Left out, not dropped out

The Covid-19 pandemic that has put a curse shadow over the world by taking lives of thousands of people across the world is not only causing harsh loss to economies but also depriving millions of children from education posing a concern.

Likewise most of the countries, especially the developing ones, Bangladesh bears similar gloomy state as a majority of primary and secondary students are left out, though not dropped out, of academic activities due to closure of educational institutions due to pandemic.

For more than a year, some 3.42 million primary school students, and 2.50 million secondary school students, meaning 19 percent of total students in the country, are at risks of learning loss since the Covid-19 pandemic has closed educational institutions.

In total, a minimum of 5.92 million primary and secondary students are at risks of education loss since the academic institutions were closed because of the pandemic.  

Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) unveiled the results of a joint survey.

The survey said that out-of-pocket education expenditure rose 11 times for rural families and 13 times for urban poor families.     

“This has imposed an economic burden on the families, more so on poorer families,” PPRC Executive Chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman said in the virtual unveiling ceremony of the survey.

“A significant part of school-going children are at risk of learning loss. School re-openings must be coupled with a set of remedial measures to cover the learning loss and help children cope,” BIGD Executive Director Imran Matin said.

“Actual learning loss is likely to be higher. As a result of this learning loss, these students are at higher risk of being dropouts if the issues are not addressed,” Zillur said.

PPRC and BIGD carried out the research based on telephone interviews of heads of 6,099 rural and urban slum households, with around 4,940 households consisting of school-going children. Of them, 43 percent were from rural areas, and rest from urban slums.

According to the survey, 51 percent of primary and 61 percent of secondary school students availed coaching and private tuitions to avoid learning loss.

PPRC and BIGD presented the findings from Part 2 of the Third Round Survey titled “PPRC-BIGD Rapid Response Research: COVID Impact on Educational Life of Children”. The findings highlighted the learning loss of children and youth as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, along with the psychological and social costs attached with the new reality.