Girls' enrollment for primary edn static for several years
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Enrollment of girl students for primary education in the country remained stagnant for several years against remarkable progress in the 90s, reports BSS.
The situation is worst in urban slum areas where enrollment rate is only 61 per cent, which is 23 per cent lower than the national average. In urban slums, 26 per cent primary-age girls have never enrolled in schools.
Tremendous efforts in the past decade have been successful in getting more girls into schools, resulting in gender parity in enrollment in primary and lower-secondary schools, but the percentage of girls' begins to decline at the secondary level.
It was stated at a consultation meeting on United Nations Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI) in Bangladesh organised by Unicef at a city hotel Tuesday.
Unicef organised the two-day consultative programme to promote a partnership in Bangladesh for girls' education made up of the government, donors, United Nations (UN) agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), academic research institutions and civil society bodies under the framework of UNGEI.
Addressing the meeting, Unicef Representative in Bangladesh Carel de Rooy said Bangladesh's education sector needs much more financial resources than the present 2.5 per cent allocation of gross domestic product (GDP).
Poor quality schooling in Bangladesh is reflected in poor attendance, high repetition rates, high dropout rates and low achievement, he said.
Adviser for Primary and Mass Education, and Women and Children Affairs Rasheda K Chowdhury attended the inaugural session of the function as the chief guest while Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) Deputy Director Tasneem Athar was in the chair.
Additional Secretary of Education Ministry AKM Ismail and Additional Secretary of Ministry of Primary and Mass Education Quazi Akhter Hossain and Raka Rashid of UNGEI Focal Point in Regional Office of South Asia, spoke on the occasion.
The 10-year UNGEI programme was launched in 2000 with a goal to establish the rights of girls to quality basic education to narrow the gender gap and ensure equal excess to all levels of education for girls and boys by 2015 as targeted in the UN millennium development goals (MDGs).
In Bangladesh, the UNGEI is intended to support the country-led development and influence decision-making and investment to ensure gender equity and equality in national education policies, plans and programmes.
The situation is worst in urban slum areas where enrollment rate is only 61 per cent, which is 23 per cent lower than the national average. In urban slums, 26 per cent primary-age girls have never enrolled in schools.
Tremendous efforts in the past decade have been successful in getting more girls into schools, resulting in gender parity in enrollment in primary and lower-secondary schools, but the percentage of girls' begins to decline at the secondary level.
It was stated at a consultation meeting on United Nations Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI) in Bangladesh organised by Unicef at a city hotel Tuesday.
Unicef organised the two-day consultative programme to promote a partnership in Bangladesh for girls' education made up of the government, donors, United Nations (UN) agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), academic research institutions and civil society bodies under the framework of UNGEI.
Addressing the meeting, Unicef Representative in Bangladesh Carel de Rooy said Bangladesh's education sector needs much more financial resources than the present 2.5 per cent allocation of gross domestic product (GDP).
Poor quality schooling in Bangladesh is reflected in poor attendance, high repetition rates, high dropout rates and low achievement, he said.
Adviser for Primary and Mass Education, and Women and Children Affairs Rasheda K Chowdhury attended the inaugural session of the function as the chief guest while Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) Deputy Director Tasneem Athar was in the chair.
Additional Secretary of Education Ministry AKM Ismail and Additional Secretary of Ministry of Primary and Mass Education Quazi Akhter Hossain and Raka Rashid of UNGEI Focal Point in Regional Office of South Asia, spoke on the occasion.
The 10-year UNGEI programme was launched in 2000 with a goal to establish the rights of girls to quality basic education to narrow the gender gap and ensure equal excess to all levels of education for girls and boys by 2015 as targeted in the UN millennium development goals (MDGs).
In Bangladesh, the UNGEI is intended to support the country-led development and influence decision-making and investment to ensure gender equity and equality in national education policies, plans and programmes.