Social exclusion and violence:
Education for social cohesion

Basic Education for "hardly accessible" children

Dacca, Bangladesh

The basic education project for "hardly accessible" children in Bangladesh is a project within the framework of the movement Education for All (EFA) of UNESCO. It aims at schooling the "hardly accessible" children, by education experts, given the impossibility of doing it with the traditional education system. This is so because children are compelled to work and cannot continue their normal schooling.

This program comes out of the civil society to assist the "hardly accessible" children. It is conducted by NGOs and concerns the so-called "informal" schools. Around 2,025 "informal" schools provide basic education to over 60,750 children in poor districts, of whom 54% are girls. These figures must be compared with a total of 180,000 schooled children, starting from 1997, in the six administrative divisions of Dacca, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshani, Barisal and Sylhet. The final goal to be achieved in 2002 is 350,000 children. The teachers belong to NGO s which are part of the project, which gives them special training in a participatory and student-based teaching methodology. This teaching, centered on the specific needs and interests of the "hardly accessible children", prepares them to manage the specificity of this particular public. The project teachers are then asked to incorporate the domicile visits into their planning. They must visit every student and keep their families informed about their progress or problems.

The informal education program aims at improving the children's schooling rate of the country by providing the "hardly accessible" children with the possibility of having access, at least, to primary education through an "informal" circuit. Given its approach, complementary to the state's one, it reinforces the national educational system by offering it to this new public. The project is meant to offer equitable access of all children to education and provide remarkable improvements to school programs, handbooks and teacher training.

Mr. Ansar Ali Khan
UNESCO representation in Bangladesh
Ministry of Education
1, Asian Highway, Palassy - Nikhel 1205 Dacca
Bangladesh
Tel.: (880-2) 956 5432
Fax: (880-2) 956 5724

Institutional Partners
UNESCO
Development Partner NGO s
The Government of Bangldesh
Financial Partners
UNICEF
Development Asian Bank (DAB)
International Development Agency (IDA)
Swiss International Development Agency (SIDA)
Norwegian Aid Agency

The project started in 1997.