Primary dropouts can increase

Risk of poor students dropping out from primary schools is growing as the government stipend distribution remains halted for six months and school feeding programme withheld for over a month.

About 1.37 crore students of government primary schools across the country haven't received the help since October, while over 30 lakh vulnerable children of poor families are out of the school feeding programme from March 17 when all educational institutions were closed to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Primary Education Stipend Project (PESP) officials argue that the project extension work remains stopped due to the ongoing government holidays announced to fight the Covid-19 outbreak. They also said a proposal on extending the project has been awaiting Ecnec nod since December, when the third phase of the project ended.

Officials involved in the school feeding programme said they were planning to reach 50 packets of fortified biscuits to each beneficiary in one go, to save them from malnourishment.

Manzoor Ahmed, senior adviser at Brac University Institute of Educational Development and also the university's professor emeritus, said chance was there that the dropout rate might go up if vital benefits like stipend and feeding programmes remained unavailable. 

Directorate of Primary Education Director General Md Fashiullah said there were chances that some students might be dropping out. "But the number would not be large as these students are staying home and not engaging in any kind of work," he said.

"We are working to resolve the issues as soon as possible," he added.

NO STIPEND FOR SIX MONTHS

Talking to The Daily Star, many students and their guardians said they had not been getting any stipends for the past six months.

Asked, officials said the project was aimed at increasing the enrolment and attendance rates and reduce the dropout rate among primary students.

In order to qualify for the stipend, selected students must have 85 percent monthly attendance. They also need to take up all school examinations and attain a minimum of 33 percent marks in exams for each subject.

Each student fulfilling these criteria gets Tk 100 per month as a single beneficiary in a family. Similarly, two children from the same family receive Tk 200 per month, whereas in case of three and four children from the same family, the stipend money is Tk 250 and Tk 300 per month respectively.

The government disburses the stipend money directly to the mothers of the students through mobile banking services, four times in a year in April, July, October and January.

About 1.37 crore students receive the benefit and they are not getting the stipend form October, said Yusuf Ali, project director of primary stipend project's third phase.

"Tenure of our project ended in December and we sent a proposal on extending the project till June 2021, which is awaiting approval at Ecnec. And amid all these, coronavirus hit Bangladesh, which caused the extension work to halt," he said.

"That is why we couldn't disburse money for two installments."

On Wednesday, the planning ministry sent a summary report to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her approval to extend the third phase of the stipend project, Yusuf said.

He also said once they got the approval from the PM, they would be able to disburse money for the October installment in a day or two. But they will need at least 10 to 15 days to disburse the money for the April installment.

The government now spends Tk 1,200 to Tk 1,400 crore each year to provide stipends to students of government primary schools.

SCHOOL FEEDING PROG STUCK

Officials said in order to ensure nutrition, reduce hunger and dropout rate and increase attendance in the classroom, the government was carrying out school feeding programme in 104 upazilas under the poverty-prone region.

Under one programme, the government gives packets of fortified biscuits, each weighing 75 grams, to nearly 3 million children at about 15,800 primary schools in those 104 upazilas.

The government is also serving hot cooked meal and high protein biscuits to another one lakh students of 700 primary schools, every alternate day.

"But all the activities are now suspended due to the school closure," Deputy Project Director of School Feeding Programme Mohammed Sohel Hasan said.

Due to the coronavirus situation, all the educational institutions have been closed on March 17. The government then extended the closure till May 5.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on April 27 said all educational institutions would remain closed till September if the situation caused by the coronavirus outbreak did not improve.

Against this backdrop, the project officials sent a letter on April 25 to DPE director general requesting him to take step to reach 50 packets of biscuits in one go to each student in the project area through upazila nirbahi officers and upazila primary education officers.

On one hand, the expiry dates of many biscuits are approaching end and on the other, students are being deprived of nutrition as the schools are closed, said the letter.

Project officials said they have at least 7,212 tonnes of biscuits in stock.

Fashiullah said they have received the letter. "We will reach the biscuits to the home of each student. While distributing the biscuits, we will follow the health guidelines and maintain social distancing," he said.