Bangladesh Female Secondary School Assistance Project

Increasing educational opportunities for Bangladeshi girls

As recently as 1991, the educational attainment of Bangladeshi women was among the lowest in the world. 80% were illiterate. Equipped with few skills and ignorant about health care, family planning and nutrition, they were trapped in a cycle of dependency.
Bangladeshi culture once seemed to guarantee that girls would marry young and receive little education. But times are changing. Economic pressures including the departure of many men for employment abroad coupled with the influence of dynamic NGOs engaged in social mobilization have created a new climate of social change.

Cost is the Main Obstacle to Secondary Education Secondary education requires tuition fees in Bangladesh. Transportation, uniforms, sports, school supplies and examination fees are additional. Bangladesh is so poor that even for those with so-called middle incomes, one child's tuition can consume as much as half of the family's disposable income

Project Goals

o Increase the number of girls enrolled in grades 6-10.
o Assist them to pass their Secondary School Certificate examination so that they become qualified for employment.
o Keep them in school and discourage them from early marriage and child bearing - and, thus, slow population growth.
o Increase the confidence and social status of women in Bangladesh.

Components

o Stipends to schools for tuition and to girls for expenses.
o Salaries for additional secondary teachers, especially female teachers.
o Assistance to parent groups and school management committees.
o Support for occupational training, health education, and water and sanitation (latrines).

How the Stipends and Tuition fees are Dispensed

o The project signs agreements with banks whose local branches disburse the tuition fees and stipends.
o Local banks open an account for each girl and another account for tuition fees.
o A management information system maintains and links information among the girls, schools and banks.
o The girls are given passbooks and checkbooks. They must personally make the withdrawals by writing a check