Primary education is the foundation on which the nation's edifice of education has to be built and the ground laid for the individual's pursuit of further learning and fulfillment of life's potentials. Progress in primary education in Bangladesh in the last fifteen years, despite its many deficiencies, is characterised by strengths, which truly can be regarded as points of shining light.

A major achievement of the last decade was to attain gender parity in primary school enrolment. Other accomplishments are improvement in gross and net enrolment in primary education and reduction in dropout and improvement in completion of the cycle, encouraged by provision for free textbooks to all students, food for education and lately stipends for poor children as well as stipends and tuition waiver for rural girls at the secondary level. To improve quality of education, competency-based primary education curriculum has been introduced. NGOs have pioneered and successfully implemented on a large scale programmes to reach out of school children. National budgets have been increased and substantial external assistance has been mobilised for primary education development activities. 

Bangladesh is committed to EFA and Dakar Framework and U.N. Millennium Development Goals for 2015. Its national development objectives and plans are guided by a strategy of poverty reduction and human development in which education, especially at the basic level, has a critical role. 

The national goals and commitment in respect of primary education are reflected in the Second Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP II), described as a sub-sectoral programme of the government supported by external development partners. It aims to address the primary education access, participation and quality problems with "a guarantee of essential primary school quality levels (PSQL)" for all children. Establishment of non-formal learning centers to serve two million out of school children through the ROSC project is expected to complement PEDP II, which is confined to formal public sector primary education. The ROSC project signifies the recognition by the government of the need and legitimacy of non-formal approaches, so far supported only by NGOs, as essential complement to formal schools.

Despite the accomplishments, as past Education Watch reports and national education data show, primary education remains plagued by serious problems in respect of access and participation. Taking into account the current enrolment and completion rate, it can be said that over 40 percent of the children cross their primary schooling age without the benefit of a full cycle of primary education. When the findings about learning achievement and competencies are also considered, it becomes obvious that the large majority of children of Bangladesh, as many as two out of three, are growing up into adulthood without basic literacy and numeracy skills and preparation for life.

The 2005 monitoring report on progress towards Dakar goals released by UNESCO in November, 2004 has applied an Education Development Index to countries based on values for net primary education enrolment, adult literacy rate, gender parity indices, and survival of children to grade five in the primary school. Of the 127 countries rated, Bangladesh ranked as number 107, just behind India (106) and ahead of Pakistan (123) and Nepal (110). It is projected that all of these countries will fail to meet the 2015 Dakar Framework targets unless their rate of progress accelerates substantially. It is vitally important that the government strategies and programmes including the umbrella programme PEDP II and the ROSC project , aimed especially at the disadvantaged children, succeed.

The ten upazilas selected from all six divisions of the country had a total population of 
3,200,000 with a primary school age population of 514,000. There were 2,452 primary education institutions in the 10 upazilas, according to data from upazila education offices, which probably underestimated NGO and private provisions. Of the listed numbers, just under 1,000 schools were run by the government (GPS), 600 were registered non-government primary schools (RNGPS), and 400 were ebtedayee madrasas or classes attached to high madrasas. 

According to the upazila education office data derived from catchment area child surveys undertaken by schools, 75.3 percent of the children in the eligible age group were enrolled in primary schools. However, based on household survey conducted in school catchment areas under the present study, the net enrolment rate found was 90.4 percent. 

UEOs data show 57 percent of students were enrolled in GPS, 24 percent in RNGPS, 9 percent in all types of madrasas, 2.5 percent, in kindergartens and 1.1 percent in NFE schools. Again, non-formal school enrolment appears to have been underestimated.

Key points regarding primary school provisions in the upazilas were: 

First, there is a serious insufficiency of provisions, creating a deficit of the order of 50 to 60 percent in terms of schools, classrooms and teachers, if criteria for acceptable quality of provisions, such as a class room with no more than 40 children with a qualified teacher, are applied.

Second, schools, especially GPS and RNGPS, which served over 80 percent of the children, were not distributed according to set criteria and were not related to child population or area of the upazila. Nor was the ratio between GPS and RNGPS based on criteria or a discernible pattern. 

Third, there was no effort to develop complementarity between GPS and RNGPS, on the one hand, and the other types of institutions, such as madrasas and non-formal schools, to ensure adequate provisions for all children. 

Fourth, The GPSs had on an average one more teacher than the RNGPSs, (average of 4.5 and 3.8 teachers respectively), but both had teaching personnel to run schools only in two shifts; the gender imbalance in teaching positions remained high (39 percent female teachers) in spite of the policy of affirmative action in recruitment.

Fifth, with the number of GPS essentially remaining unchanged, the share of total enrolment in RNGPS has been rising. Generally poorer provisions for teachers, and physical facilities in these schools, compared to GPS, have meant that the overall quality of provisions for primary education has deteriorated.

Sixth, the data for the upazilas suggest an increase in net enrolment and a narrowing of gap between net and gross enrolment, which indicates a maturity of the system with a culture of sending children to school at the designated entry age taking root. Whether this indicates a wider national trend needs to be established with accurate and up-to-date national data. 

Finally, a systematic and planned effort is needed to develop understanding and awareness about the criteria and concept of quality in education, performance standards of schools, and how accountability of schools and education personnel to communities and parents can be established and demanded.
There was a lack of common understanding regarding quality of education and how a school's performance should be judged. The concept of accountability of schools and education personnel including teachers, head teachers and supervisors at the upazila level, all of whom received public funds to provide public service, appeared to be lacking. Absence of models or knowledge about effective schools, and high quality teaching-learning practices also may have led to the acceptance and tolerance of the familiar. 

B. Education resources in schools

Data on education resources - physical facilities, human resources, and financial resources disposable at the school level - in the 10 upazilas under study show that:

1. The major categories of schools, GPS, RNGPS and madrasas, did not have sufficient classroom space for all the enrolled children. Applying a modest standard of the upazila education office of just permitting students to sit in rows of benches with little elbow room, it was found that there was no space for a quarter of the enrolled students in GPS and 40 percent of the students in madrasas. By these standards, RNGPSs in the ten upazilas could accommodate 97 percent of their enrolled students.
2. Despite major government investments in primary school facilities since 1990, these remained far from satisfactory, both in number of classrooms and schools and in their quality. Fifteen percent of the schools in the 10 upazilas were rated by the research team as "good" - with safe, sturdy and clean roof, walls and floors. About half were "fair" and 35 percent were rated as "poor," - judged by very basic criteria applied. Hazardous and definitely unsafe conditions were observed in some GPS and madrasas.
3. Insufficiency of teachers was a common problem. Eighty percent of the schools had four or less teachers, 21 percent three or less. On an average, 30 percent schools had more than 60 students per teacher; over two-thirds had more than 40 students per teacher. 
4. The average teacher-student ratio in the ten upazilas was 1:53 - somewhat better than the national average of 1:61. There was a substantial variation in this ratio among the upazilas. The range was 37 to 90 students per teacher for GPS and 34 to 95 students per teacher for RNGPS. Approved posts of teachers remained vacant for a year or more in 19 percent of GP schools and 7 percent RNGP schools.
5. Overall, GP and RNGP schools had very little fund available to be used at the school's discretion for essential expenses related to school's activities. Some primary schools raised funds for small repair, purchase of stationery and entertainment of visitors with contribution made by themselves, collected from the community and by charging students "unofficial" fees. Madrasas were more active in raising their own resources and appealed for contribution as a religious obligation. A few formal schools received contribution from NGOs.

C. Nature of deprivation

The large picture of primary education deprivation has been noted. The good news is that a broad-based gender parity has been observed across the board among catchment areas, upazilas, school types, and socio-economic groups. This accomplishment needs to be deepened to improve learning outcome for both girls and boys, and extended to include all who still remain left out. Moreover:

1. The most pronounced differences were among socio economic categories in respect of enrolment, repetition, dropout, and participation in primary education, which delineated the magnitude and nature of the problem of deprivation in primary education. Self-rated food security status of households was taken as the proxy for socio-economic grouping. 

• In the surveyed upazilas, a child from an "always in deficit" family had a 30 percent less chance of being enrolled in a school and five times more chance of dropping out from school compared to a child from a "surplus" family.
• A quarter of the non-enrolled children cited poverty as the reason for non-enrolment. Over forty percent who dropped out indicated poverty as the reason for dropping out.
• Refusal of the school authority to admit the child was cited as the second most important reason (21 percent of the respondents) for non-enrolment. This appears to be a new phenomenon arising from increased interest in schooling generated by offer of stipends and parents' preference for certain schools – close to home or with a "good name."
• Children not "liking school" was an important cause for not enrolling and the most important reason for dropping out. This indicates problems about how the school functions.
• The interaction between factors related to school and family and society need to be investigated further. Social and economic disadvantage of the child and the child's background and the school's response to this are key elements in this interaction.
  

2. It was not one or another cause that could be identified and fixed, but a syndrome of poverty and disadvantage including child labour, first generation learner, inability to afford private tutors, and causes related to children's absenteeism that need to be addressed. 
   

• In the 6-14 age group of the poorest economic category, one-third of the children were non students and at work or unemployed, and 30 percent were students and working at the same time. In the "surplus" group, about the same proportion was both students and at work, but only 7.5 percent of the children were non-students, either working or without any work.
• Forty-seven percent of the mothers and 43 percent of the fathers of primary school children in the upazilas were without any schooling. Both parents were without education for a third of the children. These children can be regarded as "first generation learners". Inability of parents to guide and support their children, and the likely economic disadvantage of these families, affect how thefirst generation learners perform in school.
• Private tutors for primary school children have become a norm. Forty three percent of the children had private tutors; they paid an average of Tk 152 per month for eight months in a year. Children who needed extra help with their studies most, first generation learners, could afford it the least.
• Low average school attendance, about 60 percent, was linked with factors related to both the operation of the school and the family situation of the child. Causes identified were children's need to help at home either regularly or for seasonal farm work, ill health or sickness of child or a parent, acute family economic problems, and falling behind in lessons with no help to catch up from teacher or at home. Any interruption in schooling set in motion for the poor a vicious spiral of further lag, more absences, and eventual dropping out. 
• Children with special needs, especially those with disabilities, and children of ethnic minorities whose mother tongue is not Bangla, are special dimensions in the picture of deprivation in primary education.
• Studies of the category labelled as ultra poor, which consists of 20 percent to one-third of the population depending on criteria, showed net enrolment of 65 percent compared to around 80 percent nationally.
  

3. Three kinds of actions observed could be regarded as elements of the effort to address deprivation. These are free distribution of textbooks, scholarshipexaminations in primary schools, and stipend for primary school children from poor families; but these have not worked optimally for the poor. 
   

• GPS, RNGPS and ebtedayee madrasas are supposed to receive free textbooks, while others can buy these. However, students in all categories of schools had to make a payment to receive the books. Survey data showed that 27 percent of the children made a payment to receive books which was, on average, Tk 14 per child in GPS and RNGPS and Tk 32 in madrasas.
• The extra time and attention given to 20 percent of the class 5 scholarship nominees often meant that 80 percent in class 5 and all in the rest of the schools paid a price in a very common situation of teacher shortage in the school. A measure intended to encourage good performance and benefit students has become counter-productive for those vulnerable to deprivation. 
• Stipend recipients were roughly evenly divided between four socio-economic categories (based on food security criteria used in this study). Over two-thirds of the children from the poorest category were not selected to be recipients of stipend; but 27 percent of children from affluent households received the stipend. 
• Household survey revealed that forty percent of the recipients were paid Tk 200 or less instead of Tk 300 as a quarterly payment. Students from "rich" households received on average Tk 260 and those from "poor" households were paid Tk 225.
• Targeting the poor, the principal rationale of the stipend programme, does not appear to be working, at least in the upazilas under study. There are also major problems in the management and administration of the programme, one manifestation of which is "cuts" taken from stipend. A basic dilemma of the programme is: Are there ways of spending scarce money to help the disadvantaged children perform better in school and attend school regularly rather than subject them to criteria which they find difficult to meet. Non-formal education programmes run by NGOs have attracted and held poor children in school and helped them to perform well without stipend as an inducement. 

D. Quality in the classroom

A look at school level academic management based on information gathered from schools, interviews, discussion with stakeholders, and classroom observation revealed:

1. Schools mostly do not have the academic and management leadership needed perform effectively. The head teachers' key role in ensuring effective functioning of school is mentioned in government directives. In practice, the head teacher essentially worked as another teacher. The way head teachers were selected, time available to them, their training and degree of freedom granted did not support or encourage a leadership role for the head teacher. When this happened, this was due to exceptional individual initiative.
2. An inflexible and uniform centrally imposed daily school time-table fragmented the school day in very short blocks of time for up to eight separate school subjects every day, with little time for anything other than a mechanical routine in the class, even for children of grades one and two. In two shift schools, over 90 percent of all schools, this meant no more than 20 to 25 minutes of learning time in a class period. Short staffing in schools often made the uniform central time table impractical. Schools made their own adjustments, but this often meant "convenient" arrangements for reducing teacher load by combining sections, making large classes even larger, but the fragmentation remained intact. There appears to be no awareness of this as a problem among teachers or supervisors and few examples were found, except in non-formal schools, of efforts to apply learner-centred and active teaching-learning with flexibility in the class routine.
3. Competency-based curriculum with the formulation of the essential learning continuum and listing of competencies to be acquired by children through primary education was introduced a decade ago. This was an important government primary education initiative which had the potential of bringing about very significant improvement in learning outcome. After a decade since this initiative began, teachers and head teachers did not have sufficient understanding of the concept and its implications for their work. The teacher's guide book distributed several years ago is rarely consulted by teachers and has not been followed up with sufficient in-service training and orientation of teachers and supervisors. 
4. Primary schools (GPS and RNGPS) were graded into four categories applying a ten point checklist related to school facilities and management, but not learning performance except scholarship examination results. Fifteen percent of the schools were found to meet the criteria for grade A and over a quarter had serious deficiencies. Annual school plans for supervision and support from upazila education offices did not indicate any planning to bring the weak schools up to a satisfactory level. This initiative has the potential of making school supervision focus on overall performance of schools and make supervision purposeful.
5. Classroom observations carried out by the research team in 10 schools illustrated the common weaknesses in teaching-learning, especially in GPS, RNGPS and madrasas, which served over 90 percent of the children. There were serious deficiencies in subject knowledge in such subjects as Mathematics, English and Bangla that caused students to be subjected to wrong information, explanation, examples and pronunciation. Teaching was based, with rare exceptions, on one-way communication in often large and crowded classrooms with a class time-table that did not permit carrying out a complete lesson sequence. Few learning aids were used, but a stick as a tool for discipline was seen in many classes. There was little effort or opportunity to help children who lagged behind. Home tasks were assigned but teachers failed to provide sufficient feedback to students. Classes in non-formal schools with smaller classes, strong supervisory support and supply of essential learning aids were a clear contrast to an average class in GPS, RNGPS and madrasas.
   
   

E. Management at school and local level

Critical issues regarding the management at school and support to school were identified on the basis of school survey, focus group discussion, interviews, and school and classroom observation.

1. The process of teacher recruitment was seen by stakeholders at the local level as a major impediment to improvement of quality in primary education. SMC members, parents, teachers, AUEOs and UEOs all expressed concern about infractions and manipulation of rules and regulations regarding the recruitment of both GPS and RNGPS teachers leading to recruitment of teachers who were not qualified to be teachers. In the case of GPS the violation of rules was caused at the district level by increasing the weight of oral interviews in selection, thus making the process vulnerable to improper influence. For RNGPS, where SMCs were responsible, the system was seen as dominated by cronyism instead of application of criteria.
2. Most GPS teachers are trained but most RNGPS teachers are not. With an annual capacity of 6,000 in PTIs and at least 100,000 primary school teachers in need of training, the demand cannot be met by current training approaches. Moreover major overhaul is needed in PTI training to make it more effective, since studies have shown no significant impact of this training in student performance.
3. Two main initiatives for in-service training - sub-cluster training and URC subject-based training - are not working well in the 10 upazilas. Lack of professional support in planning and designing the content and method, professional deficiency of AUEOs who are the trainers for this event, and inadequate follow-up of outcomes of training at the school level rendered the sub-cluster training into a monthly social gathering of teachers presided over by the AUEO. URC's are not living up to their potential as resource and training centres for teachers in the upazila. URCs nominally exist in the ten upazilas but four are not functional yet and three had stopped due to lack of fund (since the development project funding ran out). The morale is low in URCs and the short subject training offered is yet to be assessed for their impact in classroom.
4. AUEOs are the frontline supervisors for primary schools with the charge of giving teachers professional support and advice to do their job properly. Most informants in focus groups and interviews thought this promise is far from being fulfilled. Large number of schools, counting only GPS, RNGPS and community schools, in the charge of an AUEO (average of 41 and a range of 16 to 212 in the ten upazilas), no budget for mobility, lack of training for offering professional supervisory support to teachers, and filling out long inspection forms about compliance with rules rather than advising on effective teaching were identified as the problems. In addition, complaints were rampant that extorting payments and favours from teachers on threat of punishment was a common practice.
5. With most schools running in two shifts and total contact hours one of the lowest by international comparison, using the available time of students and teachers in school optimally is important for effective learning. The stakeholders were in favour of the ideal solution of a longer school day in single shift schools. This must be the aim, but this has major implications for teachers, classrooms and budgets. A strong argument can be made for giving priority to reducing class size to a maximum of 40 children under one teacher who is properly trained and has strong supervisory support in a double shift school, if a single shift means having a larger class under an ill-trained teacher with no supervision.
6. Union Parishad - the only local government tier existing at present, has almost no role in primary education. Chairpersons and members mostly said they did not know of any significant role in primary education that has been assigned to them, although many were willing to be involved. The local education committees at union and ward levels set up after compulsory primary education programme was started a decade ago have become dormant.
7. SMCs have been given a broad and sweeping role in primary school management, but with little real authority. Nonetheless, active and engaged SMCs can make a difference in the school, as it has been demonstrated in some cases. Political control - now institutionalised by giving the local MP a role, and cronyism of head teachers in the case of GPS and of the founding group in the case of RNGPS, have led to formation of SMCs with mostly the wrong people for such a committee. Unclear and vague ideas about the role and duty of the SMC, among the members themselves and among school authorities and parents, and absence of any disposable fund with the managing committee are other reasons for their ineffectiveness. The potential of SMC as the vehicle for accountability and community involvement in school thus cannot be realised. 
8. There is miscommunication or confusion about the relative roles of PTAs and SMCs. The apprehension was expressed by some that there would be an overlap and conflicts if both the bodies were active in a school and that with active SMCs no PTA is needed. Non-formal schools have demonstrated that parents, especially mothers, want to be involved and can be partners with teachers and the school in helping children learn and grow.
9. No one has the responsibility and authority to maintain an oversight of primary education in the upazila. There was no common or comprehensive source of information about education in the upazila, nor was there any focal point for promoting or planning for compulsory primary education or EFA goals in the upazila. The madrasas, for example, remained virtually without any supervision although they enrolled 9 percent of the students in the upazila. The proprietary kindergartens are growing in number and are popular with the upcoming middle class even in small towns and some villages, but they remain outside any regulatory framework. In fact, there is no focal point of responsibility to protect and uphold public interest in the sphere of education in the upazila.
10. Most stakeholders at the school and upazila level were in favour of much greater and meaningful decentralisation of education management. They were, at the same time, apprehensive that local pressures of vested interests would increase; and that resources were scarce at the local level, which had to come from the central authorities. On balance, however, they favoured a genuine shift towards devolution of authority and decisions to district, upazila and school levels. This would require, according to them, defining power, authority and control over resources at different levels and trying out ways of making this work. It was not clear to all stakeholders what form decentralisation should take and how it was to be achieved; hence the importance of trying out approaches in selected locations.

As cautioned by UNESCO's latest EFA Monitoring Report, Bangladesh will not reach its EFA goals for 2015 with a "business as usual" approach. Ambitious goals have been set for PEDP II, the umbrella development programme of the government in primary education for the period 2003/4 to 2008/9, on which much hope is pinned. But it has been already late by more than a year in getting off the ground. There has to be a much greater sense of urgency, greater determination to cut through inertia and bureaucratic obstacles on both national and external donor fronts, and a stronger will to resist extraneous vested interests than has been seen so far. The slow and halting pace of progress witnessed in the five years since the 2015 EFA goals were adopted must shift to a different cadence.

A good number of technical recommendations could be offered based on the information collected, analysed and presented above. The research team has decided instead to recommend seven action priorities aimed at moving from the business-as-usual approach and injecting a renewed sense of urgency about fulfilling the promise of quality primary education for all children.

Quality with equity: Seven action priorities in primary education

1. Recognition of inequity and deprivation in primary education as a serious problem and a commitment to deal with it. The first step to effective action has to be an understanding and recognition on the part of policy makers at the political level and in the education establishment that primary education remains unequal with large-scale deprivation of access and participation in the system, as shown in this report. It can be seen even by analysing official data. A genuine commitment to removing deprivation and inequity has to be reflected in:

• Allocation of resources and budgets for education programmes with equity and affirmative action in favour of the disadvantaged as key criteria,
• Subjecting education policy and programme decisions as well as resource allocation and budgets to poverty impact analysis,
• Applying poverty impact and consequences as a component in education programme assessment and evaluation,
• Supporting research, experimentation and analysis of experience about how the poor can be effectively served and the programme outcomes enhanced, and
• Adopting the rights perspective to fulfill the education rights and entitlements of all children.

This commitment at the national level has to be communicated forcefully and with conviction to donors and international partners, policy implementers, local bodies, SMCs, teachers, parents and even students. As key stakeholders, their role and commitment in helping achieve educational goals is paramount. 

2. Addressing at the school level the syndrome of poverty and disadvantage affecting student performance. As noted in this report, a syndrome consisting of factors at home and in school causes children's deprivation from education, which has to be addressed holistically. The locus of action for this effort has to be the school where the education authorities can reach the child, the parents and the teachers and work out appropriate measures responding to specific circumstances of disadvantage. The elements of this response would be:

• Identifying the disadvantaged children and their particular difficulties,
• Extra help in studies in class or out of class to first generation and "slow" learners,
• Providing learning materials (notebooks, workbooks, pencil, paper etc.) and elimination of all cash costs to children from the poor families.
• Regular communication of school with the parents of the disadvantaged, designating a teacher for a group of these parents for maintaining contact.
• Orientation of managing committee, teachers, and community about the special effort.
• Provision of budget to be managed by school for this purpose - perhaps redirecting stipend funds for this purpose.

3. Effective implementation of competency-based primary education. The promise and potential of curricula and teaching-learning based on essential learning continuum and competencies, even after a decade, have not been fulfilled. The concept remains sound and valid. A concerted effort needs to be made to implement competency-based curriculum, classroom work, and learning assessment. The components of this effort will include:

• Critical review of "terminal" and intermediate competencies to separate out beliefs and values, which may be important but are not measurable competencies, and their sequence and gradation.
• Using time and resources optimally to ensure student achievement in basic skills; a case in point is wasting scarce student and teacher time in the attempt to teach English from grade 1, when most teachers cannot speak English. 
• Plan and support for continuing technical work on translating competencies into classroom activities, lesson plans, learning aids and continuing assessment methods in classroom, and pre-service and in-service training of teachers.
• Continuing professional work on competency-based curriculum development, textbooks and learning materials,
• Development and introduction of valid grade-wise and end- of- primary -level assessment 
• Support for coordinated action research on this subject.

4. Decentralisation, local planning and management trial. The absence of any oversight responsibility and planning of primary education involving all service providers at the local level and lack of management authority with accountability at school level have been identified as impediment to quality and equity in primary education. At the same time, there is apprehension about the problems decentralisation may cause and the capacity and resources at the school and local level. The appropriate way to deal with this dilemma is to initiate development and trial of decentralised planning and management including personnel, resources and academic programme in six districts in six divisions. The components of the trial can include:

• Defining tasks, responsibilities, capacities and accountability process at district, upazila and school levels, 
• Developing upazila primary education planning and school improvement plans, as anticipated in PEDP II, including technical and professional support for these,
• Working towards a unified approach to ensure core quality standards for all primary education provisions for all children,
• Scope and method for devolving greater authority and responsibility and fund management to school managing committee and head teacher including accountability of school to community and education authorities.
• Managing at school level learning time and calendar, academic programme, and teacher's performance of duties.
• Capacity- building at district, upazila and school level including capacity to manage and use information.

Implementation of PEDP II programme in a decentralised mode in the selected upazilas and districts with trial and demonstration of effective implementation of the programme should be a key objective of the trial.

5. Supporting development and use of professional capacity. The management structure and decision-making process at present allow little room for development and effective use of professional capacity in primary education. Career structure in primary education does not encourage professional development and professional staff to rise to management and decision-making level. Personnel recruitment and deployment policy and practice hinder development of centres for professional and technical expertise in the sector in institutions such as NAPE and NCTB and at central and field levels of DPE. Institutions including IER of Dhaka University, IED of BRAC University, NAPE and NCTB should be supported to work together on developing strategy and plan for professionalisation and professional capacity development in primary education. This effort should be linked to and complemented by measures anticipated under PEDP II. The elements of this activity would be:

• Undertaking institutional and organisational analysis of primary education management required in PEDP II.
• Establishment of a primary education cadre - a condition of PEDP II donor support.
• Development of need-based short and longer specialised training and professional development courses,
•  Rethinking and redesigning pre-service and in-service teacher training and action research to cope with huge needs in terms of quality and quantity.

6. A greater voice of stakeholders at all levels. In the education system, more than in all other social enterprises, the participatory approach, transparency in decision-making and a high degree of accountability should become the norm. Openness and sharing of information and dialogue in public forums should be the norm at school, union parishad and upazila regarding objectives, plans and progress, and budgetary allocations in the school, and for the upazila. The process of transparency and participation of all stakeholders should include:

• Periodic sharing of information and plans, and monitoring of progress of , e.g., school's annual work plan, upazila primary education plan and use of funds received from government and other sources, performance evaluation of schools in public forums organised for this purpose.
• Parent Teacher Association.
• Transparent and public selection/election of school managing committee and upazila education committee members. 

7. Addressing governance issues. Political interference and undue involvement of politicians, institutionalised by government regulations about managing committees, have been identified as a major contributor to corruption, mismanagement, waste and obstacle to good management practices in general. Support is needed from the Prime Minister, in her capacity as the Minister in charge of Primary and Mass Education, to develop a consensus and adopt and abide by a policy decision to make education, especially primary education, free from political interference, which will help reduce mismanagement and corruption. Support and encouragement from the highest political level is also essential for implementation of this seven point agenda.
   

• A steady growth in secondary education participation has been achieved in the last decade which has reached 45 percent on a net basis for the 11-15 year age children – from 33 percent in 1998. 
• Enrollment of girls has surged ahead of boys by 11 percentage points at 50.6 percent compared to 39.6 percent for boys on a net basis. This has been a broad- based progress across geographical areas and socio-economic strata.
• There remains a large urban-rural gap of 10 percentage points – at 43.6 percent net enrolment in rural areas and 54.0 percent in urban areas. Slums in large urban cities fare the worst with only 18 percent net enrolment.
• Of those enrolled in secondary level, over three quarters went to non-government secondary schools. The next most popular category is the madrasa, with 14 percent of enrolment in government-assisted madrasas and another two percent in “non-graded” quomi madrasas.
• Economic status and parental education are most closely correlated with education participation. Children of households with “surplus” food availability have more than double the chance of being in school than children in “deficit” households. Three quarters of children of mothers with secondary education are in secondary school compared with 31 percent for mothers with no formal education.
• On reasons for non-participation, two responses stand out – “scarcity of money” or poverty, and children’s “dislike of school”, which indicates problems in respect of classroom practices. The third most frequent response was the need for the child to work, which is linked to poverty. Poverty appears to be the predominant cause of non-participation in secondary education. This probably is one explanation of the popularity of madrasas, some of which offer room and board to students and charge less fee than general secondary schools.

Learning provisions and facilities

• Non-government secondary schools and dakhil madrsas are the most numerous providers of secondary education serving respectively 76 per cent and 11 percent of all secondary level students. Including alim madrasas and “non-graded” madrasas, the religion-based institutions enrolls 16 percent of secondary level students. 
• About a half of the schools had science laboratories of varying quality; 30 percent of the non-government schools had adequate laboratories; 87 percent of the madrasas did not have any. 
• Only 15 percent of the institutions had a library with a collection of books that could be regarded as adequate judged by modest standards.
• Thirty-seven percent of the schools claimed to have computer education facility, but a fifth of the schools had only one computer and another fifth had 2-15 computers; the rest had none. Fifty-four percent reported having at least one teacher with training in computer use.
• Half of the secondary education institutions were found to have physical facilities (roofs, walls, floors, doors, and windows) in good or largely good condition, one third were in poor condition and 18 percent were in damaged or seriously dilapidated condition.
• Nearly 60 percent institutions had electricity connections, but two-thirds of classrooms and half of teachers’ rooms had no electricity.
• Most schools have clean water supply and toilets; three quarters with separate facilities for boys and girls; but a quarter of the toilets were in seriously unhygienic condition.
• Less than a fifth of the secondary teachers (17.9 percent) were women. Eighty-four percent of the teachers received government salary subvention.
• Low level of academic achievement of teachers was widespread. Eighty-four percent of secondary teachers had a bachelors or higher degrees; however, 57 percent of the teachers claiming the Bachelors degree were placed in the third division or some even did not take the degree examination. The same was the situation with 78 percent of those who claimed Masters’ qualifications.
• Nearly half of the graduate teachers studied humanities; 20 percent studied science and 23 percent were madrasa graduates. More than half of the secondary teachers had no professional pedagogic training.
• The nominal student-teacher ratio was 29; however, with shortage of teachers for key subjects and absences of (10 percent on an average day), effective student teacher ratio was substantially higher. This was offset by student attendance rate of only 50 percent.
  

Internal efficiency of institutions

• Of children enrolled in class six, about half reached class ten, 40 percent passed the test prior to public examinations (SSC/dakhil) and only 20 percent passed the public examinations and thus successfully completed the secondary cycle. 
• In contrast to advances in initial enrollment, girls lagged behind boys by 6 percentage points in reaching class ten, by 17 percentage points in passing the class ten “test” and by 11 percentage points in passing the public examination on average between 2001 and 2004. Boys were ahead of girls in completing the cycle and passing secondary examinations in all types of secondary institutions.
• On average 19.6 pupil years were required to produce one completer of the five year cycle. The investment of 25.1 years pupil years was needed to have a girl complete the cycle. This testified to serious inefficiency of the system and was an indication of serious quality problems.
  

Financing and resources

• Private household spending for secondary education was more than four times higher than public spending. On an average, Taka 8,874 per male child and Taka 7, 411 per girl child were spent annually by households for children’s secondary education. By comparison, public spending per child per year was in the order of Taka 1500 in non-government secondary schools and Taka 1900 in dakhil madrasas.
• Household expenditure in urban areas were 71 percent higher for boys and 80 percent more for girls.
• Expenditures for private tutoring were the highest among all items of private expenditures across the board, accounting for about half of the total private spending.
• The poor in the “food deficit” households spent uss than half per child for secondary education than those in the “food surplus” households - Taka 3,891 compared to Taka 8,123 per child per year. It is remarkable that even the poor families are investing substantial resources for their children’s education, although the learning outputs and outcomes from these investments are far from assured.
• Government contribution in salary subvention and other grants constituted 60.5 percent of the income of non-government schools and 70.4 percent for dakhil madrasas.
• Average annual income of a non-government secondary school in 2004 was Taka 908,000 and for dakhil madrasas Taka 571,000. ( Average enrolment per institution were respectively 555 and 292 in 2002, the latest year of published figures available from BANBEIS.)
• On an average, 54 percent of the girls enrolled in sample secondary schools and dakhil madrasas were stipend recipients. 
• Variations were noted for different regions of the country in proportions of recipients of stipends among girl students – with a low of 42 pecent recipients in rural Sylhet and high of 71 percent in rural Barisal. 
• Girls’ stipends represented in 2003-4 financial year 57 percent of government development allocation for secondary education and 19 percent of total revenue and development expenditure for all secondary education institutions.
  

Management of institutions

• Almost all schools and madrasas, with the exception of the ones run by the government, have a managing committee. Average number of committee members was 12.7 for all types of non-government secondary institutions.
• Participation of female members in the SMC was very low; only 3.4 percent of all members, in spite of the fact that almost all rural schools are co-educational. Dakhil and alim madrasas had an even lower proportion of women in managing committees. The low percentage in a committee of 11 or more members meant that most secondary education institutions did not have any woman in their managing committees.
• About a third of the SMC members were teachers by profession (either member secretary or teacher representative or teachers of other institutions)
• A quarter of the SMC members were businessmen, 17.7 percent service holders, 14.2 percent farmers and 10.4 percent were social workers. 
• Although, the managing committee is supposed to represent the community stakeholders in education, recent regulations and practice have made the selection process of the chair for the non-government secondary school committees beholden to the consent of the local M.P. The chair of the committee for all madrasas in an upozila is the Upozila Nirbahi (Executive) officer.
• Making selection of the chairperson of the SMC beholden to the local MP or a political personality has taken the process away from community choice. This has resulted frequently in placing this key responsibility in unfit hands. 

The following items have been identified as guidelines to be kept in focus in considering policy and programme priorities. 

• Expanding opportunities. Expanding opportunities for secondary education with greater equity and better quality remain the central concern in secondary education, despite growth in enrolment and dramatic advances in bringing girls into the orbit of education.
• Growth with quality and equity. With increased participation and completion in primary education, a growing recognition of secondary education as a part of basic education and improvement in transition from primary to secondary level, the social demand for secondary education will continue to rise. The major challenge, therefore, is to find ways of combining growth with quality improvement. Elements of quality enhancement, including teachers, curriculum and learning materials, learning facilities, assessment of learning and school-level management, have to be built in as integral parts of plans and strategies for the expansion of the system.
• School level action targeted at the disadvantaged. On top of non-entry of more than half of the age group, high dropout and failure to complete the cycle mean that the poor are largely deprived from secondary education opportunities. Those of the poor or somewhat less poor who manage to enter into the system are hit the hardest by the low efficiency and quality of the system. Secondary education, as a result, is less a vehicle for social mobility than a means of reinforcing existing social divisions. Poorly performing madrasas serving mostly the poor and proprietary English medium schools serving the elites are potent symbols of the divisive system.
  Two key strategies for making secondary education equity-inducing and pro-poor need to be: (a) Quality enhancement measures at the school level in non-government schools, serving the vast majority of children, which particularly target children of disadvantaged families; and (b) Modernising curriculum and teaching-learning practices in madrasas, the second most popular category of secondary education institutions. 
• Protecting and consolidating gender gain. Advances in girls’ enrolment is meaningful to the extent that this can be sustained until the end of the cycle and they realize the full benefits of education. Trageted efforts are needed, especially at the school level, to identify and remove the obstacles that hold girls back, and improve the quality of teaching and learning practices for both girls and boys.
• Improving teachers’ capabilities and performance. Registration and certification of teachers are useful moves, if these can be implemented properly. These alone, however, do not address the problem of supply of qualified teachers and of expanding opportunities that are effective in teachers’ professional development. 
  Creative initiatives are needed in these regards, which may include: contract and part-time deployment of people with required skills, who may not be professional teachers, innovative hands-on teacher skill development methods using NGO and business techniques and experience; and better quality control of growing private B.Ed courses.
• Preparing the ground for a unified system. Essential learning facilities including laboratories and libraries, teachers who are at least minimally qualified to teach key subjects, and school management mindful of quality assurance are essential prerequisites for implementation of a unified curriculum for all students up to grade ten. Progress has to be demonstrated in preparing this ground to allay the concerns of parents and students about what they may get in the bargain, how prepared students will be to cope with the separate streams at the higher secondary level, and whether they will lose a competitive edge in choosing their field of study in higher education. Moreover, all streams of secondary education should be brought under reforms aimed at developing a unified system.
  One category of necessary action would be to examine and revise the articulation, sequence, and academic load for all stages of secondary education from grade six to twelve and ensure better implementation of the curriculum. There is widespread anxiety that isolated change in the middle can be disruptive. 
• Strategies to serve key objectives by combining private and public resources. Since private expenditures are several times larger than public spending in secondary education, mobilization and use of resources for expanding educational opportunities, promoting equity and improving quality need to be based on the premise of effectively combining public and private resources for promoting key objectives, rather than plan and allocate public expenditures in isolation. Mechanisms for combining the resources and using these well need to be explored and tried out by ceding greater authority with accountability to the school level. 
• Re-thinking stipends. Stipends have boosted girls’ enrolment, but, at least two critical questions are: a) Given the overall quality problems in secondary education and low per student expenditure, do stipends starve out important inputs necessary for quality improvement – such as, laboratories, libraries, teacher training and stronger supervision? And, b) Are conditions attached to this transfer payment, which the disadvantaged sections of the population (very poor, first generation learners and girls who have to work to help their families) have difficulty to meet, further aggravating disparity? 
• Gender balance in managing committees. The School Managing Committee is seriously in default in gender balance - with a total representation of only 3.4 percent women in all observed schools, although the vast majority of schools enroll both boys and girls. Both regulations and practice must change to include more than symbolic participation of women and mothers in school management.
• Making managing committees responsive and accountable. Modification of regulations, awareness raising and active encouragement on the part of political and education authorities are needed to make the selection of the chairperson and members of the managing committees less beholden to local political personalities and more a genuine choice of the community. This key responsibility should not be placed in unfit hands who do not have the necessary capabilities or are not genuinely interested in education.
• Strategy to promote greater authority with accountability at school level. A central framework of regulations and standards is necessary, which appears to be the principal government response to the management problems and huge waste of resources; but more important is impartial and objective application of these provisions. And even more critical is for individual institutions to become responsible and accountable for promoting and maintaining standards. This aim can be supported by the government by inviting and encouraging schools to take responsibility and demonstrate their capacity to do so on the basis of agreed criteria. Once it is established by independent assessment that the schools have lived up to their obligations, these schools can be rewarded, exempted from central control and allowed to develop and follow their own higher standards. This strategy of nurturing self-regulation is likely to be an effective incentive for greater school-level responsibility with accountability.

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