program proved to be an effective model that can fill the need for such kinds
of Government and Non-government projects in Bangladesh.
3. Promoting Rights in School: Situation and Challenges of Quality
Primary Education in Bangladesh
Fharia Tilat Loba, Mohammad Nurul Alam Raju and Khandaker Lutful
Khaled, ActionAid Bangladesh
Despite many achievements over the recent years, major improvements
are still needed in order to achieve quality education for all in Bangladesh.
The challenges to promoting rights in schools include poor quality of
education, lack of educational facilities, inadequate learning materials, high
dropout rates, inequity in accessing education, centralized education
administration, lack of trained teachers, discriminatory and violent
environment, and lack of education for children with special needs.
Traditional and dominant ways of teaching in most schools tend to focus on
role of learning with little or no emphasis on developing analytical, practical
or vocational skills. Right to free and compulsory education is also far from
becoming a reality. Many schools are being shifted further away from the
locality due to continuous river erosion, which has resulted in commuting
difficulties and this is regarded as one of the factors leading to dropouts from
school particularly in hilly areas. Given the poor qualification and lack of
motivation among teachers, the schools are far from being inclusive. Gender
discrimination and gender-based violence, particularly violence against girls,
are also issues persistent in the area leading to higher rates of early marriage
and dropout from the schools. In this backdrop, this research reveals an
alarming scenario of rights in schools from a humanitarian perspective. It
shows that education expenditure and types of expenditure have decreased
at family and individual level. Dropout rate is still alarmingly high with 60.10
percent at the government primary and 60 percent at the registered non-
government primary schools. It has been found that on the ground, 15
percent of teachers start teaching without any induction and 65 percent
don’t have any idea about inclusive education. Only 35 percent of female
teachers are found in the Registered Non-government Primary Schools.
14 4th National Knowledge Convention