Girls’ education in Bangladesh: Poorer students get better attention

Educational attainments for girls in Bangladesh were among the lowest in the world up until the early 1990s. In the last decade the situation has been transformed and the country is now a global leader in girl’s education. Behind the change is a Government stipend program launched in 1993 to support female secondary education. The benefits to the country from improved female attainment are many and can already be measured in falling birth rates and a falling number of teenage marriages. Stipend is only one of a range of methods used to increase female schooling, with teacher training, and sanitation also playing a key role. The World Bank has been a keen supporter of the initiative from the start, funding a large share of the program through interest-free credit.

In 1993, the Bank began supporting the Government's stipend program under the Female Secondary School Assistance Project (FSSAP) in 118 upazilas of the country. Currently, the Bank supports the second FSSAP being implemented in 119 upazilas since 2002. The total project cost is US$144.6 million and the World Bank is contributing a US$ 120.6 million interest-free credit.

FSSAP aims to improve the quality of, and girls’ access to, secondary education in rural areas, and to improve both the Ministry of Education’s management capacity and monitoring and accountability mechanisms.

An IDA Mission carried out a supervision mission of this project in mid-May and found FSSAP, in its third year, is making satisfactory progress. Currently, around eight hundred thousand girls are receiving stipends.  Under this project, head teachers are receiving training on management and academic supervision. In addition, Mobile Training Resource Teams (MTRTs) is providing support on the ground to the teachers.

FSSAP graduates are also getting fellowship support to continue their education beyond secondary level. The project also introduced an SSC incentive award to boost SSC pass rates. A Family Attractiveness Program of the project that has been introduced to identify out-of-secondary-school girls from very poor families living in remote areas.

A pro-poor self-targeting scheme has been introduced on a pilot basis which also makes poorer boys eligible for receiving stipend.  More than 1000 tune-wells and latrines have been set up to provide safe sanitation facilities at schools. Department of Public Health and engineering (DPHE) has conducted four rounds of arsenic testing to ensure the supply of arsenic-safe drinking water in schools.

June 2006
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Contacts:
Rezwan-ul-Alam (8802) 815-9015, Ext 4242
E-mail:  salam3@worldbank.org

For more information on the World Bank in Bangladesh, please visit:
www.worldbank.org.bd & www.worldbank.org