Chapter Six
Impact of UCEP Curriculum to Raise the Socio- Economic Condition
6.1 Prelude
Underprivileged Children’s Educational Program (UCEP) provides and designated a number of educational and vocational programs for the underprivileged street children to raise their socio-economic condition. Starting in 1972, thousands of distressed working children have taken education and training from different UCEP schools located in all over the country. UCEP provides a package service of Integrated General and Vocational Education (IGVE), Technical Education (TE) and Employment Support Services (ESS) along with various aspects of child rights, good governance and social life skills to the working children. UCEP operates 53 Integrated General & Vocational (IGV) Schools and 10 Technical Schools in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal, Rangpur, Sylhet Metropolitan City and in Gazipur District with an enrolment of about 45 thousand distress working children.
UCEP runs a number of programs for its students. The mission of these programs is to raise the socio-economic condition of the urban poor to a level which will enable them to effectively participate in national development. The important programs are: General Education, Technical Education (TE), Para-trade Training (PT), Employment & Field Services (EFS), Employment Support Services (ESS), Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) credit program, Overseas Employment Scheme, UCEP Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Child and Women Right Advocacy (CWRA) etc.
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6.2.1 Age, Sex and Family Type of Respondents
UCEP school provides education to the street poor underprivileged children to facilitate them in getting job or to be self-employed after finishing their graduation. It is important to note that UCEP students are not regular school going children; they are from different social strata.
6.2.1.1 Age Distribution of the Respondents
From the table no. 6.1-a, it is found that most of the students (51 percent) were between the age of 16 to 19 years and another 39.3 percent students were between the ages of 12 to 15 years. In national education curriculum, students of grade eight are minimum fourteen years old but grade eight students of UCEP were between the ages of sixteen to nineteen years. The lowest age of students found during collection of data was 12 years and the highest was 23 years. The average age of the respondents was 16.51 years.
6.2.1.2 Sexual Status of the Respondents
Among the respondents it is found that 60.7 percent were male and 39.3 percent were female (Table no: 6.1-b).
6.2.1.3 Type of Family of the Respondents
Another important thing is that 79.3 percent students came from unitary family (Table no: 6.1-c).
Table 6.1-A
Age Distribution of the Respondents
Age group No. of respondents Percentage Average Age Lowest Age Highest Age
12-15 118 39.3
16.51 12 years 23 years
16-19 153 51.0
20-23 29 9.7
Total 300 100.0
Table 6.1-B
Sexual Status of the Respondents
Sex Number of Students Percentage
Male 182 60.7
Female 118 39.3
Total 300 100.0
Table 6.1-C
Types of Family of the Respondents
Type of Family Number of Family Percentage
Unitary 238 79.3
Combined 62 20.7
Total 300 100.0
6.2.2 Types of Residence
Underprivileged children are deprived from formal education and training, admit in UCEP school and develop their skill through vocational training to create better job opportunity. After getting education and training in different vocational trades, by getting job and earning money, they help their family to develop their socio-economic status. From the figure 6.1 it is found that former students’ residential structure became better than current students. Only 22 percent current students have pucca house structure, whereas, it raised to 54 percent for the former students. Former students changed and developed their residential structure from kacha and straw made structure to pucca and semi-pucca structure. It became possible for them due to earning more money by getting training from UCEP schools.
Figure 6.1
Types of Residence of the Current and Former Students 6.2.3 Monthly Income of the Household Heads of Respondents
UCEP schools are designed to facilitate education and training to poor and destitute urban children. In this study, results from collected data shows that most of the UCEP students were destitute, underprivileged and working children belong to family’s
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monthly income from six thousands Taka to ten thousands Taka. The family, which consisted of six persons and monthly income was six thousands Taka, i.e.: daily income was two hundred taka, was hard to run the family expenses. It was insufficient for them to bear daily needs with that of money. In that case, household heads pursued to push the boy or girl to any income generating activities rather to send them to traditional schools. Upon considering this phenomenon, UCEP provides such kind of education and provides facilities to the children to do both schooling and income generating activities. Thirty percent families’ monthly income was Three thousands Taka to Six thousands Taka. That means UCEP follows its principle to provide education to the underprivileged children (Table: 6.2).
Table 6.2
Monthly Income of HHs
Family's monthly income No. of respondents Percentage
BDT 600-3000 36 12.00
BDT 3001-6000 90 30.00
BDT 6001-10000 115 38.33
BDT 10001-15000 51 17.00
BDT 15001-25000 8 2.67
Total 300 100.00
6.2.4 Occupational Distribution of the Household Heads
UCEP provides education to that segment of society who is deprived from formal education and always in search for job. Due to poverty and ignorance, guardians preferred to send their children to earn money rather to send in school. In Bangladesh, urban working children either live on the street or in overcrowded slum and squatter settlements. There are 700,000 children under the age of 15 working in urban areas, which is 17 percent of the total urban labor force (Barua, 2006). They work in industry, transport, trade, domestic service, metal & leather factories, construction and in garment factories. Household heads are engaged in different types of informal jobs, day-laborer in broad spectrum. A number of house hold heads also engaged in daily business as vegetable seller etc. From the figure number 6.2 it is found that 23 percent household heads were small businessmen. These people were not engaged in any large scale business rather they run their tiny shop or sell daily goods on van on roadside. Another 23 percent family heads came from daily laborer. Fifteen percent of them were
rickshaw/van pullers or tempo drivers and Fifteen percent of them were construction firm laborers. Only 2 percent family heads were government employee. Rest of the guardians were engaged in various income generating activities as, barber, tailoring, carpenter, bus-truck driver or helper, electrician, imam, maid servant etc. From the figure it is clear that most of the families were not in sound economic conditions and children were underprivileged to get formal education.
Figure 6.2
Occupational Distribution of the HHs