Gender Equality in Secondary Education (SE):

Achievements and Challenges under Teaching Quality Improvement in SE Project-I (TQISEP I and Gender Based Features of TQISEP II

S M Ebadur Rahman Staff Consultant Bangladesh Resident Mission 11-13 September, Beijing, China
The views expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.

Education System in Bangladesh

Education for all (EFA) is the Constitutional guarantee of Bangladesh. GOB is committed to impart Education rights to all citizens having 3-tier academic structures, as Primary(PP-5 yrs.), Secondary Education (6-10) & Higher Secondary(11-12yrs.) Higher (or Tertiary) Education in General (4yrs) & Technical (4yrs) in Engineering, Agriculture, Business Studies; and Medical Science(5 yrs.).
Education policy in 2010 (yet to be implemented)
Primary (PP-VIII) ; 2. Secondary (IX-XII) & 3. Higher Education as before

Educational Management, Administration & Funding

Organization and Funding:

Primary Education: over 100,000 schools. Majority of schools are Government Schools (70,000). Recently almost 30,000 schools nationalized. Great variety in schools. Government also supports most non-government schools. All managed by Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MOPME).
econdary Education: around 30,000 schools (10,000 madrasah and 20,000 secondary schools): Majority of Secondary Schools (19,500) and Madrasah (9,000) are Non-Government Schools managed by School Management Committee (SMC) who receive Monthly Payment Order (MPO) for Teachers salary. 300 government secondary schools. Teachers Recruitments:

Primary teachers are recruited by GOB

Secondary teachers recruited by SMC follows guidelines from GOB to ensure uniform qualification & good quality of Teachers

Project Brief
Duration: April 2005-June 2012 Project Cost: 108.64 Million US $

Source of Funds: ADB : $ 69.0 Million CIDA: $ 18.0 Million GOB: $ 21.7 Million
Goal: Enhancing the Quality of Secondary Education by improving the quality of Teaching

Gender Specific Component: Equitable Access and Community Involvement

Linkages with GOB Sixth Five-Year Plan, FY2011-2015 and MDGs

Increasing Quality of Education by providing training and improving incentives for teachers and strengthening knowledge of English and Mathematics at Secondary level Directly complimenting most of the quantitative and qualitative goals for education set by the GOB Sixth Five Year Plan Quantitative Goal: Recruitment and training of female teachers at all levels to fulfill the quotas: 20% in rural areas; 40% in urban areas Qualitative Goal: Strengthening gender and region based monitoring, analysis and reporting Based on sex-disaggregated data collection, identifying pockets of disparity(girls participation from ethnic minority groups, rural girls school attendance or female teachers in rural areas

Gender Action Plan for TQI-SEP 5 Focus Areas

Strengthen Capacity of Schools to Provide Effective Learning Environment for Girl Increase the Number of Female Teachers to 30%, (later revised targets based on location ) in Secondary Schools Gender Mainstreaming at Organizational Level

Strengthen Teacher Training Institutions with Women Friendly Environment

Monitoring and Evaluation by Sex- disaggregated Data

Teaching Quality Improvements

More than 55,000 (19.95% female) School Management Committee (SMC) members and Head Teachers trained on Gender and Inclusive Education creating positive attitude towards girls education. 3,000 (14.9%) Classroom Teachers trained in Gender and Inclusive Education in 3 remote and disadvantaged districts with small ethnic group population (Rangamati, Patuakhali and Thakurgaon).

986 (21.35%) women out of 4,618 teachers participated in Training of Trainers(ToT)

58,578 (29%) female out of 201,992 teachers participated in Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Training: specifically in English 15.5%, Computer Studies 34.90%, Higher Math. 05% and Math 0.8%

Teaching Quality Improvements

31,557 female teachers (26.34%) out of 119,807 participants in CPD Follow-Up Training and 21.3% in Cluster Training out of 99,957 Cluster Training 14, 531(44.7% female) B. Ed Trainees from Govt. Teachers Training College (TTCs) 1,258 (7.98%) females out of 15,758 teachers in 3-Month Secondary Teaching Certificate (STC) programs 157 (12.78%) female teachers out of 1,228 in 9-Month STC programs 137 (29.82%) females out of 459 teachers in overseas Training 30 (24.6%) females out of 122 on ToT in Gender & Inclusive Education

Women Educators and DecisionMakers in Education Sector

Currently 23.9% female teachers in secondary schools:
19.36% in rural schools 40.14% in urban schools Govt. has fulfilled its quota set for equitable access for female teachers

All ORC (Outreach Resource Centre) Committees include female members Women members in SMCs has increased to 20%

Enabling Environment for Female Teachers

Womens rest rooms with attached bathrooms established in 14 Teachers Training Colleges Womens hostel extended and kitchen renovated in 3 Teachers Training Colleges 2% quota reserved for disabled students(Ministry of Education Circular) Principals of TTCs instructed to adapt a section of womens hostel for women CPD participants bringing with them infants or young children
TTC Rangpur established a fully staffed and equipped crche.

Provision for Scholarship for female teachers/ disadvantaged group to serve in remote area ( In TQI-II)

Supportive Strategic Actions

Community awareness training on Gender and Inclusive Education with a focus on Zero Tolerance towards Violation of the Rights of Girl Students and Female Teachers(2900) Inter-ministerial collaboration established with the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs(MOWCA) resulting in gender awareness in 40 educational institutions including Teaches Training Colleges and Higher Secondary Teachers Training Institute(HSTTIs) Inclusion of gender issues in all training programs

All Training materials reviewed for gender sensitivity

Improving availability of sex-disaggregated data on teachers for monitoring and decision making

Challenges
Increase the number of female teachers in educational institutions especially in remote and disadvantage areas Increase the participation of women in School Management Committees Reluctance amongst some SMC members about recruitment of women teachers Unwillingness of women teachers to teach in remote areas due to family problems

Way Forward: TQI-II

Increase % of schools meeting female teachers target(20% female teachers in rural schools, 40% in urban schools (Provisional BL 2008 41%, Target 2017 100%) Scholarships for pre-service training to eligible women(300 scholarship per year:2013-2017) Increase female members in Secondary School Management Committees(BL 2011-15.66%, 2016- 25%) Inclusive Education Teacher Training policy made more explicit and supported by advocacy Targeted scholarship program to be implemented Targeted remedial classes to be piloted

Way Forward: TQI-II

Fulfill the quotas for women members in each SMC and seek and support their membership. At least two women members in each SMC as per Ministry of Education Circular. Women participation in the SMC/PTA will be increased to 40% by 2016. To achieve the above objective advocacy campaign like seminar, workshop will be conducted. Women Head Teachers/Principals will be targeted to be increased by 5% up to June 2017. To achieve this target women participants to the Head Teachers Training will be encouraged. Instruction will be given to Education Engineering Department(EED ) for engaging women workers in the construction works of 51 Cluster Centers Schools(CCSs).

Thank you