School Drop Out in Bangladesh: New Insights from Longitudinal Evidence

Abstract

This paper examines factors associated with school drop out using longitudinal data collected over a three year period in Bangladesh. A sample of 9,047 children, aged 4 to 15, were selected by the CREATE Bangladesh research team across six districts for a specialised household survey developed in technical workshops. The survey was developed by CREATE through workshops in Sussex and Bangladesh and was based on a framework developed by Keith Lewin and Angela Little. The survey instruments were modified to suit the Bangladesh context and were first administered in 2007. The same cohort of children was followed up and resurveyed two years later in 2009. The study identifies some possible interventions that could reduce educational exclusion. These include campaigns to reduce late entry and overage enrolment caused by repetition of grades; reductions in direct costs to households of attendance, more support for low achieving children or compensate for lack of educational support at household level, and interventions designed to lessen the impact of disabilities on enrolment and attendance