The Boys Left Behind: Where Public Policy has Failed to Prevent Child Labour in Bangladesh

Poor boys have been left behind by public policy efforts to expand school access in Bangladesh – the same policies which have succeeded in attracting girls to school. This article draws on original research to explore the failure to tackle the exclusion of poor boys from school, arguing that paid work has become more attractive in a context in which education is of poor quality and there are no social sanctions against child labour. Recently there has been a shift of policy attention towards poor boys, amidst concerns about security, militancy and Islamic education. Given steady economic growth, poor boys may not necessarily inherit deeper poverty, but in the absence of state or social sanctions against child labour, they are likely to inherit a position at the lower end of the social scale

Private tutoring in English for Secondary School students in Bangladesh

Private tutoring in English (PT-E), a special and important subclass of private tutoring (PT), is a common phenomenon in ESL/EFL education in many parts of the world. Nevertheless, it has received little attention in TESOL, applied linguistics, or language education research. This article investigates the nature and practice of PT-E in a disadvantaged rural area of Bangladesh, a context where the circumstances of ESL/EFL education give it a particularly acute role. The study relates PT-E to scholastic achievement in English, investigates student attitudes and motivations in PT-E, and establishes a core profile of PT-E in relation to the school system, parent and student expectations, attitudes and motivations, and outcomes. The study follows a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data analysis demonstrates some positive links between PT-E and English achievement, which is elaborated through a broader qualitative analysis, showing that the students had clear and structured views about PT-E, which they saw as imperative for successful learning achievement. A set of social, psychological, and institutional factors are identified which contribute to the popularity of PT-E in a less affluent society like rural Bangladesh. There are also implications for educational policy and planning, if English language education in the mainstream school system is to hold its own in the face of competition from PT-E in terms of quality and image

Family, community, and educational outcomes in South Asia

In this article, we review research on the economics and sociology of education to assess the relationships between family and community variables and children's educational outcomes in South Asia. At the family level, we examine the variables of family socioeconomic status (SES), parental education, family structure, and religion and caste. At the community level, we assess the limited research on the relationships between economic, cultural, and social characteristics and children's educational outcomes. The literature presents several consistent relationships between the roles of family and community characteristics in determining educational outcomes and reveals several possibilities for further research. © 2010 UNESCO IBE