Publications

Box 3: Nonformal Education Project, Bangladesh, 1995

In spite of the policy of the government to eradicate illiteracy, many children, adolescents, and adults remain uneducated. Without specific actions to increase opportunities for “second chance” education in Bangladesh, the country could have about 20 million illiterates aged 15–24 by the year 2000. Lack of literacy and life skills is a major factor contributing to the perpetuation of poverty. The objective of the Nonformal Education Project is to reduce poverty and improve the status of women.

The project supports the development of an organization for expanding and improving nonformal education programs for young adults, particularly females, in the medium and long term as well as ensuring their sustainability. It makes use of the existing practice of community involvement in identifying learners, providing shelter to learners, recruiting teachers from the local community, and establishing a management committee with local people. The community is also involved in curriculum revision and the development of postliterate and continuing education materials. Strategies specific to female education have a significant part in the project. Nonformal centers are located in communities, close to the users; female teachers are hired for female groups; instruction is given free of cost; a gender-responsive management information system has been designed; and support is given to experimental models and social mobilization. NGOs are the main implementers of the project.

The project approach is participatory, with a high degree of involvement of local communities. Comprehensive studies carried out with the help of various resource persons identified major constraints on the education of women and formed the basis for the development of strategies.

Box 4: Girls Primary School Sector Project, Pakistan, 1996

Cultural practices such as the segregation of the sexes can and often do restrict the participation of girls in schooling. Parents hesitate to have their daughters study alongside male students or be taught by male teachers. To deal with this problem, a concern in Pakistan, the Girls Primary School Sector Project is helping to establish community model schools (CMSs) for girls in rural areas. Each school has five classrooms, one for each primary school grade. Each school also has five female teachers trained under the project, and accommodation for the teachers to ensure that they can live comfortably near the school. Some of the CMSs are existing schools that have been converted. Others are new. Under an initial ADB-financed project, 800 CMSs were established. The second project aims to expand and establish CMSs in 1,000 union council areas throughout the country.

Building the schools is only half the story. How do you get girls into the schools and keep them there? In Pakistan, what is required to transform a building into a school? Among the issues that need to be addressed are: How do you encourage parents to send their daughters to school? How do you recruit and keep female teachers? How do you discourage absenteeism among students and teachers? The provision of physical infrastructure needs to be supplemented by other measures to make sure the schools function properly, that both teachers and students attend regularly, and that the education is of a high standard.

In the Pakistan project, a participatory approach is being adopted to ensure that all this happens. Separate committees for men and women have been established with the help of NGOs to ensure full community participation in the management of the CMSs. The committees are playing a major role in encouraging the community to send their daughters to school regularly, providing security for female teachers, and identifying local candidates to fill vacant teaching positions. Further capacity-building support under the project includes staff deployment programs to ensure that teachers are available in the rural schools and to reduce absenteeism and transfers.

Under the Primary School Sector Project, families are seeing girls attend school regularly for the first time. It is hoped that in time parents will recognize the advantages of having literate daughters. They may appreciate the greater contribution their daughters will make to their own and their families’ well-being and economic prosperity. Traditional barriers may break down as families and governments recognize the value of educating the girl child.