It was found that a higher percentage of respondents who attended a government school (47.9%) perceived their social status as higher than the NFPE school graduates (40.4%) and that both groups placed higher value on their position in society than the group that had never been registered (22.7%). It was found that most of the female respondents were not involved in income generating activities (IGA). It was found that 15.4% of never-registered female spouses were involved in some self-employment activities.
The study found that the overall economic status of the never-enrolled group was relatively worse compared to NFPE graduates and those who attended public schools. Land: A higher number of out-of-school respondents (25) were found to have contributed to the purchase of a homestead compared to NFPE graduates (16) and respondents who attended government school (14).
Introduction and Methodology
However, these are largely based on the formal school curriculum prepared by the Government's National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB, Ghosh, 1999). The role of BRAC's non-formal primary education program is complementary as well as complementary to fulfilling the government's commitment to education for all. The study aimed to explore the social, economic and empowerment effects of BRAC's non-formal primary education (NFPE) on the lives of the participants and their families.
The results of the study are presented on the basis of the aforementioned areas of impact - social impact, impact on women's lives and economic impact on education. This indirectly represents the higher socio-economic status of households of government school graduates than those of never enrolled and NFPE school graduates.
Social Impact of Education
The smaller proportion of adults attending government primary schools had an immunization card (57.9%) for their eligible children than NFPE school-registered households (64.3%). The morbidity rate decreased sharply with increasing age of households attending the NFPE school, from 70.0%. Therefore, it is difficult to measure the effect of education on the positioning of participants in society.
It was found that a higher proportion of children enrolled in government primary school came from families attending government schools (39.9%) compared to families attending NFPE school and those not enrolled (29.8% and 30.4% respectively). However, a higher percentage of children enrolled in NGO schools came from NFPE school families.
Impact on Women’s lives
Age wise involvement of the women in IGA shows that most women involved in IGA were of 21-25 years age group irrespective of strata. However, it was found that the income of the NFPE school attended by women tended to increase with increasing age (Tk. 545 to 1190 from 16 to 26+ years age group) which was different for other two comparison groups (Table 9) . It was found that a higher percentage of the women who attended NFPE schools earned cash income in the past three days (7.3%) compared to the government school attended by women (3.2%; the difference is significant), although the difference was not equally clear. between NFPE and never enrolled women (Figure 3).
It was found that 15.4% of never-enrolled female spouses were involved in self-employment activities, which is lower than that of NFPE (17.4%) and government-attended female spouses (26.7%). Relatively speaking, a higher proportion of never-enrolled female spouses were involved in labor sales (Table A43). Data show that while there was a large gap in employment status between government and NFPE school-age spouses of women, this gap was reduced for the older groups as an equal percentage of both strata were self-employed (Table A44).
The data show that 50.0% of women who never enrolled, who attended NFPE schools and who attended government primary schools respectively could spend their income and the difference between each group was insignificant (Table A45). However, the decision-making power of the NFPE school attended women with their income was higher for the 16-20 and 26+ age groups than women who had never attended any school. The study found that the age of marriage of educated teenagers was significantly higher than that of uneducated teenage girls, the difference was statistically significant.
A higher percentage of the literate women supported women's necessary mobility, but this difference was not significant between women who attended NFPE schools and those who attended government primary schools (Table A47). The women of the never enrolled stratum were less users of the safe latrine compared to the government and NFPE school attended by women, and the percentage of users was higher among those who attended primary schools in the state (Table A47). 16.5% of the grade 2-3 completed NFPE women's marriage required dowry compared to 33.7% for the women who completed the same grade from government primary schools.
Economic Impact of NFPE
However, the difference remains significant for those who never enrolled in either school with both literate groups (Table A48). However, the average value of contribution was higher for those who attended NFPE schools (Tk. 8,875) compared to those who attended government primary schools (Tk. 4,250) and those who never attended school (Tk. 7,764). Those who attended NFPE schools contributed only slightly more to the purchase of a homestead compared to those who attended government schools (both in number and Taka), although not statistically significant (Table A54).
While those who attended government schools contributed a higher amount to the purchase of arable land compared to those who attended NFPE schools (for students in grades 2-3 and 4-5), although this was not statistically significant (Table A55). The average value of a house was higher for those who attended government primary schools (17,287) compared to those who attended NFPE schools (14,039) and those who had never enrolled in school (7,200) (Table A56). The contribution of those who attended government schools was higher (8,522) in building and renovating houses than that of the other two groups (NFPE 5,819, never enrolled group 4,439) (Table A 57).
However, the value of productive assets was also lower for those who never enrolled in any school than those who attended NFPE and government primary schools (the difference is significant). Whereas, the value of non-productive assets was higher for those who attended public primary schools than those who attended NFPE schools. Again, female respondents who attended public schools received a higher amount of credit compared to those who attended NFPE schools and those who never attended a school (the difference was significant).
This indicates the positive income effects on the NFPE school graduates compared to those who never enrolled in any school. However, the rate of increase was in most cases in favor of the NFPE school graduates compared to those who attended government primary schools and those who never attended school (Table A80). The age of starting income was higher for women who never enrolled in any school (Tk. 18.67) compared to those who.
Socioeconomic impact of BEOC
All this information points to the higher socio-economic status of the comparison group of primary schools attended and the similar socio-economic background of those who have attended BEOC schools and those who have never enrolled in any school. It was found that those who attended BEOC schools were significantly more knowledgeable about the prevention of six deadly diseases than those who attended state primary school and who never enrolled in any school (Table A84). A higher percentage of women who attended BEOC schools benefited from health facilities during pregnancy (50.0%) than those who never enrolled in any school (38.9%).
Nevertheless, most mothers gave colostrums to their newborn babies, a higher percentage of those who attended BEOC schools maintained this practice compared to those who never enrolled in any school. Two of 10 indicators (helping during pregnancy and treatment taken for illness) showed higher performance of the male who attended primary schools in the state than those who attended BEOC schools. However, income from other places was higher for those who attended state primary schools compared to those who never enrolled in any school.
Adults who attended government primary schools contributed a larger amount to building or renovating a house than those who attended BEOC schools and those who never attended school. The difference is significant between BEOC graduates and those who never enrolled in any school (Table 18). On the other hand, students' contribution to land purchase was higher for those who attended BEOC schools than for those who attended government primary schools and never enrolled in any school.
Almost 53% of those who attended BEOC schools had their children fully immunized compared to those who attended government primary schools (38.2%) and those who never enrolled in any school (25.8% ). Again, 25.9% of the school-going children were never enrolled in any school from the households that attended BEOC schools and it was 40.0% for those who never enrolled (Table A96). In both cases, this proportion was lower for those who attended state primary schools.
Discussions and conclusions
However, it provided only qualified support in favor of the NFPE program compared to state primary schools. Nevertheless, a higher proportion of NFPE graduates enjoyed membership in local clubs compared to the never-enrolled comparison group. The self-perceived social status of NFPE graduates showed a better social position than those who had never enrolled in any school, and the difference with public primary school graduates was insignificant.
Mean MUAC for children aged 6–59 months from NFPE school attended households was found to be significantly higher than children from never enrolled comparison households, but nonsignificant with the children in the state school enrolled households. A higher proportion of females attending NFPE schools were found to be involved in IGA compared to those attending public primary schools. The last three days earnings of NFPE school educated women appeared to be more promising.
The self-assessed economic status of the literate households was higher than the never registered group. The reason is that a comparatively lower proportion of the NFPE school attended adults were involved in breeding compared to two other groups. It was revealed that the highest proportion of the never enrolled group was involved in income generating activities and this proportion was lower for both the literate groups.
One of the most significant differences appeared to be that the gap between the poor and the rich of the NFPE group narrowed significantly compared to the comparison groups. The socio-economic and demographic profile of the graduates enrolled in the BEOC school highlights the similarity with those who never enrolled in any school than those who attended public primary schools. Given all these social aspects, it becomes quite evident that the performance of those who attended the BEOC school was better than the non-enrolled comparison group on most indicators, but not as significantly as those who attended state primary schools.
Annexes
