mass media, strengthening of the curricular activities etc.

Instit.utional Kkvelqment Programme

The Institutional Dcvclopmcnt Programme has been undcrtakcn for strcngthcning

prilpa alkd timely implementation of tlke project. The following institutiolkal

arrangcmcnts have been mode :

ai Tnter-ministerial Steering Committee bj Tmplementation and Evaluation

Committee c) District Coordination Committee dj Thana Advisory Committee

e) Project Tmplementation I Jnit (PTI J) f) Thana Project OfScer (TPO).

38

Benefits of the Project

Demands for getting secondly education after completion of ptimary education

has been increasing day by day and it will be possible to retain secondary school age girls

at school. The number of girls obtaining the S..,. Q C has been increasing and girls have

been able to complctc the secondary education within the ftxcd time. Girls arc

ovetxoming shyness and hklalion sfler having been exposed lo lhe ban.king syslem and

they are gaining self-confidence. Women’s participation in produi;tivs activities has been

increasing. The project will contribute significantly to population control. The tendency

of child matringe will decrease owing to girls, completion nf scconda~ education before

their marriage. IX~omen’s education is spreadin, ,, 0 +niftcantly in the country. The spread

of fcmnlc &cation at the sci:ondnry level will help women, particularly women in the

rwsi suLiei> iu ternAn ai tltc fi~&uni II1 decision rnalitlg fw the de~~~:lopmrt~t of the

countt~. Iksidcs, participation of qualified women in work will he ensured which on the

one hand, will h& to curb the population growth, iktkd Ofk tlkc CItlkcX will lkdp to alleviate

poverty. Educated women are expected to play a prominent role in changing the social

outlook in future (for dctai!s see m Table 7).

5.2 Role of ‘rtornen Teachers in I%onioting Girl’s Participation

5.2.1 Reasons for Recruiting Female ‘I’eachers

Nest to students, teachers are the most crucial factors of education system. The

effectiveness of any education programmes greatly depend on the quality of a teacher. ,4

quality tcac.hcr impartccl his,‘hc.r cffic~icncy not only through the instruction in his’hcr own

sub&t but aisu witik lircir ulkdc1slaIkdilkg of tikr ps~~1~ology of a student, realiz~kg tlkr:

potcntiaiitics among the srudcnts. h’forcovcr his”hcr capability of flourishing inhcrcnt

yolcnliahl~ of lhc studenl. For discharging lhe dulies properly a leacher need lhe qualily

nf ptience. love and affktion to the student. Tn all respect women are more suitalde in

perfkminp thex role, because as a mo?hcr and sister she wed tn perf‘orm these

reqxm:;il)i!it!~ to lhdir c +hil~lren. !xwthfra and 2i:;lerc in Ihe home.

39

In Bangladesh the percentage of female teacher at the primary level is 25 per cent

while at the secondary level it is oniy 13.88 (ES S, 1995: 1145). Some sample survey

indicates that female teachers at the primary level are mostly fresh entrants and are

unmarried. On the other hand female teacher at the secondary level are mostly the

housewives. This indicates guardian’s positive attitude to allow their unmarried daughters

in teaching profession as they also think that women’s inhcrcnt qualities and cxpcricnocs

in family will help them lo be a good Leacher. “The survey also observed a direr;1

correlation between the employment of women teachers and emolhnent and attendance

of girls in school” (Uddin AK and Chowdhury? (ed)! 1997: 470). According to the

educationist children’s active participation in the educational activities is possible only

when the home? school or society becomes delightful and pieasure grove to them.

Fankiiy works as an urkit of developing cikiid’s pikysicai and mental faculties.

Children learn four basic elements of education such as speaking, listening, reading and

writing itk tike fankiiy mostly with tike ikelp of nkotikers arkd sisters. ht a broad serkse family

is also considered as a factory of production which provide nursing and educational

services and create opportunity for harmonious social and c.ultural blooming.

A family where the environment, values and relationship among the members of

the family is not cordiai, humanistic and active than the children of that family can not

be developed as a laborious, good character and best citizen. On the other hand a home

without women or where women has been neglected and oppressed can never be an ideal

home and c.an never produce ideal citizen. Therefore it is very important to realise and

recognise the role women play as a teacher in the family and society. These potentiality

of women should bc cnhanc.cd and used in the field of teaching for sprouting inhcrcnt

potentialities of cikiidrctk in homely and nkotikeriy atmosphere. Moreover, tike views,

attitude and aspiration of the fcmalc folk regarding child’s education should bc rcflcctcd

in the edwalion syskm. Thus inwAng lilt: number ol’ Imale leachers al all level of’

education is pre-condition for accelerating effective educational programme in

Bangladesh.

40

52.2 Poiicies and Strategies for Ensuring Female Participation in Edumtion

Equality of status and opportunity fbr women and men occupy an important place

in our c.onstitution. ‘Ihis is supported in Articles respectively wherein it is stated that

“the state shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, caste:

sex, p1x.c of birth or any of tllCiii am! that “ Tlxrc shall be quality of opportuni@ for all

cilizens in m;rllers relaling Lo employmenl or appoinlmenl lo any ofic;e under 11~ shle”.

Moreover the government is trying to mainstreaming gender issues in development. A

large number of project ~programmcs has been lunched to involve women in income

earning activities. Therefot-c. womenis contribution to families cash income has been

increasing gradually, thus their economic dependency on men is also decreasing

conscqucnfly Their stahis in the society has been increasing day hy day. All reinforces

Wulti~:I1’S active yarticiyativn in ail types ufactivitieu.

As br, as women’s sccondaly education thi: government has taker1 direct

responsibiii~ for making women literate. The government has decided to establish one

separate secondary school fbr girls in each thana. One girl c.hild of‘ any parent will be

gixren an opportunity to study upto degree level free of cost. Other distinctive features of

the government programmes are pro\:ision of larger fmance, vigorous attempts to

improve education qualitatively, unprecedented expansion of education in all branches.

Government made secondary edur;ation for girl students up to class S outside the

municipal areas. A special sc.holarship scheme for girl students have been introduced to

increase enrolment and retention anti to reduce drrrpnuts.

The Gcjx-emmcnt of Canglndesh rccognizc the. importance of the role of women in

the educ:~ticx~al attainment of the county. The fulluwing fundamental state policy have

been incorporated in the constitution of the Pcoplc’s Republic of Bangladesh. “The state

shall adopI ell’t:cli\;e measures lix Lht: ~UIJWSC 01:

establishing a uniform mass oriented and universal system of education and

extending free and compulsory education to all children of such stage as they may

be determined by law;

- relating education to the needs of society and. produc.ing properly trained and

motivated citizens to serve these needs; and removing illiteracy within such times

as may bc dctcrmincd by law”.

Following steps therefore has been taken under various Five Years Plans of the

country to promote the status of woman’s education.

Primary Education ,4ct I??1 made provision of 60 per cent quota for female

teacher at the primary level. The entrance quality for female teacher has been kept lower

to attract the women as well as to make female teacher available in the rural aizas. A

female teacher has to fulfil the quality equivalent to Secondary School Certificate(SSC)

aloIl% witlk tile Ctx-tificatr: of Yii.tnaiy ~l’eaclkers’ itkstitute (Pl’l) Wlkile a Ikkale teaclker lkas to

fulfil the quality of at least Higher Secondary Certificate(HSC) with a training diploma.

As a result a number of female teacher has been increasing.

Massive adult literacy programmes have been launched to ensure women’s

accessibility to education. Arrangement has been made to provide transport facilities to

different scl~ools, colleges and universities to ensure women’s participation. Special

stipened programme at the secondary level has been introduced to ensure participation of

girls from the poor families in the secondary school. Stipened programmes have been

extended to vocational and technical institute for motivating female students towards this

type of job oricntcd education. Primary Education in Bangladesh is free and the

government bears expenses ofk books akd other teaching nkaterials for eaclk students.

Arlicle 12 stipulates the slate shall take measures to ensure the participation 01‘

women in all spheres of the state and public life. Commission for Educational Reform

1974 provides information on the discriminatory status of women’s education and agreed

that little efforts had been made to extent equal opportunity for men and women in the

42

education sector. The main focus of the report on women’s education was to offer

suitable vocational education which would benefit women’s reproductive roles and to

emphasize the need for new context especially for girls to help them in their family role

and IO cart-t a living. In the non-foormal education opportunities have been made to

increase the number of out of school girls of 10-l 4 and 15 to 35 years women.

Curric.ulum fc,r them has been rc.duccd and training has been rclascd ac^c.ording to their

need.

The furs1 Five Year Plan urged the need for increasing retention of girls in the

educationnl institutions through incentives and motivation. The two year interim plan

suggested that at least one girl’s school in should be set up every thana headquarters. The

Second Five Year Plan undertook policy of reservation of 40 per cent scholarship for

&‘lS at ~H’it!kW~ :ilkd Swolkd31~ bd, 40 1X” C’dkt lWXVh-~lk of S&S for WOIkkClk itk

teacher training institutions and additional posts in primary schools by women.

In addition to 15 per cent places reserved for girls in all polytechnic institute a

separate po!ytcclmic institute _tr girls has been established in Dhaka. Out of ten cadet

college in the c.ountry: one is cx;clusivrely meant for girls. In order to provide incentive to

the girls 40 per cent of the general scholarships (apart from talent pool) has been

earmarked for girls. Fifty per cent (out of 400j of the community school set-up for non-

fbl-ld \:oiatiiinal sliili trdining to the rural populace are meant for girls.

The government have W-up an Education Commission to esamine the various

problems of educational development of the country. The commission has submitted an

interim report to the govcrnmcnt. It indicates the future structure of education, need,

wcial 1kOllIkS and value basd 3lkd gClk&r lkzutk’al CUlYhda, and COlktClkt and the r!kalklkCl’

in which education can bc brought close to thi: cnvironmcnt. The Xational Fducation

Polir;y Implemcnlation Committee: has bc;en l~~tmuialed polic;y wilh ;1 \ icw lo producing

skilled anti educnted manpnwcr at national nnd international Icvel.

43

52.3 Probiem and Prospects

We have noted that female teacher play vital role in enrolling and retaining

female as well as male students in both primary and sec.ondary level. Primary School

Teacher Recruitment Rules 1991 provides a policy to reserve 60 per cent quota for

fcmalc tcachcr in fikturc rccruitmcnt. Eut rcccnt statistics show that the proportion of

female tear;her has increased from 18 per r;ent in 1981 to 26 per cent in 1997 only. The

weak point of this policy is that the quota is not on the total strength of teachers, but on

existing and future vacancies. As the number of vacancies occurring year to year is

usually very smallj it will take another 25 years for female teacher to attain ~31 per cent

of the total number of teachers. The provision of filling posts with male candidate in case

of non availability of suitable female candidates will further work against recruiting

female teaclkers. Arkotlker provisiofk is tlkat a carkdidate rkkust lkave a certificate fi-onk

teacher training institute. Many female can not apply due to these policies. IvIoreover,

present recruittkketkt committee lkas been formed witlkout fenkale representatives. ‘ihis will

certainly affect recruitment of female teachers because female members of the

committee may took into the females issues adequately than male members.

This quota system is not applicable for promotion purpose. Consequently number

of Assistance Head Mistress and Head Mistress is very low. The prospect of holding

administrative post by the female teacher is scant in foreseeable future.

At present there is no female District Education Ckffkcer, and very few Thana

Education Officers at the primary level. There are only a few female Assistant Thana

Education Off&r (ATEO). They arc the pcrsonncl who supcrvisc. the activities of the

teaclker, assess tlke pelfoiIkkance of Sclkools, idetktify alkd delenkkine flit: needs Of the SclkoOl

and rccommcnd ncccssary facilities in the school. Abscncc of women in thcsc position

will hamper the progress of female education because entire process of development and

growth will remain in the hand of male.

44

Teacher’s educalion has not got enough attention yet . Opportunities to undergo

training have been inadequate in proportion to the rapid inixease in the number of

teachers though the number of teachers training institute have increased than before. It

may c.ause poor quality of instruction.

The ideological imngc of’thc t~achcrs has been gradually croclccl tluc to ncg1cc.t of

the ieaching prokssion. I’cople non feel dkcouwged LO rlllo\~ lhzir daughiers. daughler-

in-laws~\vivcs to the teaching profession. Q’omen are not attracted much to this

profession due to lower pay scale and social status. Furthermore it became diflicult fol

women to live in rural nrens due to lilck of securig* and social environment (for details

see Table 9).

5.3 Curt-it-ula

5.3. I Gtmirr Bias Conlenl

Direcloralc ol’ Primary Educaiion (DPE) in Bangladesh has proposed to

reorganise the content and management of the primary education on the basis of ,ynder

perspectives in order to create a new society through giving equal recognition to boy and

girls. But that pmmx.. ‘ce did not come to realiQ. L.ack of rcnlisntion of benefit of women’s

education, lxh of school at nearby places, less number of female teacher reluctance of

parents to send their daughters to schools with co-education, biasness of male teachers

towards male students are the major hindrances on the i%ay of realizing the promise.

We, due to our age old long c.onc.ept, attitude, belief and pre.udic.es accept these

discriminatory issues of the content without knowing its harmfiA effect. The

discrimination can be seen if we the beha\;iour of the teachers towards girl student

environment of the school, teacher’s training methods and curriculum is analysed.

Next to farnil\*. school play major rolc in de\:cloping children’s personali&. They

can idcntif?, thc:mseI~w 31 thic stnge. One can realiw lhnt he nr she is n y,irl throllgli htx

dress. diffcrcntial attitude and hch:t\kur ?o her. Tcschers are used to di\*itlc malt nnd

female students to do group works and usually give different tasks. For example boys are

given to cut a ditch while girls are given to clean class rooms. As a result girls think they

are weaker than boys and boys think that girls are not equal to boys. And in this way girls

are induced towards feminine work.

The ultimate goal of ccluc.ation is to promote student’s individual capacity,

aptitude and interests. It is also highly expec;ted that educ;ational atGnment will cnwrt:

equity, justice and peace through reducing gender gap, inequality between men and

women, rich and poor.

Education has !ong been considered as the .‘most powerful agent of social

transformation. It shapes the vahres and norms in the society. The content, methods, and

system of education portrayed the image of fkkCfk and WOlkk~lk ilk a given Society thOU@k

the learning process. If one goes through the content methods and system of educatiork in

tlke WkIkhy Ike/She Wiii See tile reflection of patri&kai VahleS alkd 1kOllkkS. 'l'ike educatiolk

system reflects a pronounced bias toward men in enrolment, retention and structures. The

number of boys enroled at primary school level is about 10 per cent higher despite the

utmost endeavour of the government to increase enrolment of the girls. The gap is

increased with the increase in level of education. The higher the level of education the

higher the gap between male and female.

One major reason for non-educating the girls is the irrelevance of education

curriculum to their practical needs. Due to a gender bias and absence of equal

opportunity the females are far behind in the field of technical and Vocational education.

It has been obscrvcd that girls arc. capable of obtaining results identical with those of

boys at secondary, higher secondary and all other levels. But curricula are difherent for

the two scxzs. In Bangladesh girls often lcam home economics and social scicncc at the

expense ololher subjwls such as arilhmelic: or agricuilurt: lhough Ihe ex~minalion is held

under same questionnaire. Tn many schools and colleges science teaching is given more

specifically to boy’s sc.hooi and girl’s school remain under-equipped particularly as

regards laboratories. There is very insignificant arrangement to accommodate the female

students in technical education projects. Only 2-3 per cent girls are getting the

opportunity to study these subiects. As a result the number of educated unemployed is

increasing. And it becomes more difficult for girls to get job with fewer school years in

general suhjeck Such a situation creates negative attitude tawards female edacn!ion.

Both in primnq 3rd secondary 1~::c.l tc-achcrs tended to ciircct m7n~ critical

questions lo boys and more suppUrii\:e qitrs!ion5 i:* :!I: is. Indirec~l~~ it is likl> I: re\bard

creati\Te lxhntii~nrn in ixi;.+. rhnri girls. In many cases the csample sets in arithmetic’s,

t)ocm anti OI!!~Y. sul$cts pcnctrate ncgativc social attitude towards women’s role in

unprodttcti\~c lo\vcr r;tatus and sei: them as vvifc and mother and as a co bread winner.

This is the consequence of views regarding women’s role in the society and resulted in

1~s:: r?ppnrtunity nf women in technical and higher educ.ation. Piscriminatinn has also

been i>bsc!?ed in the tCxhet”s tt’rlilling metlk&. The tr’airktx ahvayj: idc:ktifi? fcttk.?le,

participants as shy and hesitating but never described the reasons for this. Illustration 01

exalklpk SCt ilk ttkc ~iCtU1.Cs du tkcit CrkWUKl~~ Ilkale rtlkd htkde equally It is SZCrk irk tlke

picture that boys are going to market with their fathers while daughters are working with

their mnthers. Tn c?nc chapter it has been seen that fathers restrain mothers to send her

daughter to school. IIere both mother’s and daughter’s role has been portrait as a

deprixd person from their rights.

Though it is true that women and men play different role in their daily life but it is

dangerous to segregate the content of educ.ation. Because women along with their

reproductive rsspnnsihilitv nlvn play productive and civic. life. Therefore w0mt.n shonltl

not only be entit!sc! to instruction cf home economr,, *PC and feminine content like mother

and child car-c. In the prima? school, thcrc arc much mot-c contents about boys than girls.

T1kd.t: ;:l‘r; mui!; rkkwc sturic!, ;rhUt buys. Bq-s rend rkkt’rk ofizrk appear irk picture and

illustrations. In terms of sheer number thcsc books portrait a male dominated world. The

c;ontent ul‘ tht: stories and issues convey tu the c;hild the notion that males are more

important and more interesting. i\nd most of the stories and illustrations display positive

image of creali\‘ity, brxy’. achic\.ement, nutonom?*, pr0ducti\?t\~ etc. In Ihe story of

sports the boys almost alwn~3.

c)n the contrary girl’s role portrait as passive, docile alld dependellt. The pictures

illustrate that they are crying because of failure or fear, mothers are washing dishes,

cooking or taking care of child and aged people. ‘l’he number of pictures of girls and

women are very few. In selection of writer only few topics by female writers have been

chosen in all subjjccts. The ratio of the stories and figures in primary text books speak for

themselves. Boy cenlered siuries 10 girl cenlered slories is 102. Aduli male main

character to adult female main character is 5:l. Male biographies to female biographies

is 5:0. Male pictures to female picture is 9:1, male writer to female writer is 1O:l.

The attitttde of parents, relate . e,, ‘11 c teacher and neighbours affect children’s view of

what is right and appropriate. So also do the school textbooks. These provide children’s

fist -\riews regarding the outside world. Male dominate pictures and stories of the texts

present and reinforce society’s attitudes towards men and women. Therefore the content,

tkketikOdS atkd system of education slkould be gender lkeutral tik order to aclkieve equity alkd

peace.

6. Observations 2nd Recommendations

Q Days gone by when schooling of girls was a taboo and investment for the

daughters was thought unnecessary as they have to be given away to in-law’s

house as quickly ils possible. Now a days most of the people recognise the value

of education of girls for their prospective fixture. The government of Bangladesh

has laid great emphasis on female’s education in all types of education

programmcs/projccts. The decision of rccrnitmcnt of 60 per cent fcmalc tcachcrs,

nkake educatiolk of girls itk rural areas: fiw upto class X alkd prwision of

scholarship motivate parents to send their daughters to school. Available statistics

show lhal enrollmenl ol‘ girl &dents and Iheir reienlion in lhe school has been

increasing while the rate of dropouts and repetition has been decreasing.

+I# With a view to improving the quality of teachin g, teacher’s guide and supporting

bnnl:s and curriculum have been prepared and supplied to the teacher so that they

48

can perform their duties correctly. Cluster training programmes have been

arranged on the monthly basis for teaLhers of 20-25 schools in each cluster group

through discussions on methods of teaching of new books, preparation and use of

teaching aids and mktcrids. in order to rechm the rate of dropout a p0lic.y of

direct promotion from class one to two has been introduced. Policy of

dcccntrnlization of admit&ration, x-cation of scparatc dircctoratc, training of

supervisors, appoinimen~ UP Pcmale Leachers in a large number are Ihc major steps

taken to promote universal primary education.

62 Finding of’ various studies show that education equipped women with knowledge

and skill to play their most vital reproductive role, open the way of training for

work. increased productiviv. @eater participation in community and a better

undcrstnnding nf the surrounding world. In fact &cation brings mrjrc benefit to

WUIklGkk i11311 ItktXk btZCilUSU it btk~l.O\‘t-S tlk’& Str?iUS, it bl’itk# ~kdViZi!ktZk~tiS for tlke

c;tkildren and other farnil!. members because an educated mother take more health

cars to ttkt;lkk. /%ci\v all it iS tlke PatlkWay f01 de~elopit~g atk WOftkZ8fk 3s individual

and bring equality among the men and women.

8 Parents are very muc.h encouraged to send their daughters to schools if there is

female teachers. The government has taken a policy to keep 60 per cent quota for

female te.adzers and try to fill up the vacant posts through recruitment of female

teachers. But it will take another 25 years to increase their number up to the level

of GU per cent. The policy should therefore be further strengthened so that at least

one local female teacher is recruited in each school.

4% Policy of recruiting local teacher will reduce the rate of leaving the sc.honl hy

female teachers due to their transfer and others family and social problems.

@ Girls arc some times reluctant to go to school due to non attrxtivc cnt’ironmcnt,

twsillg uf SdS l,i Ikkdt; it-dkt-l‘s alkd boj’s, &SiUlhkIkCC \)> tlkc tt-:IXNiSt bOj’S,

inadcquarc sitting capacity in i;iass rooms and inaclcquati; roilzt and drinking

waler lAcililies. These minimum Licililies should be ensured in order lo

successfully implement the universal primary education as well as secondary

education programmes.

Q Law and order situation shouid be improved and enibrcement of law should be

ensured for providing greater privacy and safety for gll-is students and female

teachers. Efbrts must be made to change social outlook towards women’s

education. intensifying the use of mass media on a large scale will be highly

effective in educating public opinion in this regard.

@ The existing shidcnt tcaohcr ratio in primary school is 5911 and in secondary

school is 36:l. it indicates that implemenling compulsory primary educalion and

secondary education stipend programme it would be necessary to recruit

additional teaches and to construct additional schools or to raise intensity of the

existing facilities. Procurement of hooks and other relevant materials would also

need to be increased at the same rate. All these need a huge amount of investment.

Rut the success of ensuring female’s participation in education largely depends

upon these very required facilities. However, expelkses can be lkkhkirkkized by

introducing two shifts in the school and by employing additional set of teachers

for tlke day Shift.

@ New schools are to be expanded/established through school mapping in order to

ensure equal opportunity for female ‘s education in all the regions and in PJral

areas.

@ Financial capability of bearing the espenses and parents education specially

mother’s education are two important denominator in sending daughtel-s for

higher education. Jn these situation stipend programme for girls is playing

profound significant role in bringing girls to secondary school. Government

should take following measures to restrain this trend and to increase their

participation.

i.

ii.

?-hk fmkkal educatiork progratrkmc ahkg witlk nkassiw adult literacy drive

is the foremost precondition for increasing Icvcl of education and

knowledge among lht: pare& specially mothers.

Several studies show that girls and women from higher income &roups

attend secondary and higher educational institutes in large number than

lower income groups. Creating a trust fund for continuing scholarship

50

. . . ill.

programme to the disadvantaged girls and providing them fmarkcial

support after the completion of present programme is ikecessary for

ensuring their participation. Moreover efforts should be made to ensure

women’s participation in gainM IGAs would enable mothers to spend

money for their daughters.

Inspitc ofgiving scholarship to all catcgorics of pcoplc prcscnt scholarship

progr:ramme should be limiled to those who can no1 tATor- to pay the c;osl of

their dauglkter‘s cducntion (medium and low income gmupj in order to

increase the coverage to this section of people.

a The existing curriculum should be made free from ‘gender bias’ tlrrough proper

review nnd nece~sq~ changes. Education lknn tn be identified as the most potent

fr?l-ce fut !‘t~;plaCiJ~g l?ittl’iiU cll;tl icitlulu~J’ a:kd VdUcs Alkd britkgilkg get&r dWlOgy

in ttke education process. The courses of study should be job oriented and related

t0 thC &HttYCTkt lkd Of thC i;OUlktl)’ as WC11 LlS W-orld t0 dtKlCt lkk(Jt’C ShldCTktS

particularly girls to the educational institute. If the contenr is lif’c based than the

beneficiaries will be able to apply the acquired knowledge and skill in their

practical life. This will motivate parents to send their children to school.

9 In reality women have to bear responsibility and behaviour through out their life

which reflects unequal status between men arkd women. Therefore tlkere should be

methods and systems of elimination of suilk discrimination iik the process of

learning. At present the gap between females and male in case of enrolhnent has

been decreasing. Rut it is needed to sensitize regarding the need of employment of

female teachers, selecting teaching aid am! abandon the negative attitude toward

fcmalc.

8 Gil’lS ~Tu’ohTlCTkt ilk ~‘!‘ilTkal-) tdUChLJIl lk:ls iTlCT’Cilsd tT’~tXkdl-JUSly ill ColklpariSon

to that in 1390. Rut their rcrcntion and progress lag behind rhc boys and over all

enrolment rate for both sexes is noi upiu the expectation. The propress ol‘ girls

enrolment nt secondary level is also very low. Parents should be motivated

through social mobilizntion progxnme. Fc!llcx.:ing measures can !Y undertaken to

51

irkcrease overall, specially female enrolment and their retention in both primary

alld secondary- schools.

+ Scheduling class routines more flexibly with respect to hours, days and

seasons.

* Number of girl’s sclkool should be increased akkd quality of education

should be ensured.

+ Boarding facilities for female students should be provided in the

secondary and higher secondary level, where necessary.

9 Scicncc and tzzhnoiogical cduc.ation for the girls arc to bz introduced in

secondary level. The number of female teachers and student should be

increased in technical institutes.

+ The government should take more steps for effective implementation of

the policy to increase the enrolment of girls both at primary and secondary

levels.

@ The importance of gender equity at all levels of education should be publicized

through mass media. Education policy should be formulated on the basis of

gender equity.

0 Efforts should be made to attract more girls in open university.

@ Non formal education should incorporate life-centred skills and aged women

should be given NFE so that they would be able to guide their children properly.

@ Communication research suggests that mass media not only influence indirectly

tlke age iokkg attitudes of botlk rkkale arkd females towards wonke:k’s work arkd their

role: through the transmission of rzicvant information regarding thcsc issues, but

also develop aitenkative lifestyles arkd behavioural nkodeis. Aside from the fonkkai

school channel and training the mass media played an important role in

information dissemination, dfision of knowledge. Now-a-days the government

of Bangladesh broadcast programmes on TV and Radio nn women’s changing

role, need for recognition of their productive role for changing of superstition.

Most of tlke daily news papers, periodicals, weekly magazines have special colum

for women’s issues.

52

7. colkciusiotl

The mother is the first teacher of the children. The #literate and enlightened

mothers are able to give proper training and guidance to their children thus they become

literate, gentle, disciplined and courageous. Children having illiterate mothers could not

come up to cspcctations in many rcspcc.ts. It is the mother who has clanc cvcq?hing of

her child, an educaled molher would do Ihest: in ;t mxmcr of righiness and limeiy. There

is an english proverb that : the hand that rocks. the cradle, rules the state’. ,4n educated

women can help her husband in many ways. If she is emplo~~cd out side. she pulls

resources in the family and increases the total income. \J%en she wnrl;n in the family

husband get strength in his endeavour. Q’hcn she ,I\ (1’ KS good advice in taking major

f$miiy &&ion her husband’s intciligencc is sharpened. In these ways cveqthing in the

htkily iS l~kllltip~id. Thu fitlktiij, tlkc WlkklkkUlkity alkd tilt5 LOUlktly lkkah ~?rO@CiseS ilk tlkis

way.

53

__._.- “--_ -.. _. ~. . -- --” . -.-.-

References

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Jalaiuddin, . A.E<. and Chowdhury, Ah4.R. 1337. Getting Started: Universaiizing Quality Primary

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56

Table 1: Educsiion and Literacy Raie 1335 and 1337

~dicah-m / National Rural T Jrhan

Literacy rate of population 7+(1995) 44.3 --- ] - Male 50.4

1 Female 28.5 1 - - I

1 /

,4dult literacy rate of population 15 i (1995) 4?.3 j 36.6 1 63.0 I

1 Female ! I 25.1 I I 31.1 / 53.2 /

1 Primary sclwol enrolment rate (percent) 1 78.6 I 71.7 / 92.5 /

I 82.4 / 79.3 / I I

92.1 )

Primary school dropout rate

Female ________t_--_---_---- ___-

! 17.2 I- 17.8 -/ 7.7 -1 I I

Literacy rate population 5t 34.7 33.0 j 53.1 I

1

T4dult rate of literacy populntion 15+ 44.0 35.4 1 50.3 I

Source : Health and Demographic Sw:ey, 1997,BBS

57

- .” --

Table 2 : Number of School, Teacher and Student at Primary Level, 1337 (March)

Types of School Number of Number of 1 Number of

Sch00i Teacher Students Government Primary School 37710 158057 11808345 Experimental Schooi 52 I 256 7715 Registered Non govt. Primary School 19529 , 78168 3894884

1 Unrcgistcrcd Non govt. 3472 11973 783616 i community School 1962 1 4977 321715

Satcllitc School 1042 / 1042 38652 Kinder Garten 1545 / 10054 1 208089 1

Ply School Attached to Hi 1232 7536 / 383301 1 /

Independent Ebtedae Madrasah 8231 32316 542039 Ebtadarsee Madrasah attach to ‘High 2550 i 11.742 / / 243517 i

1 Madrasah Sub Told 77685 316485 18031673 ’

i / NGO, Total School 21740 99425 I / 341218 24733 18784034 752361

Post and Ratio of Teacher and Student

i? Told Posl ol’Teacher ior govl. Primary School - 164598 . . . 11)

iii)

iv)

V?

Number of Existing post

Student Teacher Ratio

Student Tcachcr Ratio at Govt. School

Percenlage oi’ Female Teacher

158.057

55:l

75:l

28.2

Table 3 : Enroled Students in Primary School (Year Wise)

Year Total Boys Girls

1990 1,20,51,172 66,52,427 / 53,88,745 1993 1,40,67,332 75?25,862 65?41,470 1335 1,72,84,157 30,34,483 81,83,668 1997 1,80,31,673* 93,64,899 1 8666,774

* Except NGO.

58

Table 4 : Enrolntent in Secondary Schools (Junior + High) by Sex and Management, 1991-95

Managcmcnt

Government

Non-Govt.

Total

i

x 1 Total

3?02 / 21187 j 1103F8 / 770600 1 55102 i 38998F i -._---- I

Rurnl I Total .I 1~7y-1/7?~~ I 81’?1XO 1 611731 ! ?X676(? / SK?4163 I i Girls / >7tj133 j 481338 / 38.X7 I 3B68s ,

----t------t-.-134ii70’~’ ( 18399-l (

2(‘)629I I I77984 j 1 ~(&J'q-) j 134474 i 91'3336 I 205119 i 87510 j 78295 1 65656 1 i 454661 i

KUEII \ ‘I’Otal j 1 191’737 j 1003328 j i;32332 j j Girls 1 591 P58 --?-----. j 416721 j .X7864 1

022442 i 494625 / 4145274 j -------__I--- 36306s j 198672 j 1018181 I ------A_- --

Table 5 : Year-wise Drup-out Rates at the Sew~~~r~ Lcwl by Grade and Scs, 1991-95

1993 Boys / 3.3 / Girls 5.1 1 T&l ’ 4.6 j

1334 Boys 1 ::i I Girls 1 Total 6.1 j I I 5

1995 Boys ' 3.2 1 3.g / 8.2 Ctirls 3.0 / 5.9

/ 1 16.6

/ 10.2 i 18.2 j / 12.3 21.1

‘l’otal 3.1 i 4.8 12.1 i 11.1 19.4 -----L--

59

. . I - . - - . . _ . . - -_-_--

Table 6 : Number of Female Students by type of Institution, 1995

Typt: of Tnstitution

Junior Secondary Schools

Secondary Schools

Intcrmcdiatc Colleges

Degree Colleges R4adrasah @&hi1 to

Kamil) Total

Number of 1 96 of Number 1 9.6 ofFem& Teacher Percenlqt: I Students Female of Teacher I of

Students , Institution for Women I

(?+I) I 494693 53.93 / 15109 11.15 23.37 /

4620762 1 46.23 124950 -’ 14.21 14.89 I 1

193796 / I

42.37 1 10638 / !

/ 13.93 I

1079432 / 31.72 I 24224 j 17.77 10.43 1837013 1 10.19 85351 / 1.74 6.64

6370214 52.67 1 259564 1 9.95 13.21

‘l’able 7: Nurrkber of Girls students enjoying Stipend under difhetkt Stipend Projects fix 1995

Name of No. of Type of No. of Enrolment by grades j Total Project Thana Inst. Inst. Girls Female 11x School 2645 124497 112728 I59141 4.5406 341772

Secondary Madrasah 1098 9071 7649 4036 3248 23004 School ‘I’otal 3743 133568 120377 63177 48554 365776

Assistance Fcmalc ’ 282 School 6294 321019 25694 1 150154 113185 541332

Secondary 1 Madrasah 2'771 22739 I9xt5 10627 X421 6 It-147 Stipend Project Total 9065 343758 276201 160811 / 121009 PO2379

(ESSP) Secondary Edn. 53 j School 1 1020 Development ’ Madrasah 346

Project (SEDP) Total 1366 50495 46272 i 2.972 18998 138737 Female 7 School 212 10859 I!,549 , 7405 496X 337x1

Secondary Edn. / Madrasa - 10859 10549 7405 4968 33781 Stipend Project 1

i / Told 212 1 10859 10549 I 7405 4968 33781

QSSP) j 1

Total Frojects / 460 School 10171 i I n/~a(&&&~ 4215 1 Total 14386 538680 453399 254365 I 194225, 1440673

60

Table 8 : X7 .~mber of Female Teachers Working in Different Traitking Institutes. 1395

Type: of Inslilulion Number of Texhers I 0x6 01 Female Total

Primary Training Insiilult: (PTI) 6.33

I- Female ’ -I‘encl1crs

/ 167 Train&g / I iB-p-- 26.371 Teaclkers College 193

8s 1 1 I 44.04 (TTC) I

---__ .___ Vocational Teachers Training j 20

-i.----1 I

1

Itkstitxtc 1 / I I I I Technical Teachers Training

-I--- j 23 )

------+ 2 I 8.70

1 I

College (TTTC) I I I I College of Hkysical Education

-----A--- i ! - T----’ 47.06

Bangladesh Women’s Training / 07 I 07 I I

100

and Development Academy I I National Training and Research j 31 04 , 12.90 Academy for Multilingual I Shorthand (N’I’KAM S)

Total j

/ -9SO -j- I 256 /--- ---29.09 1

i

Table 9 : Lcvcl of Education of the Parents and Children and Family Income

(Secondary) 1 [ Total 1 en 1 636110 1 -

-T- ) I

Lcvcl of hducnt~on of the Children PI -------. _..-- -._-_- ---.. Son

/ schooling

Gl

Fig. 1. Role of Parents in Educating Social Norms and Values to Their Children

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0 Not Aware Aware

Li ttie Aware Very Aware

(Fatherj Health MotherJHealth EIReligion & Etiqute(Father>

BIReliqion & Etiqute(Mother) ElCivil & SociaILFather) IZlCivil & Social[Mother>

Illitf+

Fig. 2. Impact of Parentk Education on Children’s Education

Literate Parent (Set) 57.5%

:rate Pi 5.0%

III. MO, Lit Fa (~1) 100%

/

llli Rio, Lit Frl(Se;::) 13.00/c

,ate Parent (Pri) 17 50/o