There’s a saying “Education is the backbone of a nation” which seemingly refers to that a prerequisite of a nation is education. And there’s no substitute for education to uplift a nation. Recently there has been a speedy development in the education system of Bangladesh. Ever wondered if the development scenario is even among the indigenous communities of Bangladesh?
According to the economic survey of Bangladesh 2020, the literacy rate is 74.7%. But this percentage is not equivalent to the indigenous communities. There are several reasons behind it. The following segments will guide you to the argument.
A lengthy distance from dwelling to the educational institutions
One of the main reasons is that the children can not reach to the schools because of the distance from their habitation to the educational institutions, as they face many challenges in travelling, they have to cross rivers and move from hills to hills in order to reach to the prospective institutions. That’s why , a large number of parents stop enrolling their children due to lack of availability of schools within appropriate walking distance. Hence a huge portion of them remain illiterate.
Language as a communication Problem
But there’s a greater problem than the lengthy distance which is even if the children get admitted to the educational institutions the first and foremost problem they face is not being acquaintance enough with the language the institutions run in Bangla.
There are approximately 54 indigenous communities speaking 35 various languages in Bangladesh. They have been accustomed to speaking their own language since childhood. But when they go to the educational institutions, they have to learn Bangla , which most of the students get into trouble to grasp. The children get to read the textbooks witlessly, which have no cohesion with their culture and language. As a result they fall behind because of not being able to understand Bangla language properly and get dropped out. Which is why the drop-out rate is drastic. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Educational and Information Statistics (BANBAEIS), the dropout rate of indigenous students is 59%. The education system has failed to acknowledge the specific learning which is needed in their mother tongue.
Lack of access to tertiary education
While the primary stage of education is at this state, the tertiary education is more miserable. Only 5% of the indigenous students were supposed to get access to tertiary education like University of Dhaka, Jahangir Nagar University, Rajshahi University, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, and many more whereas every year only 1% of them meet the chance. This one percent also has to face various challenges like when they go to university they have to learn everything in their third language, English after passing the intermediate level in Bangla somehow.
Adjustment in a whole new environment is a great drawback for them as they face backlashes and demean by the mainstream grows their low self esteem.
They get mocked for not being smart enough and suffer from inferiority complex because of the comments they get passed like, “তোমরা তো পাহাড়ে থাকো তাই বাংলা বলতে পারো না (You guys can’t speak Bangla properly because you live in the mountains)”, “তোমরা সাপ, ব্যাঙ আর পোকা মাকড় খাও (You guys eat snakes and variant insects, this is so disgusting)”, “তোমাদের চোখগুলো অনেক ছোটো (You have such small eyes)” etc.
Come to think of it, if you are bullied constantly because of the way you look, the way you speak and the food habits you are used to, would you be able to focus on your study?
Getting bullied and discriminated ceaselessly from their peers make them feel stressed and not susceptible to perform well in class. Falling prey to such ethnical discrimination may lead some of them giving up on study.
Shunning away from education in harvesting season
Jum cultivation is an occupation for indigenous people living in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). It needs an amount of labour to do this horticulture which is why they want to utilize all the members of their families. Sometimes they use the children too. This is also one of the reasons why the indigenous students don’t get quality education as they remain absent from their institutions for months to help their parents in harvesting.
Poverty
Not to mention the poverty rate of indigenous communities in Bangladesh is relatively high than the national rate. So a great number of them are hindered from quality education for their parents’ poor monetary state. Because of this very reason a high dropout is noticed in the higher secondary and tertiary level as at the primary stage the textbooks are provided for free but later the books don’t come for free and therefore they get hold into a huge problem of how to purchase the books. Some parents somehow manage to get the books for their children but sadly some fail to do it and this ties them from getting access to higher education.
Covid-19 as a hindrance to the indigenous students’ education
Due to the recent outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, many changes have taken place in the education system of Bangladesh. Most educational institutions have decided to take classes virtually. A massive number of indigenous students have been divested from online classes and televised classes due to lack of utmost resources. An online discussion entitled “Impact of COVID-19 on Education in Bangladesh” on 20 June 2020 revealed that 75% of school-going Indigenous students were unable to take part in classes broadcast via the Parliamentary Television BTV (IWGIA, 2021). Additionally this may follow to a huge drop-out rate of indigenous students if the pandemic extends.
Education is a basic human right for a person and a fundamental vehicle of realizing other human rights. For economically and politically marginalized groups it’s an escaped for their development. It is an immediate necessity for the state to pay more attention on indigenous students’ education or else they will be deteriorated further. Government expenditure on indigenous students’ education is narrow and difficult to gain. It’s high time the government spent enough expenditure on their education such as schools within reach, sufficient number of qualified teachers, Infrastructure and equipment.
Written by Saptorshi Dewan
Photo Credit: Chotobela Foundation
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