5.1. Quantitative data
Understanding the key characteristics of the sample households and adolescents is important.
For this study, both adolescents and household heads were surveyed. Therefore, this section will discuss the characteristics of the households and the adolescents.
Table 5.1.1: Sample households: Some key characteristics
Indicators Statistics
Average household size (total number of members) 4.58
% of female-headed households 30.68
Average age of household head (age in years) 45.01
31
% of households with current per capita monthly
income less than BDT 2,3103 37.23
% of households with at least 1 disabled member 6.67
% of households with at least 1 migrated member at
present 11.86
% of households with at least 1 internationally
migrated member at present 1.74
Number of observations (N) 2,758
From Table 5.1.1, it can be seen that the average household size is 4.58, which is slightly higher than the average of 4.11 for rural Bangladesh, as per the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES 2016)4. Around 30% of the sample households are female-headed and given the patriarchal social structure of Bangladesh, this seems intuitive. The average age of household heads is 45 years. As for per capita income, the percentage of households living below the per capita monthly income of BDT 2,310 (poverty line) is around 37%. Even though the poverty rate in Bangladesh was 20.5% in 2019 (Asian Development Bank [ADB], 2019), different studies (BIGD, 2021; SANEM, 2021) have found that after COVID-19 struck the economy, there has been a sudden upsurge in the number of “new poor.” Therefore, the numbers from our survey seem intuitive considering that aspect.
In terms of disability, about 6.7% of households have at least one disabled member, which conforms to the national-level data, of 6.94% (HIES, 2016). Over the recent decades, migration rates have shown an upward trend in Bangladesh. In this sample, about 11.9% of households have at least one migrated member, and 1.7% of them have migrated internationally. Although the total migration rate is close to the national data, the international migration rate is 7 percentage points lower than the national data.
The education of the household head is a very important factor to shape different aspects of a household. Within this sample, a fifth of household heads never went to school; 8.86% of them did attend school but dropped out without passing any class. On the other hand, 12.5% of them completed primary level education (class 5); 7.5% completed secondary level education (class 10 or equivalent), and 3.5% completed their higher secondary level education (class 12 or
equivalent). A very small percentage, about 2%, of household heads completed tertiary level education (undergraduate and postgraduate).
3 Lower poverty line according to data from HIES.
4 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Statistics and Informatics Division, Ministry of Planning, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. (2019). Report on the household income and expenditure survey, (HIES) 2016. http://www.bbs.gov.bd/site/page/648dd9f5-067b-4bcc-ba38-45bfb9b12394/Income,- Expenditure-&-Poverty
32 Table 5.1.2: Sample adolescents: Some key characteristics
Indicators Statistics
The average number of adolescent members per household 1.12
Number of observations (N) 2,429
The average age of male adolescent members (age in years) 14.60 The average age of female adolescent members (age in years) 14.42
% of married adolescents 0.79
Number of observations (N) 3,139
Focusing on the adolescents, as Table 5.1.2 shows, out of the 2,758 households, 2,429 had at least one adolescent member. The average number of adolescents per household is 1.12. The table also provides sex-disaggregated data on adolescents’ average age. The average age of male and female adolescents from the sample is around 14 years, whereas the males are slightly older.
Looking into the educational attainment of the adolescents, from the data, it can be observed that, most of the adolescents from our surveyed sample range from fifth-grade graduates to ninth graders. This is as the age range (12 to 18 years) that we have selected for the study generally comprises people from these grades. Around 2% of the adolescent respondents have received informal religious education (i.e., Hifz).
5.2. Qualitative respondent profile
5.2.1. Profile of in-depth interview respondents
Three points became apparent when we were looking for appropriate categories for adolescents:
(1) There were very few official dropouts from school, whether adolescent boys or girls;
(2) Girls had got married within the past year but had not necessarily dropped out of school; and (3) Working adolescent girls were extremely hard to find compared to working adolescent boys.
Adolescent girls and boys were both from similar types of households. Most households
consisted of 4–5 members, including parents and siblings and, in some cases, grandparents. Only a few of the households in Cumilla were slightly larger. All the households in the qualitative research were male-headed households where the majority of the male heads were agricultural and non-agricultural wage workers or transport workers (auto-rickshaws, rickshaws, cars).
Several of them were farmers with their own land or mortgaged land. Very few had their own business (grocery shop or tea stall) or had salaried jobs (ship worker, security guard,
international migrant) and only two had government jobs. Apart from those who had
government jobs, the remaining male household heads had little or no education. Only two of
33 the mothers were found to be doing paid work as wage workers, although a few more worked as unpaid agricultural workers. The main difference between peri-urban and rural households was that the latter were more likely to be agricultural wage worker households. Peri-urban
households were a mix of non-agricultural wage worker households or households where the heads were small businessmen or salaried jobholders.
The majority of the adolescent girl respondents were aged between 15 and 18 years with only one 12-year-old, one 13-year-old, and one 14-year-old. Fourteen of the 24 adolescent girls were unmarried. Unmarried Single girls were all in school and studying between classes 6 and 8.
Ten of the adolescent girls interviewed were married (including one who is divorced and
currently engaged). Married girls ranged from 15 years (only one) to 18 years, with most married at 16/17 years. The majority of married adolescent girls (7 out 10) were in school, at the cusp of either the secondary school certificate examination (SSC) or the higher secondary certificate examination (HSC). Since they were not having to do regular classes and they were examinees, they were able to remain “in school” after marriage. It is noteworthy that both the HSC
examinees were from economically better-off households (cashiers at government banks and property owners).
Four of the 10 adolescent girls married over the last year were either pregnant (two) or had given birth (two) during this time. Their husbands were mainly young men who worked in local auto-repair workshops, mobile repair, or other types of shops, or as masons, car drivers, or had salaried jobs as security guards or garment factory workers in Dhaka.
It took considerable searching to find adolescent girls doing paid work. One adolescent girl (Gaibandha) was learning tailoring to earn money. Her father was a rickshaw puller and her mother a brick-breaker. Another girl gave private tuition. Her father was unemployed and her mother a day labourer. It is important to note that only these two adolescent girls among all our respondents had mothers who were earning.
Like the adolescent girls, the majority of the adolescent boys interviewed were between 15 and 18 years, with only one 13-year-old and one 14-year-old boy. All the adolescent boys, except one 18-year-old boy, were single. It was far easier to find boys doing paid work, which they mostly did in garages repairing motorcycles or auto-rickshaws or doing skilled work such as being a mason or electrician. Additionally, boys were found to work in the fields with their fathers as unpaid agricultural workers or minding their fathers’ shops or businesses. Their households were not different from the households of other boys. Interestingly, we found a married adolescent boy.
5.2.2. Profile of focus group discussion participants
We held two mixed focus group discussions with fathers and mothers of adolescent children in each district (rural and peri-urban) and a total of six FGDs in all. Each FGD had a mix of men and women. The participants ranged from 30+ years to 60+ years. Irrespective of the peri-urban or
34 rural location, the majority of the men and women had some form of education, mostly below class 8 and only a few had completed SSC. Women in the peri-urban area of Narail were more likely than in other areas to have a secondary school education, although similar to other areas, it also had many older women who had no education. All of the women, except one (tailor), identified themselves as housewives with no income. The occupations of male participants ranged from mainly wage labourers and skill workers to small businessmen, farmers, and service holders (two).