Articles
Contribution of Educational Development to Reducing Economic and Social Disparities in Rural Bangladesh: From 20 Years of Longitudinal Research Results
2020 Volume 29 Issue 2 Pages 35-47
Details
2020 Volume 29 Issue 2 Pages 35-47
The study analyzes how the disparities among the rural people in Bangladesh were improved after Education for All (EFA) policies in the 1990s, through a 20 years longitudinal study method.
The study employs an analytical framework of longitudinal data. Its first step consists in creating regional education monographs through fieldwork in 1999, 2009, and 2019 in Karamdi village situated near the Western border area of Bangladesh. Since the village is located in a remote rural area, the livelihoods of the villagers basically depend on agriculture or agricultural industries. The author has collected the household data by using the scheduled census survey which consists of 25 questions mainly focusing on the household's economy and the education of their children. The sample comprises 42 households. Second, the study analyzes educational transitions between 1999, 2009, and 2019 in the villagers based on a longitudinal and comparative analysis of each fixed-points of the village monograph. Particularly, the study focused on how the targeted poor households obtained fruitful results from educational development. More specifically, the study tries to confirm the existence of some children who successfully accessed further education or job with monthly income through the school education system.
According to the research result, the 40 children out of 54 in the sample households dropped out from school before completion, and while most of the boys have become farmers, most of the girls got married under the age of 20. Therefore, the study concludes that the impact of educational development in the remote rural setting is still limited. On the other hand, this study found two children who finished their studies were employed in monthly paid jobs earned through the school education system, despite being among the poor. Those cases can represent new role models for most of the other children in the village.
