C) PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
2.1.0 Extent of understanding of the project requirements
The Bangladesh Constitution (Article 15 and 17) refers to free and compulsory education and directs the State to adopt effective measures for the purpose of establishing a uniform, mass-oriented and universal system of education and extending free and compulsory education to all children to a certain level. However, education is a legally non-enforceable directive principle rather than a fundamental right that can be enforced.
In 1990, the Compulsory Primary Education Act made primary education compulsory for all children aged 6 to 10 but does not guarantee free education. The Act does not address issues of quality or coverage. It is not clear why free, compulsory education is limited to children between 6 to 10 years old, far below international norms and the UN CRC. The implications of the Act have not been publicised well so most people do not know primary education is compulsory and the obligations of the State in providing it.
The National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction (PRSP) - Unlocking the Potential (2005) recognises the necessity of providing education to Indigenous children in their mother tongue at primary level. The following actions have to be taken in improving the situation of ethnic minority people:
§ It is necessary to provide education to ethnic minority people with a curriculum that allows learning in their own language at primary level.
Unlocking the Potential - National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction, 2005, p. 152-153.
In terms of quality, education “has to be relevant for its recipients. Education needs to be life oriented and also livelihood oriented. It needs to function as toll for knowledge generation and self improvement however it also need to function as a tool for income poverty reduction where the recipients of education can meet the demand of the labour markets” (Government of Bangladesh, 2005, p 125). This supports the need for education relevant to the culture and language of Adivasi children and their communities.
Context of the Second Primary Education Development Programme II (PEDP II)
The PEDP II is a sub-sector programme to improve the quality of the formal primary education system Bangladesh. This initiative is a partnership between the Government of Bangladesh and eleven international donor agencies. “The fundamental aim of [PEDP II] is to ensure the quality of primary education for all children in Bangladesh.” (DPE, no date:1) Its key objectives are:
§ to increase primary school access, participation and completion in accordance with the Government’s ‘Education For All’ (EFA), Poverty Reduction Strategy, Millennium Goals (MDGs) and other policy commitments
§ to improve the quality of student learning and achievement outcomes to Primary School Quality Levels (PSQL) standard. (DPE, no date:2)
PEDP II plans to increase school capacity and infrastructure quality by building 30,000 new and larger classrooms. To address the education constraints and difficulties of Indigenous children, the “Primary Education Situational Analysis, Strategies and Action Plan for Mainstreaming Tribal Children” (2006) has been approved under the PEDP II and the umbrella of Inclusive Education. This is the only government plan to ensure education for Indigenous children. No projects have been initiated under the Bureau of Non-Formal Education (BNFE) to ensure the education rights of Indigenous children outside of the formal education system.
Under this strategy the DPE states that “cultural diversity in the education policy will be helpful for inclusive education regarding tribal children. Providing access and equity [and quality?] in education to these diverse group will require coordination of efforts between government and tribal community.” (MoPME, 2006:8)
Context of the Chittagong Hill Tracts
In Bangladesh the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is a unique area geographically, politically, ethnically and religiously. Over the last thirty years the Indigenous communities in the CHT have sought recognition and autonomy within Bangladesh. The denial of this by the central government results in an armed insurgency in and militarization of the region. The insurgency ended in 1997 with the signing of the CHT Peace Accord between the Government of Bangladesh and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS), but the militarization of the region continues. The government has taken only halted steps in implementing its obligations under the Peace Accord (1997).
Under the Peace Accord (1997) education is a transferable responsibility to the Hill District Councils (HDCs). The HDCs have the power to recruit, appoint and transfer local teachers. Within the context of the CHT there is a strong likelihood that teachers are appointed to their own language community. Though primary education in mother tongue (33b) is a specific function of HDCs, currently they have limited involvement in education beyond authority over teachers. Education budget still go through the line ministry, MoPME.
CHTDF UNDP initiatives
In 2006, an in depth qualitative study was conducted looking at education in the CHT by different stakeholders. It was found that the current government and NGO educational activities still do not reach a substantial number of eligible children in CHT. A large number of children never enroll in school and among those that do there is a high drop out rate. Based on this study CHTDF have started basic education in CHT project. The BECHT project intends to support the government to ensure Education for All and achieve educational quality in line with the Millennium Development Goals and national PEDP II.
The project went through its piloting from January 2008 to March 2009 and just completed its bridging period up to December 2009. Now it is in phase II started from January 2010. Phase I supported initiatives for better quality basic education in 2 Upazilas across the three Hill Districts including Khagrachari district by addressing issues of;
Access- primarily through construction and renovation of educational facilities amongst non government (community) schools and supporting teacher recruitment.
Quality- providing initial and refresher training to teachers and head teachers on child centred and activity based classroom methodologies,
Relevance- through developing a multi-lingual pre primary curriculum in seven of the indigenous languages and providing culturally sensitive teacher training
Management-supporting the establishment of functional and effective community based School Management Committees (SMCs) liaising with Hill Ditrict Council and Government officials,
Objective of the requirements/service from LNGO:
To support the implementation of the community mobilization and related project activities under education component of CHTDF in Matiranga,Laxmichari, Panchari and Mahalchari upazila under the district of Khagrachari.
Scope of work:
The contracted LNGO will focus on community mobilization activities in a total of 160 schools(100 schools for intensively supported by CHTDF) + 60 additional govt/registered schools) in the 4 upazilas. The LNGO will work coordination with KHDC, govt. education departments and other stakeholders.
TUS and Borgang Foundation are very much interested to work with the said stakeholders and, including with education cluster, CHTDF UNDP in four upazilas of Khagrachari district.
2.2.0 Practically Proposed Methodology relative to the context of the service for phase II
Phase II will run from January 2010 to September 2013 and take the lesions and successful approaches identified in phase I into a further two upazilas in Khagrachari district. In each upazilas there will be approximate 40 primary schools to work with, including new or recently established community schools (about 25) and 15 registered/government primary schools. Phase I patronized the activation of school level committees such as school management committee(SMC), mothers group(MG), and parents teachers association(PTA) encouraging participation and ownership of the community people in school activity. CHT based local NGO will be played a vital role in supporting the project activities regarding community mobilization with grass root level of staffs. They will be facilitated the formation/reformation of SMCs, Mothers’ group and PTA and supported their activities. They will be provided trainings for SMC members and follow up support for development and implementation of school development plan. Besides, LNGO will be organized and facilitated meetings for the SMC, PTA and MGs. This model is now established and CHTDF wishes to strengthen the model to further community participation and ownership in school activities. One LNGO will be responsible to work in each district for delivery the project activities. The proposed model of the TUS and Borgang Foundation services is given below( Figure-1);
Fogure-1: Proposed model to support BECHTP through community mobilization.
Approach
Community Participation - Community participation will be ensured at all stages of planning and implementation. To this end, community people will be mobilized towards institution building such as SMC, PTA, and MG. Communities will be facilitated in developing Plans for their schools to address educational issues including quality of education and poverty reduction.
Respect to local ethnic language – Respect local ethnics’ language, when it is appropriate to do so to work with different ethnic groups.
Commitment – Support to quality education for all.