School dropout rate increasing in Bangladesh amid rising poverty

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – A new report from Bangladesh’s Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) indicates that 481,000 students dropped out of school due to rising poverty and income disparity in the country.

The report said that of the total, at least 10% were female victims of child marriage, while 16% male children joined the labour force.

Government data shows that 57% of students did not attend online classes and 79% did not participate in television classes during the pandemic.

Sixty-two percent of rural households lost income and 42% faced job losses during the pandemic, while a government stimulus hardly helped, according to a study by the Asian Development Bank and Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.

Former Director General of DSHE Syed Md Golam Faruk said the child marriage rate in Sonaray is nearly double of those in towns or cities. And child labor has doubled among poor families in the cities compared to rural areas.

Low- and middle-income countries and children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds have been the hardest hit by the pandemic, according to UNICEF.

There are 20,294 secondary schools in Bangladesh and DSHE collected data from 11,679 institutions. The real number would be alarming if all the educational institutions were counted in the survey, said experts.

Dropout rates have increased for different reasons. Apart from poverty, the existing poor education system or distance learning method could not keep students in school during the pandemic, said Akhter.

DSHE sent the data with recommendations to the Education Ministry last month but has not yet received a response. It will start implementing the recommendations once the Education Ministry approves the measures.