Atiur Rahman and Mahfuz Kabir

1
Social Innovation in Facing Challenges of
Secondary Education A Case from Bangladesh

• Atiur Rahman and Mahfuz Kabir

Presented at Dijon, France 2006
Chairman, Unnayan Shamannay, Dhaka, E-mail
atiur_at_sdnbd.org Research Officer, Bangladesh
Institute of International and Strategic Studies
(BIISS), Dhaka, E-mail mahfuz_at_biiss.org.
2
Problems of secondary education (Grade Vi-X) in
Bangladesh

• very low overall average rate of return
• poverty is one of the strongest deterrents to
  access to schooling
• very high average pupil-tutor ratio
• Poor and inadequate physical facilities leading
  to over-crowding in the classroom
• very weak or non-existent academic supervision
• very low community participation

3
Innovative features of a social
interventionVelayet Hossain Multilateral High
School

• provide high quality education to poor students
• students serve as extension workers at adjoining
  villages
• after completing SSC many boys and girls are now
  self-employed
• small scale dairy, poultry, and fish farm
  horticulture nursery computer and science
  laboratories, sewing machines, etc. to provide
  hands-on training
• local community effectively participate in the
  school activities including school visit,
  financial contribution, voluntary physical labor
  to promote quality education

4
performance of Velayet School vis-à-vis a typical
rural secondary school Results of micro
econometric investigation

• Velayet students average scores of the
  subjective tests were statistically significantly
  higher than the control group
• their aggregate scores were also statistically
  significantly higher
• higher but insignificant mean scores of boys
  compared to its girl students
• distance between the mean score of weaker
  students compared to others is lower in Velayet
  School than that of the control school
• Velayet School is doing better in terms of
  reducing the gap among the students

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Policy Implications
findings can have significant policy dividend for
both Bangladesh and developing countries with
similar challenges in secondary education

• introduction of trade courses rather than
  expanding general education with no skills
• part-time income earning vocations for the
  students
• emphasis of extra-curricular
• activities to wider the vision of the students
• community involvement for quality education