Educating Girls in Bangladesh: Watering a Neighbour's Tree? | ||||||||||||
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| Attitudes to girls' education in Bangladesh | ||||||||||||
| Raynor, J. / Oxfam , 2005 | ||||||||||||
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The expansion of girls’ education in Bangladesh – and how it is perceived – is the subject of this study, with the government’s secondary Female Stipend Programme (FSP) used as a case study. There is an old Bengali saying which observes: "Caring for a daughter is like watering a neighbour’s tree". It reflects the view that it is a waste of resources to invest in a daughter who will be "lost" to another family through marriage. It is one of the arguments that have been used in the past to justify girls’ exclusion from school in Bangladesh. However, various recent education initiatives by both government and NGOs have placed stronger emphasis on girls’ education, leading to a widely praised increase in access over the last ten years. They include a secondary stipend programme which started on a small scale in 1982 and became a nationwide programme in 1994. The study examines attitudes towards girls’ education and educated girls and women in Bangladesh. It explores attitudes towards the programme, and the programme’s effects on social attitudes. Many reports on the various forms of the FSP offer a quantitative analysis, showing the success of the project in terms of access or retention. However, few reports offer insight into the ways in which lives and attitudes are being affected. Little attention has been paid to the impact of the programme at the family or individual level, or how stated values compare with observed behaviour. This study examines these aspects, exploring the attitudes of girls and boys, mothers and fathers, teachers and education officials, and project personnel. The paper concludes that overall, findings were positive, with widespread support for the FSP in particular, and the expansion of girls’ education in general. The study showed that all groups saw the main purpose of education as enabling girls to take up paid employment. In the light of this, the author argues that it is important to find out what employment opportunities there are for girls once they leave school.
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