Education and ethnic communities in Bangladesh; Why are so many of Bangladesh’s indigenous community students dropping out of education at an early stage? How can the diaconal concept of empowerment be used to mitigate this?

Abstract

This study examines the phenomenon of student dropout from primary education in ethnic communities' areas in Bangladesh. School dropout is very common in different parts of the country; it is also prevalent in ethnic community areas in the country's territory. Therefore these issues of dropping out of schools need to be tackled, as dropping out of high school is a severe problem for the student's future. Dropout is an issue that affects individuals and has its overall effect on the community. Dropout students are defined as those who have entered into educational institutions but did not complete the study programme. In recent years, Bangladesh has an incredible primary enrolment rate, but the dropout rate at primary level education among ethnic community students is alarming and more acute. This study investigates the dropout reasons of ethnic students in the selected area and looks for potential solutions to this issue. Qualitative research was conducted where data were collected through interviews, and later on, data were analyzed following the thematic method. A semi structured interview was conducted with teachers to gather qualitative data concerning the dropout situation to find attributions for dropout behaviour and discover other possible factors that may play a role that had not previously been considered. The study revealed poverty, socio-economic status of families, religious and cultural complexity, the distance of schools, siblings' influences, and lack of awareness among parents as considered the most influential factors which are functioning dropout situation. This study also shed some light on the way outs of problems from a diakonal perspective.