Main barriers to education
- Poverty
- Safety
- Geographical locations
- Extreme weather events
- Lack of schools in urban slums
- Poor infrastructure
Following the country’s split from Pakistan in 1971, the Bangladeshi government has worked steadily to improve both the health and education sector, whilst reducing population growth. However, the population to date is a staggering 160 million, 40% of whom are children.
Bangladesh boasts an extremely fertile land, and its ’s agricultural sector is the country’s largest employer, however, it cannot support the country’s large population; half of the population lives on less than one dollar a day, many of chose to travel abroad in search of work.
Rural areas are inhabited by almost three quarters of the population, but extreme weather conditions such as flooding and cyclones, means that income generation is volatile and inconstant. Increasing poverty in these areas is prompting many rural families to move to urban zones. For example, Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is one of the fastest growing Mega-cities according to UNICEF. Migration of people to these urban centers brings an increase in the cost of land and growth in illegal settlements.
Projects
Boat Schools for Rural Children
EAC and BRAC are working in Bangladesh through the use of boat schools to break down the barriers that children face to accessing education in disaster prone and remote rural areas, where households are constrained due to challenging geographies and the negative consequences of extreme weather.
BRAC Urban Slums Schools
With the support of EAC co-funding, BRAC is establishing 2,000 single classroom schools in the urban slums of Bangladesh in order to enroll 62,000 children who are currently out of school into quality primary education programs.
Bridge School Programme for OOSC
Over the course of a five-year period, BRAC will implement a nationwide ‘Bridge School Programme’, aiming to enrol 60,000 vulnerable and disadvantaged OOSC across Bangladesh into quality primary education.
Children’s Learning Centers
Through the use of non-formal primary schools, Children’s Learning Centers, in Bangladesh, EAC and the Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) will reach 40,000 out of school children in Noakhali, Laxmipur, Chittagong, Mymensingh, and Netrokona districts with quality education.
Education for Out of School Children in Bangladesh
In partnership with EAC, the GSS Education for Out of School Children Project addresses the barriers to education faced by low income families and children living in rural, remote area and in urban slums of Bangladesh through low cost primary education using active learning techniques.
Non-Formal Primary-Level Education to Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Citizens
BRAC, a Bangladesh-based organisation widely recognised for its ability to design, implement and scale comprehensive, community-based development programmes, is actively providing large-scale services to forcibly displaced 35,000 Myanmar nationals (FDMN) arriving in the country.Supporting Fourth Primary Education Development Programme
EAC and the Asian Development Bank are teaming up to increase access to quality primary education for some of the most marginalised OOSC in Asia. In this instance, the joint Supporting Fourth Primary Education Development Programme is on the ground in Bangladesh, aiming to reach 650,000 OOSC.Partners
Asian Development Bank
In 2020, EAA and the Asian Development Bank entered into a formal framework agreement to identify, enrol and retain vulnerable out of school children into quality primary education programming, in support of SDG4.
BRAC
Through the use of boat schools and single classroom urban schools, BRAC is working in partnership with EAC to increase access to education for children living in hard to reach areas of Bangladesh’s Haor flood plain, and in the slums of Bangladesh’s cities.
Dhaka Ahsania Mission
In partnership with EAC, the Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) in Bangladesh will establish 1,000 new Children’s Learning Centers (CLCs). The new CLCs will help enable DAM to educate 40,000 Bangladeshi children over a five year period. As part of an existing program with the European Commission, DAM runs more than 1,900 Children’s Learning Centers, with over 60,000 children currently enrolled.
