Findings under the project
To collect in-depth information on the objectives of the project, stakeholder meetings, Focus Group discussions, Key Informant Interviews were conducted with teachers, parents, School Management Committee (SMC) members and community. Some important results of the research findings are;
- Enrollment rates are decreasing and dropout rates are increasing in both districts with major emphasis on female students
o Recurring reasons behind low rates of enrollment are; assigning teachers additional duty of conducting Universal Primary and Secondary Education Survey, poor quality of education in public schools, lack of parental interest to educate their child and above all poverty. However, girls do get dropped-out in middle of their educational year because they have to perform work in the field and home during crop seasons.
- Most of the students get dropped out after passing 5th grade
- Most of the schools in both districts do not have any criteria to assess quality of education
- In the schools of rural areas, student teachers ratio is higher
- Infrastructure of rural schools is worse in comparison to urban areas schools
- Schools do not have any policy for financial support to needy student or never enrolled children or poor families
- SMCs also do not have sufficient funds
- Obtaining a leave is something next to impossible for teachers, even though they have a yearly leave quota
- Amid higher dissatisfaction from the service, their commitment towards delivery of education is eroding.
- District education system is over-centralized
