Between Extinction and Hope: Indigenous Students Coming of Age in a Militarized Zone

• In Event: 52.083 - Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: 52.083-4 - Achieving the Promise for Indigenous Peoples: Research and Praxis I

Abstract

The children of the Indigenous communities of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), Bangladesh, growing up in militarized zone for the last forty years. They are also among the most illiterate in the country and at the highest risk of dropping out from schools. This study explores students’ perspectives on factors influencing achievement and deploys ethnographic methods with a combination of forty eight student interviews, analysis of visual materials, and seventeen classroom observations from six schools in the region. Student identified violence and intimidation, home environment, their efforts, language barrier, and student motivation as key factors influencing achievement of indigenous students.

Author

• Maung Nyeu, Harvard University