Title: Atiur Rahman and Mahfuz Kabir
1Social Innovation in Facing Challenges of
Secondary Education A Case from Bangladesh
- Atiur Rahman and Mahfuz Kabir
Presented at Dijon, France 2006
Chairman, Unnayan Shamannay, Dhaka, E-mail
atiur_at_sdnbd.org Research Officer, Bangladesh
Institute of International and Strategic Studies
(BIISS), Dhaka, E-mail mahfuz_at_biiss.org.
2Problems of secondary education (Grade Vi-X) in
Bangladesh
- very low overall average rate of return
- poverty is one of the strongest deterrents to
access to schooling - very high average pupil-tutor ratio
- Poor and inadequate physical facilities leading
to over-crowding in the classroom - very weak or non-existent academic supervision
- very low community participation
3Innovative features of a social
interventionVelayet Hossain Multilateral High
School
- provide high quality education to poor students
- students serve as extension workers at adjoining
villages - after completing SSC many boys and girls are now
self-employed - small scale dairy, poultry, and fish farm
horticulture nursery computer and science
laboratories, sewing machines, etc. to provide
hands-on training - local community effectively participate in the
school activities including school visit,
financial contribution, voluntary physical labor
to promote quality education
4performance of Velayet School vis-à-vis a typical
rural secondary school Results of micro
econometric investigation
- Velayet students average scores of the
subjective tests were statistically significantly
higher than the control group - their aggregate scores were also statistically
significantly higher - higher but insignificant mean scores of boys
compared to its girl students - distance between the mean score of weaker
students compared to others is lower in Velayet
School than that of the control school - Velayet School is doing better in terms of
reducing the gap among the students
5Policy Implications
findings can have significant policy dividend for
both Bangladesh and developing countries with
similar challenges in secondary education
- introduction of trade courses rather than
expanding general education with no skills - part-time income earning vocations for the
students - emphasis of extra-curricular
- activities to wider the vision of the students
- community involvement for quality education