Bringing More Disadvantaged Children Back to Schools 93482 May 8, 2012 Bangladesh’s Partnership Approach to Enhancing Access to Education Overview From its inception in 2004, the Bangladesh Reaching Out of School Children (ROSC) project has provided “second chance” primary education to over 790,000 out of school children in more than 23,000 learning centers. Beneficiary students, more than half of them girls, come from the 90 poorest sub-districts (upazilas) of the country. The project, backed by funds and technical assistance from the International Development Association (IDA), blends formal education with non-formal means of delivery to the young learners, providing them with an opportunity to complete grade five and transition to secondary education. Challenge MULTIMEDIA In 2004, nearly 1.5 million primary school-aged children were out of school in Bangladesh. The government’s Primary Education Development Program focused on the formal primary sector that supported about 17 million students, yet still could not bring many children back to school. These were the children who had missed out schooling at the right age or had been forced to drop out, mainly because of poverty. In the context of diverse necessities in primary education, and time needed to put in a single mechanism to cater to all groups of children, the Finance Minister Interview Government of Bangladesh, with IDA support, Girls Education in Bangladesh introduced an innovative ROSC project to achieve the country’s Education For All goals.   Reaching Out of School Children Approach The ROSC project provides access to learning opportunity More Results for out-of-school children by providing stipend allowances to students and grants to learning centers. With community management as the fulcrum, buttressed by a partnership between the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the approach focuses on the 790,000 establishment of learning centers. These are set up through out of school children have been a Center Management Committee directly accountable to enrolled parents and students, as well as the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and its upazila (sub-district) field offices and NGOs as implementation partners.  Operational program delivery differs from the norms in primary schools in order to cater to specific needs of students (e.g. ROSC students tend 90% to be older than regular primary school students; students attendance rate achieved from multi-grade backgrounds are taught by a single class teacher; and students and teachers follow a flexible school timing to suit their mutual needs).  MORE INFORMATION ROSC I Project Documents Results ROSC II Project Documents The key outcomes of the ROSC project include:  - Between 2005 and 2012, over 790,000 out-of-school Reaching out of School Children children, more than half of them girls, enrolled in more than Feature 23,500 learning centers. Bangladesh Country Site -  The pass rate of ROSC students that appeared in the Connect with us on Facebook nationally-conducted grade five terminal examinations has risen to 83 percent in 2012, from 73 percent in 2011, Talk to us on Twitter providing ample opportunity to students with primary completion equivalency for a transition to secondary education. -  Between 2005 and 2012, the average student attendance rate exceeded 90 percent, while the teacher absence rate was kept below 10 percent. -  Women constituted more than 80 percent of all ROSC schoolteachers between 2005 and 2012 and close to 90 percent of all school management committee heads were females, together representing significant female empowerment at the local level. Voices My daughter now goes to the ROSC School. I am happy, we the women, have a say in our children’s education.   — Nazma, Mother Bank Contribution ROSC funding consisted of IDA's original grant of $51 million in 2004, along with $6 million from the Swiss Development Cooperation and government funding of $5 million. IDA approved an additional $35 million for this project in 2010 to broaden the project’s impact to additional 30 upazilas.   Partners The most notable partnership in ROSC project is between the government, the NGOs, and the rural communities. Communities receive direct funds from the government and use these to pay for the services of NGOs for initial start-up of the learning centers, and teacher training support. At the field level, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education’s Upazila Education Officers facilitate the establishment and monitoring of learning centers. Toward the Future The first phase of ROSC was a pilot project implemented in just 60 poor upazilas across Bangladesh and with additional financing, it was expanded to another 30. To scale-up the impact of an already tested and proven ROSC approach a follow-on initiative, the Second Reaching out of School Children Project (ROSC II) was approved in October 2012. The $130 million project will bring back to school an additional 720,000 children from poor and disadvantaged families by providing stipends to the students and grants to the Learning Centers. It will cover 148 remote or poor upazillas and help these children complete primary education in the learning centers and move on to formal secondary education.