Innovation in Primary Schools in Bangladesh: A Case Study on the Effectiveness of Implementation and Impact

Abstract

Bangladesh has had endemic problems of being unable to keep enough children in school long enough to ensure mass literacy, let alone completion of primary. The Bangladesh Government struggled toward its goal of “cent percent literacy” with a raft of policy changes. The historic average of 50% primary school attendance has been pushed up to 80% in this century but further progress has been limited. The Bangladesh Ministry of Primary and Mass Education knew that major innovation was needed to make schools attractive to children and simply required that State schools innovate. This research was a case study of primary schools in two local government areas, using mixed methodology, to see how these new policies were working in practice. The data indicate that Ministry policies have been largely ignored and have had little impact on the vast majority of the schools. To some extent, the Ministry policies are unrealistic in the rural and poor areas mostly served by State education. Single computers were dumped in rural schools without the software or training to create multimedia classrooms. Old school buildings had neither the space nor the staff to support libraries and gardens. Teachers endorsed Girl Guide chapters, honesty shops, humanity walls, complaint boxes, and elected student councils but were not willing to put in the extra time and labor to administer them. To make the new Ministry policies work in practice, the Ministry needs to facilitate and coordinate implementation, supply resources, and incentives, assign responsibility for implementation, and assuring accountability for results.