One in every four children between the ages of six and 10 are still out of school, and this is posing a huge challenge in achieving education for all.
A report titled “Child Equity Atlas: Pockets of Social Deprivation in Bangladesh” was launched yesterday by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies in partnership with Unicef Bangladesh.
Social disparities continue in the country and remain a major challenge despite the government’s efforts to address them, the report said. In terms of school attendance, reducing child marriage, reducing child labour and other social indicators, some parts of the country are performing well while some are performing poorly, it said.
Social deprivation is concentrated mostly in the northern, north-eastern, and south-eastern and to a lesser extent south-central parts of Bangladesh. The best performing districts are located around Khulna and Barisal divisions, compared to Sylhet division which lags behind.
The report said even in the best performing upazila, 13 out of 100 children were out of school while 45% children were not attending school in the worst performing upazila. Attendance in pre-schools was also “fairly low” with only about two out of ten children under five attending pre-school.
Child marriage is still a significant challenge in the country. The report revealed that almost one-third girls aged between 15 and 19 are married, which is one of the highest rates in the world.
Child labour has been reduced overall, but is still fairly intense in the urban areas.
The proportion of real child workers have reduced to 6%, compared to 10% in 2001. However, in Dhaka City Corporation area almost one in every six children is a worker.
Planning Minister AK Khandker, State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroze Chumki, Unicef Representative in Bangladesh Pascal Villeneuve, former caretaker adviser Rasheda K Choudhury, Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre, spoke on the occasion.