SCHOOL LIFE IN BANGLADESH
School life expectancy (SLE) is the total number of years of schooling (primary to tertiary) that a child can expect to receive.
total: 11 years
male: 11 years
female: 12 years (2017)
[Source: CIA World Factbook, 2020]
Most children begin school at age five or six. Attendance has traditionally tended to drop off as girls took on more household duties and boys played a bigger role in agriculture. But this is less the case than it once was. The higher a family's socioeconomic status, and income level the more likely their children proceed to secondary educations. While school attendance drops off overall as students get older, females traditionally stopped attending school earlier than males but this much less the case than before as a great amount of effort has gone into getting more girls in school. [Source: “Countries and Their Cultures”, The Gale Group Inc., 2001]
Many children wear uniforms to school. Public schools have traditionally taught basic literacy, arithmetic, Islam and little more. Public school is free but often there are extra costs for books, school supplies and various kinds of payments to teachers to make sure they show up.
Each year about 500,000 students take national high school graduation exams. They are a big deal. In one incident, rampaging students and their parents attacked six teachers in response to the expulsion of 1,400 students on the second day of national high school graduation exams.
Some public school teachers have 60 students or even more in their classrooms. Some schools are so crowded they operate in shifts, with one group of students attending school at one time and another group of students attending school at a different time. Bangladesh used to only require five years of compulsory education but and even then it was often difficult to get students to show up. Explaining why kids were fishing rather than going to school, one man told National Geographic in the 1970s, "Food first, school next.”
Things are much different now in urban areas. The introduction of national examinations at the elementary level has been criticized for creating a booming private tutoring industry that places children from low-income families at a disadvantage as they can not afford parents are unable to afford the tutoring fees. On top of this, schoolteachers sometimes extort students, pressuring them to pay for after-school tutoring and threatening them with low grades if they don’t agree. [Source: Stefan Trines, World Education News and Review, August 1, 2019]
In Bangladesh, private tutoring is a profitable business. According to UNESCO, more than half of middle school students in the country use private tutoring and is so common that it is called the "shadow education system" According to the survey, the remuneration of personal coaches is the largest expenditure item for Bangladeshis in education, accounting for 29 percent of all education-related expenses borne by private households. So far, attempts by the government to ban private tutoring and impose tuition caps have all failed.
School Calendar in Bangladesh
The school year in Bangladesh runs from January to December for primary and secondary schools and higher education. Total 85 days leave in 2020 for primary and secondary school. In the Intermediate sector, the college leaves 80 days out of 365. There have 46 compulsory holidays and 20 days’ leave for optional holidays. [Source: pdffilestore.com/school-holidays]
There is a one-month vacation that covers Ramadan, Buddu Purnima, Baisakhi Purnima, Shab-e-qadr, jumatul bidah and Eid al-fitr. It was held from mid April to mid May in 2021 but changes by 11 days every year. There is also a two week vacation at the end of December and a ten-day mid-term break in October.
Primary school students attend classes six days a week (Saturday to Thursday), and Friday is a the day off as it the main religious day for Muslims. The language of instruction is Bengali in the school system. There are typically three main exam periods during academic year: 1) mid-late April; 2) mid to late August; and early December. The latter, the final exam, is the most important. The Prathomik Shikkha Somaponi (PEC) 5th class student exam, is held in late November. [Sources: Stefan Trines, World Education News and Review, August 1, 2019]
School Fees and Lack of Schools Keep Bangladeshi Children Out of School
Even with the reforms school costs are still to high for some Bangladeshi families. According to Human Rights Watch: “Even for children who are in grades or schools where there are no tuition fees, there are associated costs, typically including exam fees, pens, and stationery, and sometimes also uniforms, books and study guides, and private tuition. For many families interviewed by Human Rights Watch, even the smallest associated costs put education out of reach of their children. “There are a lot of parents who would send their children to school if it weren’t for these costs,” an NGO worker in Laxmipur said. “There are a lot of people who can’t even afford a 10 taka [$0.1 exam fee.” [Source: “Marry Before Your House is Swept Away: Child Marriage in Bangladesh”,Human Rights Watch, June 9, 2015]
““Some families interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported that they must make the difficult decision about whether to pay for education or food and sometimes children were too hungry to go to school. “Sanjida H.’s mother took her out of school after class four. “Should I be feeding her, or making her go to school?” her mother asked. “Before she went to school she got hungry but in the morning sometimes there was no food.”
“In rural Noakhali, a community activist said that while families struggle to pay school fees and related costs, “ [t]he biggest problem is that schools are not available. Often there is one school for four or five kilometres and some school teachers are not showing up or are not competent. In some areas, the only school within reasonable proximity was a non-government school, where fees are charged. “Even 20 years ago, there were no schools in this area. Now there are some schools, so this is the first generation getting some education,” a community leader in Noakhali told Human Rights Watch. “There are a lot of primary government schools now, but not secondary schools.” Non-government schools set their own fees. Some are also not accredited by the government, for example, madrasahs which teach only religious subjects, not a general curriculum. In one area of Noakhali that Human Rights Watch visited, the closest government high school was 45 kilometers away.
Language in Education: Bangla, English or Arabic
The language of instruction is generally Bangla although English is given a high place at many schools, especially elite ones. Bangla (Bengali) is the official and most widely spoken language in Bangladesh. It is an Indo-European language with Sanskrit, Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Portuguese and English words. According to the CIA World Factbook, 98.8 percent of Bangladeshis speak it. Many Bangladeshis speak Bangla at home and have had classes in Bangla and English in school. Bangla has its own Hindi-like script but most signs are also written in English. English is spoken in urban areas and among the educated. English is no longer used for instruction in public primary or secondary schools.
Following the birth of Bangladesh, Bangla came to replace English as the medium of instruction. Bangla also became the sole national language and the standard language of communications. The initial shortage of Bangla textbooks and other instructional materials was alleviated by the accelerated production of textbooks in the vernacular under the patronage of government education departments. The Bangla Academy also played a pioneering role in this area. In the 1980s, British education was maintained marginally through private English-language institutions attended by upper class children. English continued to be offered as an elective subject in most institutions of higher education and was offered as a subject for bachelor's and master's degrees. [Source: James Heitzman and Robert Worden, Library of Congress, 1989 *]
Initially, Arabic also lost ground in independent Bangladesh. This trend ended in the late 1970s, however, after Bangladesh strengthened its ties with Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich, Arabicspeaking countries. An unsuccessful attempt was made in 1983 to introduce Arabic as a required language in primary and secondary levels. In the late 1980s, Arabic was studied in many Muslim homes in Bangladesh as an integral part of religious instruction. Aside from courses in religious schools, however, Arabic was not a popular subject at the college and university level.
Elementary School Curricula and Education Quality in Bangladesh
Elementary education is provided free by public schools and open to all children at the age of six. Enrollment rates have increased significantly over the years, but universal, basic education is still a distant goal, especially in rural areas, where schools may be in poor condition and difficult to reach. Children still have to drop out of school to help with agricultural chores. [Source: Stefan Trines, World Education News and Review, August 1, 2019]
Primary school education is provided by government schools, authorized private institutions, community schools and madrasah (Islamic schools). There and special needs schools that provide basic education in low-service areas. The primary school curriculum teaches Bangla, Bangladesh studies, English, mathematics, moral studies and Islam, social studies, environmental studies and natural science as compulsory subjects. Vocational subjects may be introduced after grade six.
English has traditionally been taught as a second language in Bangladesh's schools. Most school graduates can speak and understand English. In private schools students begin studying English at a very early age, sometimes before their second birthday.
According to the national education policy, the evaluation and promotion of the first and second grades are based on continuous evaluation, while the third grade has quarterly, semi-annual and year-end examinations. The examination committees of various departments in Bangladesh conduct external examinations in seven subjects for students who have completed eighth grade. In large cities, district-level exams may also be taken at the end of fifth grade. After successfully completing the eighth grade and passing the final exam, students receive the Junior High School Examination Certificate (JSC). In 2018, about 2.7 million students took the JSC exam. The pass rate was 86 percent .
Secondary School Curricula, Grades and Fees in Bangladesh
Unlike primary school, where education is largely free, secondary schools require students to pay tuition fees, which have risen sharply in recent years. Exams require extra fees, and many parents also pay a lot for private tutoring (see School Life section). In order to alleviate the financial barriers to enrollment, the Bangladeshi government imposed a cap on the increase in tuition fees for private schools in 2016, and provided allowances and tuition subsidies, mainly to girls in rural areas. [Source: Stefan Trines, World Education News and Review, August 1, 2019]
Stefan Trines wrote in World Education News and Review: “Secondary education is divided into a two-year lower-secondary phase (grades nine and ten) and a two-year upper secondary phase, called higher secondary (grades 11 and 12). Students can study in either a general stream, a religious stream (madrasah), or a technical stream. Each stream offers options for further curricular specializations. General programs, for instance, are offered in business, humanities, and science tracks. All programs have a general academic core curriculum that includes Bangla, Bangladesh studies, English, mathematics, and information technology.
“Admission to grade nine requires a minimum grade point average in the Junior School Examination, but admission in the higher secondary phase is competitive. The Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education—the madrasah and the technical examination board—administer two external examinations at the end of each phase, each year. In the general and technical education streams, they are called the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination and the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination. A passing score on the SSC exam is required to progress into higher secondary education.
“The final HSC exam includes Bangla, English, and information and computer technology as compulsory subjects in addition to one elective. Examination results used to be graded on a 0–100 percentage scale but are now expressed as a grade point average on a scale of 0 to 5 with a GPA of 1.0 being the minimum passing grade. Independent (private) candidates can sit for the examination three years after passing the SSC exam without enrolling in an intermediate college. More than 1.3 million students took the HSC exam in 2018, of which merely 29,262 achieved the highest possible GPA of 5. The overall pass rate was 67 percent. Examination results are usually announced by the prime minister and can be verified on a website maintained by the MOE.”
Madrasah Education in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has a large number madrasahs (Islamic schools), with some of them dating back to pre-colonial times. By one count there are over 20,000 madrasahs that enroll close to four million students at different levels of education. By other estimates there are around 64,000 madrasahs in Bangladesh, if you include the smaller, more informal ones. Madrasahs now outnumber secondary schools. Many of the madrasahs are funded with money from Saudi Arabia and the oil-rich states around the Persian Gulf. Even so, they schools have limited funds and in many cases the boys bring the own bedding, cooking pots and kerosene stoves.
Madrasahs have many students who come from poor households and include the homeless. They are supposed to teach some secular, non-religious subjects in scientific and technological fields. Some are largely financed by public donations. There are two main types: 1) Qawmi madrasahs, independent schools mostly devoted to Islamic study; and 2) Alia madrasahs, state-regulated institutions that teach the standard school curriculum in addition to religious studies.
Many madrassah are boarding schools. Young men leave their homes and travel a considerable distance to attend them. Many offer secondary education. These are required to follow a curricula established by the national government. Some are fairly strict religious schools with an Islamic curriculum in Arabic. Students study the Quran, the sayings of the Prophets, Islamic history and Arabic literature and grammar. To varying degrees the madrasahs have bad things to say about Israel, India and the United States. Madrasah graduates often assume posts as imams at mosques or became teachers at nominally secular schools. Traditionally, they often would take up both occupations, since many primary schools were located in village mosques.
Stefan Trines wrote in the World Education News and Review: At the end of grades 10 and 12, the madrasah board holds Dhakil and Alim examinations that are recognized as the equivalent of the SSC and HSC exams in Bangladesh. The workload at Alia madrasahs can be taxing for students, since they must study the Quran, the teachings of the prophet Muhammad (hadith), Islamic laws, and Arabic in addition to the mandatory general curriculum. The curriculum usually comprises 60 percent general studies and 40 percent Islamic studies. [Source: Stefan Trines, World Education News and Review, August 1,2019]
Qawmi madrasahs, on the other hand, may be affiliated with one of several religious education boards, such as the Bangladesh Qawmi Madrasah Education Board (Befaqul Madarisil Arabia Bangladesh), which offers a curriculum focusing mainly on religious studies and Arabic, Persian, and Urdu languages. However, board affiliation is not mandatory, and most Qawmi qualifications are presently not recognized by the Bangladeshi government. Qawmi curricula usually don’t include subjects like science, mathematics, and social sciences.
Sex Abuse 'Rampant' at Islamic Schools in Bangladesh
In 2019, AFP reported: “Former Bangladeshi students are turning to social media to detail allegations of "rampant" sex abuse at the hands of teachers and older pupils in Islamic schools, breaking their silence on a taboo topic in the conservative country. Child abuse in madrasahs has long gone unreported in Bangladesh, where hardline Islamist groups draw their support from the tens of thousands of schools across the nation. But in the wake of a brutal murder of a teenage girl who was burnt to death in April after accusing her headteacher of sexual assault, such incidents have been subject to national scrutiny and debate for the first time. [Source: AFP, August 29, 2019]
“In July alone, at least five madrasah teachers were arrested on rape charges against boys and girls under their care. Several senior students were also held by police over the rape and beheading of an 11-year-old orphan, while a Dhaka cleric and seminary teacher was charged with sexually assaulting a dozen boys aged between 12 and 19. The accusations reveal how students from poorer and rural backgrounds, whose parents send them to madrasahs as they are more affordable than secular schools, are disproportionately affected by the abuse.
“Rights activists said the assaults — which range from violent rapes to forcible kissing — are so pervasive that the cases reported in the media are just the tip of the iceberg. “For years these crimes eluded spotlight due to sensitivity of the subject," Abdus Shahid, the head of child rights' group Bangladesh Shishu Odhikar Forum, told AFP, . “Devout Muslims send children to madrasas, but they don't speak up about these crimes as they feel it would harm these key religious institutions."
Hojaifa al Mamduh, who studied in three madrasahs in the capital Dhaka, published a series of posts on Facebook in July detailing the abuses endured by students including himself. The assaults were "so widespread in the madrasas, every student who has studied there knows about it", Al Mamduh, now a journalism student at a Dhaka University, told AFP, . “Many madrasah teachers I know consider sex with children a lesser crime than consensual extramarital sex with women. Since they live in the same dormitories, the perpetrators can easily hide their crimes and put pressure on their poor students to keep mum." The 23-year-old's posts generated heated debate in the country, and he was personally threatened.
“He was accused of being "an agent of Jews and Christians" and smearing the "sacred image" of a madrasah by one social media user. Another reminded him of the fate of Avijit Roy, a top Bangladeshi atheist blogger and writer who was hacked to death by Islamist extremists in 2015. But his posts encouraged others to share their own experiences of alleged sex crimes.
“Mostakimbillah Masum, who published his story on a feminist website, said he was "first raped by an elder student in my madrasah when I was just seven". The 25-year-old told AFP, that another one of his rapists was "a teacher who made me unconscious and raped me. It traumatised me permanently". “Dozens of madrasah students I know were either raped or witnessed rapes and sexual assaults of their fellow students," he added. "It is so rampant almost every madrasah has a fair share of such stories."
Madrasah teachers have strongly denied the allegations, calling them "negative propaganda". Mahfuzul Haq, a principal of a madrasah in Mohammadpur where Al Mamduh studied, told AFP, "one or two isolated incidents can happen" as there were 20,000 madrasahs in the South Asian nation. “Those who don't like to study in madrasahs are spreading these stories," he added. A spokesman for hardline Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islami, which represents a coalition of thousands of madrasas, said his organization told a recent conference of 1,200 principals to take "tough stand against any sex crimes".
“However, there has been growing acknowledgment of the alleged offences. Pro-Islamic website Fateh24.com, viewed as a voice for the madrasas, pointed out in a report that children were at risk in smaller seminaries run by just one or two teachers and that had no oversight from governing bodies. Editor Iftekhar Jamil, a former madrasah student and teacher, added that the cases were "not isolated" incidents and called for closed-circuit cameras to be installed in students' sleeping quarters. “Instead of looking for conspiracies, these madrasahs must take up responsibility and adopt an action plan to tackle these crimes," he told AFP.
Girls and Education in Bangladesh
Net enrollment primary: male: 92 percent; female: 91 percent; total: 91 percent.
Primary completion rate: male: 64 percent; female: 72 percent; total: 68 percent.
Out of school children, primary age: male: 239,896; female: 447,457; total: 803,733 (2008).
Children out of school, female primary school age: 3 percent.
Net intake rate in grade 1, female: 93 percent of official school-age population (2010)
Gender parity index from gross enrollment ratio, primary: 1.07
Net enrollment secondary: male: 61 percent; female: 72 percent; total: 67 percent.
Gross enrollment tertiary: male: 28 percent; female: 20 percent; total: 24 percent.
World Bank datatopics.worldbank.org, 2018 and 2019]
In 1901 there were only 1,170 female students in all of Bengal, which included all of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. Today, many girls aim to attend university, an impossible dream not so long ago. In the early 2000s, free education for girls was raised from grade 10 to grade 12. In 2003, boys outnumbered girls 53 to 47 in school. This was much lower than in the past.
The education system long had a had a discriminatory effect on women and girls in Bangladesh basically patriarchal society. The female literacy rate in 1981 (13.2 percent) was about half the literacy rate among men (26 percent) nationally. The gap was even greater in rural areas, where 11.2 percent women and 23 percent of men were literate. (In 1988 the literacy rate was 18 percent for women and 39 percent for men.) [Source: James Heitzman and Robert Worden, Library of Congress, 1989]
Obstacles to Girls Education in Bangladesh
Under the influence of Islam, women have traditionally been relegated to passive, subordinate roles and have been excluded from schools and universities in Bangladesh. Due to increased urbanization and the influence of the media awareness about the unfairness of this issue grew. During the late 1990s, a relatively large amount of government money was allocated to educate more female students. [Source: Ashakant Nimbark, “World Education Encyclopedia”, The Gale Group Inc., 2001]
According to Human Rights Watch: “Access to education is a struggle for all poor children in Bangladesh, but gender discrimination means that girls face specific obstacles. For example, often their parents see them as a burden and, because they are expected to marry and go to live with their husband’s family, less worthy than their brothers of the investment education requires. This may result in families with limited means prioritizing education for their sons over education for their daughters, particularly in secondary education. [Source: “Marry Before Your House is Swept Away: Child Marriage in Bangladesh”,Human Rights Watch, June 9, 2015]
“One factor which discourages school attendance by girls, and therefore puts them at higher risk for child marriage, is a lack of hygienic and private toilets, a gap that becomes more difficult for girls to manage as they reach the onset of menstruation. A 2014 study in Bangladesh found that 40 percent of girls reported missing school during menstruation for an average of 3 school days each menstrual cycle. In this study, 82 percent of girls said their school facilities were not appropriate for managing menstrual hygiene, 12 percent had access to female-only toilets with water and soap available, and only 3 percent said the toilet they used had a trash bin. Such gaps in attendance compromise girls’ eligibility for government stipends linked to attendance (discussed below), cause girls to fall behind in their studies, and undermine parental support for keeping girls in school. [Source: “Marry Before Your House is Swept Away: Child Marriage in Bangladesh”,Human Rights Watch, June 9, 2015]
School Fees Keep Bangladeshi Girls Out of School
Many families struggle financially to keep their daughters in school. On one rural family, Human Rights Watch reported: “Razia B. and her husband have so far managed to keep their three sons in school, and their youngest daughter is still in primary school, but their older daughters left school early. Razia is uncertain of her daughters’ ages, but said that their marriages took place about two years after they began menstruating. “We couldn’t pay her exam fees,” Razia said of her middle daughter. [Source: “Marry Before Your House is Swept Away: Child Marriage in Bangladesh”,Human Rights Watch, June 9, 2015]
““I can’t pay so she will have to quit,” Khadija A. said, explaining why she is about to take her oldest child, a 13-year-old daughter, out of school. Khadija is 35 years old and has 4 children. Her family lives in two rooms and survives through her husband doing agricultural work and any other work they can find. “She studied until class five, but now she needs to go to high school. The high school charges 2,500 taka [$3 in registration fees. I would also have to pay for private tutoring and books.”
“Musamat C., age 20, was married at about 13 because her parents could not afford to send her to school. She has not yet sent her six-year-old daughter to school, but she hopes to be able to send her soon. She explained that families must pay 300-500 taka [$3.89-6.4 for a uniform plus exam fees of 150 taka [$1.9 three times a year—and these costs make it difficult for families as poor as her own to send children to school.
Reforming the Bangladesh Education System to Help Girls
Since the 1990s the women-led governments of Bangladesh have been emphasizing education of women and working to get girls who traditionally do not go to school to go to school. The effort has included training more female teachers, establishing women’s universities and providing special scholarships. In a 1999 report, the government said it has hired 7,000 new female teachers. Between 1997 and 2002, 18 private women's colleges and 3 polytechnic colleges were established. [Source: Ashakant Nimbark, “World Education Encyclopedia”, The Gale Group Inc., 2001]
Government agencies and NGOs have provided girls with special allowances, free shuttle services to school and grants for promising not to get married until they reach the legal age of 18. There have been government program that offered a stipend to every girl that entered primary and secondary school in Bangladesh. Incentives such as free rice have been given to poor parents who send their daughters to school.
Due to these special encouragement and financial assistance, the enrollment of girls at the secondary level has increased and now exceeds that of boys in lower secondary school. However, at the later secondary level (grades 11 and 12), the ratio favors boy. In the 2000s the girl-boy ratio was roughly one to two but is much better than that now but female students from rural areas and lower economic levels have a lower likelihood of finishing secondary education than those in urban areas and higher economic levels.
According to Human Rights Watch: “The government has made major efforts to increase access to education for all children, and especially for girls. These initiatives, which include making five years of primary education free.” But “observations of researchers and aid organizations” indicate “education still remains out of reach for poor families, and for many girls the consequence of lack of access to education is child marriage.
School Versus Child Marriage for Girls in Bangladesh
According to“Human Rights Watch: “Village-level research documents a failure to enforce the law against child marriage and crucial gaps in health, education, and social support programs that should be doing more to assist girls at risk of child marriage. The government has taken important strides in facilitating access to education by banning primary level school fees. But other costs associated with attending school mean that education, especially at the secondary level, remains out of reach for too many children, and for girls in Bangladesh the consequence can often be child marriage. [Source: “Marry Before Your House is Swept Away: Child Marriage in Bangladesh”,Human Rights Watch, June 9, 2015]
““My parents thought they would marry the girls off so at least they could afford to send the son to school,” said Bibi M., who left school and was married at age 14 to a 23 or 24-year-old man, told Human Rights Watch. Ruhana M. married at 12 and now has a six-year-old daughter. She does day labor as a road worker to pay for her daughter to go to school. “I will not be the way my parents were. I have one child and I only want one child so I can provide for her and I will work hard and take care of her. I work to make sure she goes to school. It’s not good to get anyone married very young— I won’t make the same mistake with my daughter,” Ruhana said.
“Mariam A. said she is 15, but she looks younger. She spoke to Human Rights Watch 3 days after her marriage to a 21-year-old man. Her parents are agricultural workers and she is the eighth of nine children. Her sisters married at age 14 or 15. “I studied to class five,” she said. “But to go to school for class six was too far away and the route was not good – the school [where they teach class six] is 3.5 kilometers away. I got married because I quit school.” Mariam said there is no possibility of returning to school now, both because of distance and because she cannot pay for exam fees and other associated costs. Mariam’s mother-in-law, who insisted on being present during the interview, added, “I can’t fill my own stomach – how can I send her to school?”
“Girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch indicated that girls who are still in school experience less pressure from the community to get married. Mariam A., who married at the age of 15, explained, “We’re poor and when our girls get to a certain age a lot of people say a lot of bad things and it makes us uncomfortable so our parents marry us. If we were studying they might not have been able to say anything. I really wished to do something with my life, but my parents are poor so I had to get married.”
““My parents say they will wait until a little later, until after I’m 15,” Sadia B. said about when she will get married. She is not certain of her exact age, but says she is under 15. She studied until class five, but then stopped because her family could not afford the 550 taka [$6.50] annual school fees plus the cost of books and copies. Since she left school, “A lot of people are talking about me getting married,” she said. “I don’t want to get married—it’s too soon. I’m not really sure if my parents will listen to me [and delay marriage]— they might, they might not. The biggest problem for girls is money. Families without money can’t pay for school.” “There should be access to education,” Adnan M., a 16-year-old boy, told Human Rights Watch. “People can’t afford education. If education is accessible then naturally the age of marriage will go up.”
Girls in Bangladesh That Want to Go School After Getting Married
According to Human Rights Watch: “A small number of the girls interviewed had managed to continue their studies after a child marriage while living with their in-laws. Some of the girls and their families had included access to education as an explicit part of the marriage negotiation process— but after marriage, in virtually all of these cases, husbands and in-laws reneged on the agreement and forced the girls to leave school. [Source: “Marry Before Your House is Swept Away: Child Marriage in Bangladesh”,Human Rights Watch, June 9, 2015]
“Haniya M., who is unsure of her age, married a neighbor six months earlier and was preparing for her SSC exam at the time of the interview. “My in-laws just didn’t mind my going to school,” she said. Haniya’s husband is also a student, studying in Dhaka at a computer training institute. She is grateful to be continuing her studies, however, especially since at the madrasah where she studies the other girls who married have all left school. Haniya hopes to become a social worker and have a job where she can “explain to girls not to get married, stay in school, and don’t get pregnant too soon.” She attributes the fact that she has managed to continue her education in part to her family’s financial situation; her parents both work, her father selling food in the bazaar and her mother as a seamstress, making them slightly better off than others in the community. “People are very poor and they can’t send their children to school,” Haniya said. “My family is also poor but there are many people poorer than us.”
“Rabiya A. married when she was 13 and her husband was 30. “My in-laws said, ‘If you want to study you can,’ but as soon as I was married they said, ‘It’s not possible,’” Rabiya said. Rabiya is now 14 and said her in-laws and husband are disappointed that she is not pregnant yet.
“Kalpana B. told Human Rights Watch that her prospective in-laws had promised to continue her daughter’s education when they negotiated for their 20 or 21-year-old son to marry Kalpana’s 15-year-old daughter. Her daughter had just finished class nine and had already bought her books for class ten. The family has a shrimp cultivation business and could afford education for their three daughters. “I didn’t want to get her married at that age, but a lot of people said, ‘You have three daughters, you should get the oldest married,’” Kalpana said.
“As soon as Kalpana’s daughter was married, however, her in-laws reneged on their promise and she was forced to drop out of school. “Her husband said, ‘My mother is ill so it’s not possible for us to continue her education now.’ Her mother-in-law said, ‘We need a grandchild so it is time for you to get pregnant.’” Kalpana’s daughter is 17 now, and has a six-month-old child. The baby was born by c-section, and the daughter had a hard time recovering from the operation. “I made a mistake, and I’ll never make this mistake again,” Kalpana said about having agreed to the marriage. About her 2 younger daughters, now ages 13 and 7, she said, “I will not get them married so soon. They will study and stand on their own feet and then get married.”
“In some cases, Human Rights Watch was told that girls themselves decided to leave school because they did not like studying. Doing so led swiftly to marriage, however, sometimes making them regret their decision. “My parents tried very hard to keep me in school,” Reba B. said. “But I refused.” Reba says she is 17 years old but looks much younger. She married four months ago and moved in with her in-laws, about an hour’s travel from where her parents live. She said that she left school because she found studies difficult. Her parents arranged her marriage about eight months later. “Because I left school, they got me married,” Reba said. She now regrets her decision. “Girls should study as much as possible. I didn’t and I made a mistake.” There is no chance of her returning to school now. “My in-laws won’t allow it. I have to stay at home. I am the only one there to help my mother-in-law.” “I would have married later if I had studied,” said Tahmina L., age 15. Tahmina said she hated school and wouldn’t stay. Because she was out of school, her mother arranged a marriage for her just after she turned 15.
Girls in Bangladesh That Return to School After Divorce
According to Human Rights Watch: “Some of the girls and their families interviewed by Human Rights Watch had included access to education as an explicit part of the marriage negotiation process— but after marriage, in virtually all of these cases, husbands and in-laws reneged on the agreement and forced the girls to leave school. [Source: “Marry Before Your House is Swept Away: Child Marriage in Bangladesh”,Human Rights Watch, June 9, 2015]
“A few girls we interviewed had managed to return to school, but only after a separation or divorce. “I always said even if I got married I would continue my education,” said Sabina B., whose parents arranged for her to marry at age 14 after losing their house to river erosion. “My in-laws agreed, but as soon as we were married they said, ‘No’— so I refused to go to their house and got divorced.” Sabina got divorced one month after her marriage and remained with her parents. She continued her education and now, at the age of 18, is applying to university. She remarried in spring 2014, but is waiting for her husband to finish his undergraduate degree before she goes to live with him.
“Some girls encountered resistance from their parents when they tried to return to school after divorce, typically because they were still seen as “marriageable” and subject to some of the same pressures as unmarried girls. “They got me married and I came back and now they want to get me married again and I’m refusing,” said Sara A., who married at 14 but returned to live with her parents after just a month. Her father took her back home after her in-laws locked her up to prevent her from running away. Sara, now 19 or 20, is back in school, but has to pay all her school expenses herself, which she does by tutoring other children. “My parents only give me rice, but nothing else— no clothes and no money for education. They think if they cut off my education I’ll agree [to marry again].” Sara hopes to make it at least as far as her class 12 exam, and says she may marry again “if I finish my education and stand on my own two feet and meet someone good.”
“Hafsa A. left class 6 when she married at 12 but has been back home living with her parents for a year since her husband abandoned and divorced her when she was 13. “I really want to go back to school. I told my parents and they say no. I say, ‘You didn’t give me a chance,’ but they are still refusing. The neighbors say, ‘If you send her to school she will fall in love with someone.’ That’s why I’m still not able to go to school.”
'Mass Hysteria' Closes Bangladeshi Schools
In 2008, a mystery illness, described by health experts as a type of “mass hysteria” struck students at four schools in Bangladesh, forcing them to close temporarily. AFP reported: “The condition appears highly contagious — as soon as one student becomes ill, others are immediately struck with similar symptoms, usually headaches, acute pain and even fainting, officials say. Most of the victims are teenage girls, said Mr Salahuddin Khan, chief medical officer of Jessore district, where the affected schools are. “It”s a peculiar disease. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he told AFP. “It started after a girl fainted at a school. Soon enough dozens of her friends complained of acute headaches, restlessness and body pains. They were all affected within minutes.” [Source: AFP, July 10, 2008]
“Speculation among local media about the origin of the baffling illness has been rife, with a top army doctor even telling state-owned broadcaster BTV that it was caused by poisonous gas “sabotage” against the impoverished country. “So far, 81 students at three schools and a madrassa (religious school) have been struck by the ailment,” said Mr Khan. More than half of them fell unconscious and had to be hospitalised. We have shut down the schools and the madrassa temporarily.” He said a team from the country’s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) visited the students and took blood samples.
“The chief medical officer of central Narsingdi district said his region had also been hit, with 11 girls became ill on Monday after hearing one of their fellow students had died suddenly. “There is no proper explanation for the disease. It”s something mass psychogenic,” he said, adding that hundreds of students also fell ill in schools in the district last year.
Work was also temporarily suspended at a garment factory in the southeastern port city of Chittagong last month after 700 workers complained of similar symptoms. “It started after a worker said she saw a ghost-like object and within minutes the whole factory was in the grip of mass hysteria — workers were falling unconscious, complaining of headaches, muscle twisting and breathlessness,” said Mr Mostaq Hossain, an expert who is spearheading IEDCR”s research into the phenomenon.
‘Mass Hysteria’ Closes 57 Schools in Faridpur
In January 2016, bdnews24.com reported: “It was just another day at Shibram RD Academy School in Faridpur, until a student Ritu Saha started experiencing difficulty while breathing. Even as she was administered first aid, 37 of her classmates also reported similar symptoms. Academy’s teacher Susanta Kumar said all the students were evacuated from the classrooms and gathered in the playground. Meanwhile, 30 other students, mostly girls, also fell sick. They were all rushed to Faridpur Medical College Hospital (FMCH). [Source: bdnews24.com, January 23, 2016]
“Fifty-seven schools of Faridpur Sadar Upazila have been closed for two days now . Faridpur's Executive Magistrate (NDC) Mandip Gharai said 103 students of Shibram RD Academy and Khalilpur High School experienced sickness during school time from Tuesday to Thursday. FMCH Supervisor Ganapati Biswas said that Faridpur could be experiencing an outbreak of Mass Psychological Disease (MPD). Hundreds of students, mostly girls between Class 6 and 10, have been affected.
“The disease starts with a student feeling out of breath, with the rest developing symptoms driven by anxiety that rippled through the school, he said. District Education Officer Parimal Chandra Mandal said, the schools would remain closed on Saturday and Sunday as a precautionary measure and to figure out what happened.. According to Magistrate Gharai, the district administration has set up a three members’ committee to investigate what led to the MPD outbreak. “The disease is nothing serious. The situation would be back to normal after a few days,” said Ganpati Biswas.
According to AFP: “The phenomenon is not new — according to IEDCR statistics, about 2,000 pupils in Bangladesh have been affected by “mass hysteria” since it was first reported here in August 2005.” In 2007 “the government called an urgent summit involving all regional health officials to discuss the condition. Health officials are calling for calm, saying there is no reason to be alarmed. “We have identified it as “mass sociogenic” disease. It is nothing but mass hysteria,” Mr Hossain said. “Mostly teenage girls who are physically and mentally vulnerable are being affected by the disease. We”ve told health officials across the country not to panic. Schools have been told to improve the conditions for girls.” Hossain said the phenomenon was not a recognised psychiatric condition and generally affected groups, triggered by an unusual illness or shocking event experienced by one group member. He also said there had been a snowball effect, with many girls who read about cases “feeling that they could be the victims of the same ailment.” He ruled out any poisonous gas theory. “It was also common among English girls during the nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution in Britain,” he said. [Source: AFP, July 10, 2008]
Boat Schools in Bangladesh
Boat schools in flood-prone Bangladesh give students access to education during flooding, which experts say has gotten worse as a result of climate change. Reporting from Singra in northern Bangladesh, Emily Wax wrote in the Washington Post: “The boats plying the rivers and canals here are school bus and schoolhouse in one, part of a 45-vessel fleet that includes library boats. There are plans for floating villages, floating gardens and floating hospitals as well, in case more of this region finds itself under water. Like a scene out of the 1995 post-apocalyptic movie "Waterworld," in which the continents are submerged after the polar ice caps melt and the survivors live out at sea, the boat schools and libraries are a creative response to flooding that scientists largely agree has been worsened by global warming. [Source: Emily Wax, Washington Post, September 27, 2007]
“Melting glaciers in the Himalayas are already causing sea levels to rise here, and scientists say Bangladesh may lose up to 20 percent of its land by 2030 as a result of flooding. That Bangladesh is among the most vulnerable countries on the planet to climate change is a tragedy for its 150 million people, most of whom are destitute. The need for a Bangladeshi Waterworld, experts say, has never been more urgent. “For Bangladesh, boats are the future," said Abul Hasanat Mohammed Rezwan, an architect who started the boats project here and who now oversees it as executive director of the nonprofit Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, a name that means self-reliance. "As Bangladeshi citizens, it's our responsibility to find solutions because the potential for human disaster is so huge. We have to be bold. Everyone loves land. But the question is: Will there be enough? Millions of people will have nowhere to go."
Rezwan was given an international environmental award by former U.S. vice president Al Gore for his use of solar power on the boats. As a child, Rezwan said, he was always frustrated when school was canceled during monsoon flooding.“Later in life, as I thought, why can't an architect design exciting things to help the poor in their own communities? I can't tell you how happy I was the day the first boat school took the waters. It was really my dream."
“Rezwan started his nonprofit group in 1998 with just one flat-bottomed boat built from local materials and stretching about 30 feet long and 15 feet wide. Today, his boats fit about 60 young people — 40 on the deck and about 20 on wooden benches set up on the bow. “At first, I wasn't sure — go study on a boat?" said Nasrin Sultana, 18, a college student whose classes on dry land have been canceled because of constant flooding this year. "But now I am addicted to the boat library. They have computers, academic books and great novels. People love coming. It's become a community center that people look forward to."
“The boat schools are made possible partly by an award of $1 million in 2005 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, along with funds from the Washington-based Global Fund for Children. That money helped Rezwan set up hugely popular Internet services — including live chats with scientists — and design a solar-powered lamp that he gives out to families so their children can study at night. Without the lamps, parents would have to burn polluting and expensive kerosene.”
Attending a Boat School in Bangladesh
On students that used the boat schools, Emily Wax wrote in the Washington Post: “With most of his school under floodwaters, 6-year-old Mohamed Achan pulled his oversize tomato-red shorts up around his tiny waist, placed a tarp over his head to guard against the rain, and sprinted barefoot to the edge of his muddy village. There, he waited for his classroom to arrive — in a boat. [Source: Emily Wax, Washington Post, September 27, 2007]
“While Mohammed and his parents have contributed little to climate change — they have neither a car nor electricity — it is families like theirs that suffer the consequences of the increasingly violent storms and deadly cyclones that scientists have attributed to global warming. Along the winding river canals that flow around the mud-hut villages, mosques and rice fields here, 230 miles northeast of the capital, the boat schools are so loved that crowds of children cheer upon seeing them dock.
“The boats operate year-round and offer a full primary school education with the same syllabus as classrooms on dry land. They avoid dangerous weather patterns by sticking close to mapped-out routes, typically along more shallow waters near the communities they serve. The schools serve about 90,000 families in an area covering more than 300 miles, and make three- to four-hour stops six days a week. “I love the boat so much more than regular school," Mohamed said, swinging his thin legs as he sat on a bench reading a stack of stories. "It's so fun when it comes to your doorstep."
“The school boats have also made it easier for girls to attend classes. Before, their parents were reluctant to let them walk long distances to school; now the schools come to them. Rezwan said he hopes his floating village idea will catch on. He is working on sanitation issues and already trying to develop floating gardens, similar to those in Kashmir. Farmers there found they could build an earth bed of roots and dirt in a lake — thus enjoying constant irrigation — and produce huge harvests of vegetables. Already, villagers say they know their way of life will have to change. “I'll be ready if this housing project on water works," said Samsun Nahar, 30, a mother with a baby on her hip who came to a boat recently to recharge her solar lamp. "We're so worried about the floods spoiling our crops that we are ready to do anything. Even live on water."
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Bangladesh Tourism Board, Bangladesh National Portal (www.bangladesh.gov.bd), The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Wikipedia and various books, websites and other publications.
Last updated February 2022