Bangladesh Ethnic Minority Children Educational Skill Enhancement in Bangladesh

• In Event: Poster session I
  In Poster Session: Poster session 1

Proposal

Background
In recent years, Bangladesh has dramatically succeeded in improving access to basic education and increasing primary school enrollment. The study conducted by Save the Children (SCI) in the Khagrachari District found that while most students can recognize the letters of the alphabet and read individual words, they read without understanding the overall meaning of the text. These educational challenges have resulted in low literacy rates and have wide-reaching effects on other aspects of society.
Method: The study was conducted using a repeated cross-sectional design. The respondents were students of grade 1, 2 and 3 in schools was implemented by the intervention (treatment group) and schools that did not have the Intervention (control group) from Baseline to Endline within a 3 years intervention in Chattogram Hill Tracts districts in Bangladesh. The purpose of this evaluation study was to assess the impact of READ program on reading competency of students from grade 1-3 of the sampled schools in Khagrachari district, using the EGRA (Early Grade Reading Assessment) tool, by comparing baseline and endline results for control and treatment groups.
Result: Almost 100% student reported of understanding the language of instruction in Bangla) even though most students in all grades (both control and treatment groups) surveyed in both the baseline and the endline spoke either Chakma or Tripura at home as their mother language for multilingual environment. Even though Bangla was reported to be the primary language of instruction, students also reported that other languages (mainly Chakma) were also used to support instruction. There was no significant difference in literacy achievement by gender or between students of high and low SES at the endline. Students at READ schools scored better in emerging literacy skill tasks (letter knowledge, most frequent words, similar beginning words and rhyming words) compared to control schools at a significance level of p<0.001. Students at READ schools scored better on higher order literacy skill tasks (accuracy, fluency and comprehension) compared to control schools with a significance of p<0.001. Although students’ fluency increased from grade to grade, fluency was a challenge for students at both READ schools and control schools. However, treatment groups had higher scores than the control groups in the endline. Students at READ schools were more likely to be Readers with Comprehension (defined as readers who answered at least 80% of the comprehension questions correctly). Students who have a strong home literacy environment (defined as noticing more than 3 family members reading) are more likely to be strong readers. Not surprisingly, language, socioeconomic status, and the home literacy environment—especially access to reading materials at home—were found to be the main drivers of learning disparities.
Recommendation: Conduct research on how the first language is used in the classroom to support literacy and language acquisition in Bangla. Second language pedagogy should be considered to be incorporated into the program that function in a multilingual context to enhance literacy outcomes in all languages.

Author

• Ranak Chandra Mohanta, Counterpart International