Education Watch 2001 : renewed hope daunting challenges

Abstract

The Education Watch came into existence in 1998. The first report of the Watch titled Hope not Complacency: Stale of Primary Ed11cation in Bangladesh was published in 1999. The main purpose of this report was to look into internal efficiency of primary education sub-system. Although there were some radical revel<~tions, the report was an instant success. The stakeholders, the practitioners, the development partners and the civil society representatives accepted the report with enthusiasm. Encournged by the success and acceptance of the first Watclt we decided to devote the second Walcll to quality aspects of primary education. As it was not possible to deal with all the quality indic<~tors of primary education we picked up two mnjor issues, assessment of lenming achievement of students and tcacher education. The first Watch found out that there was considerable exp:-~nsion of prim:-~ry education nnd near gender parity. It can not, however, be said that we achieved similnr success so fM as qu<~lity is concerned. Quality assurance remJins J distnnt go;~ I. r:or the third Watclt we have decided to revisit the intern.1l efficiency scenario. Two additional are.1s included in this Waldt <~rc private cost of educc1tion c111d income nnd expenditure of schools, nnd literacy. Findings of the internal efficiency indicators showed consistency with the first Watch. There was reasonnble qunntit<~tiv<' expnnsion. 13ut qunlity rem<~ined illusive. The government, the policy plnnncrs c1nd the stakeholders need to be concerned ;~bout how to improve quality in t;~ndem with qu<~ntit;~tivc exp<lnsion. The other arcn of concern i~ the privntc cost of schooling. Primnry educntion is the constitutionnl obligntion of the government. It is supposed to be free nne! universnl. Unfortunately there is cost involved which v;~ries with school type. Pnrents and guarclinns are to pny ilbout half of the totnl costs of primnry eclucntion. This is a cnuse of concern because it mny restrict nccess to primnry education. As in the pnst 13RAC Rcsenrch <lncl Evilluntion Division under the nble leadership of Dr. A. M. R Chowdhury, Director Resenrch 13RAC ilnd Mr. Snmir Ranjnn Nnth, Senior Resenrch Statisticinn were responsible for fidd investigntion nnd prcpar<~tion of the report. !3oth of them deserve npprecintion for the commendnble work done. Dr. Manwor Ahmed former Director of UNICEF was also nssocinted with the prepnration of this report. I nm very thnnkful to him.

Mr. Fnzle Hasan Abed, Ch<lir BRAC and Chair of the Board of Directors, CAMPE and a member, Advisory Bonrd of the Ed11cation Watch was very generous towJrds publication of the report. His in depth comments and generous support were invaluable. I thank him from the core of my henri. Ms. Rilsheda K Choudhury, Director, CAMPE and Member Secretary, Advisory 13onrd nnd Working Group of the Watch provided logistic support to the reseJrch team. She deserves our commendntion. A number of reviewers including Mr. Knzi Fazlur RnhmJn, Professor Kazi Saleh Ahmed, Ms. Joushnn Arn R<lhman <1nd Dr. Deborah Llewellyn deserve our thanks for their valuable comments to improve the report. Education Watch hils been possible due to generous finnnci<ll assistnnce received from the DepMtment for lntcmationnl Development (DFID), UK and Novib of the Netherlands. Wl' acknowledge their support. Many stnff members of CAMPE nnd 13RAC including Mr. FMuq A Choudhury, Mr. Muh<lmmed Shnfiul Alam, Mr. Subill K. Banik, Mr. Ruhul Am in Choudhury, Mr. Gins Uddin, Mr. Mirja Mohnmmnd Shilhj;~m<ll, Mr. Shnhidul lsbm, Mr. Shoeb Ahmed, Mr J<~shimul lslnm, Mr. Abdur Rnzzaque, Ms. Hosnenm D<lisy, Dr. lmran Malin, Mr. Khilndnkcr Ariful Islam, Mr. Monowilr Hossnin Khnndaker were involved in vuiOliS stnges of prepMation of the report. Their devotion and hnrd work is npprecinted. We illso th;mk Mr. Mohiuddin Ahmed of University Press Limited for :~greeing to publish the report with CAMPE nne! Mr. Abdnr Rnhm<~n for his co-opcrnlion. The report in drnft form wns shnred with importnnt stnkeholders including pr01ctilioners, civil society nnd NGO representntives and development purtners. We benefited from their suggestions. The unsung pnrticipnnts of this report nrc the thousnnds of students, p<~rents, gunrdiilnS nnd te;;~chers who pMticipntecl 01nd helped fidd investigation. Without their support and co·opcrntion the report would not hnve been possible. I th:-~nk them nil. We hope the report will be liScful to the stnkcholdcrs nnd will help improve primnry educntion scenario in Bnnglndesh.