Economic and social analysis of primary education in Bangladesh: a study of BRAC interventions and mainstream schools

Abstract

Bangladesh has achieved significant progress in enrolment in primary schools including gender parity. Currently, two major problems are dropout before completing primary education and poor quality of education with low attainment of basic competencies. These problems are especially acute among children of poor families. While the government of Bangladesh has the major responsibility of primary education, and it aims at universal access to education through government schools, the needs of the very poor are largely catered by non-formal and religious schools. BRAG has, in the past two decades, made significant progress In providing primary education to poor children through targeted interventions. The type of education provided by diverse actors is likely to have different impact on individuals and society. There are, however, very few studies on economic and social analysis of primary education in Bangladesh, especially with respect to education provided by different types of schools. There is also a lack of cost-benefit analysis of primary education, and cost -effectiveness study of specific interventions. This study focuses on the diverse outcomes of primary education, and private and social costs of providing primary education by BRAG and mainstream providers in rural Bangladesh. The study is based on school and household level primary data collected during December 2009 to February 2010. Specifically, it addresses the following aspects:

1. Performance of schools in terms of dropout, repetition and completion rates of children (internal efficiency) 2. Factors associated with internal efficiency 3. Effects of BRAG pre-primary education on the performance of poor children in formal schools 4. The role of BRAG non-formal schools in enhancing completion of primary level education among poor children in rural areas 5. School participation pattern and educational achievement of children in rural Bangladesh from household-level data 6. Effects of education on occupational pattern and income 7. Assessing private and social benefits and costs of primary education 8. Estimating private and social rates of returns to education and comparing the cost-effectiveness of different interventions Household level longitudinal data, school level data and data on socioeconomic background of selected poor students are used in the study.

Main findings Following are the major findings of this study: • Household level data indicate that there has been substantial improvement in the enrolment of children at primary level (95.2% among age group 7-11) in 2010 since mid-1980s. Since many children do not start school at the official age of 6 years, the overall rate of enrolment of children aged 6-10 years is lower (92%). The enrolment rate at secondary level has also improved over time but it is still low especially among the very poor (52%). • Low enrolment rate among children aged 6 indicates late start at school. Children from poor families especially male children tend to start late. This has negative implications for completion of primary education and quality of learning. • Our study confirms that early childhood development through pre-primary education has significant impact on school performance. The scores achieved in primary school examination are higher for students with pre-primary (BRAG) education compared to students without such education. This effect is especially prominent among girls from poor families. • Private economic benefits of education are higher for secondary education than primary education within all occupations. However, private rate of returns are higher for primary education than secondary because of low private cost at primary level and high cost at secondary level. • High social costs of primary education are compensated by many social benefits reflected in low fertility, improved health practices, greater technology exposure and positive attitude to children's education especially for girls. Primary education of mothers is one of the significant factors determining the probability of children going to secondary school. • There are differences in cost effectiveness of different interventions. Internal efficiency indicators are better for BRAG schools than mainstream schools. Cost per student completed is lower, and private rate of return is higher for BRAG. Greater efficiency is achieved through intensive monitoring and teacher input in spite of modest physical facilities. • Policy and research implications of our study are: intensive effort needed to bring children from ultra poor families into the formal system of education; free and compulsory pre-primary education can alleviate the problem of late start at school as well as improve the quality of primary education; general financial support to students at the secondary level needed; and there is urgent need for research on cohort analysis of dropout and completion rates through matching of household and school level data.