Female Secondary Stipend Program in Bangladesh: An Analysis of its Cost Effectiveness

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - Region: Other States, , language: English, abstract: Bangladesh as one of the South Asian countries has been striving to develop a comprehensive education policy since its independence but failed to formulate such policy that could contribute to the development of the economy. The basic problem of primary and secondary level is poor enrolment and low retention rate in the school. To combat with this problem government of Bangladesh has been undertaking myriad policies and programs. Among such policies Female Secondary Stipend Program (FSSP), Food For Education Program (FFEP) and Free Text Book Distribution Program to the students of primary and secondary level are some innovative and better contributing policy interventions in the field of female education in Bangladesh. All these policy interventions are purported with the pivotal motto of reducing drop rate and increasing enrollment rate in the secondary education. All these policies are currently in operation except the Food for Education Program which has transformed into a cash transfer program very recently. Based on the policy problem of reducing dropout rate of the secondary female students in the school, the above policies on FFEP, FTBDP and FSSP were chosen as three policy alternatives taking FSSP as status quo with a view to measuring efficacy of these policies employing the cost effectiveness analysis method apprising their relative worth in reducing dropout of female students in the secondary level calculating the base year 1994 and analyzing up to 2015 years data and thereafter to suggest the best policy option for the government of Bangladesh. Data were generated and gathered from the available literatures on the above-mentioned alternatives. Primarily FSSP populations were used as baseline population and compare it with dropout and enrolment rate achieved of all the relevant alternatives and based on the unit cost and retained student CEA of all the policy alternatives were calculated on excel sheets first and all data were manually transformed into word format. The findings of the policy analysis unearthed the fact that in considering CEA of all the policy alternatives it was found that by using $1 it is possible to achieve a non-drop out sustained of 219 females in case of status quo (FSSP). In case of FTBDP by using 1$ it will be possible to retain 970 female students. In relation to FFEP it will cost the same $1 to achieve a non-drop out sustained of 14371 females enrolled. [...]

Dr. Rahman works (Joint Director, Research) in the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD). Mr. Rahman has 20 years experience in social research, training and action research in broader areas of rural development, local governance and policy issues etc. BARD is mandated to conduct exploratory and operational research, policy analysis; impart training programs to the GOs and NGOs officials & others concerned with rural development. Mizan has published widely in some international and national journals i.e. Sociology Mind, International Journal of Physical and Social Sciences, Asia-Pacific Journal of Rural Development, NIDA Development Journal, Thai Journal of Public Administration, Afro-Asian Journal of Rural Development, Bangladesh Journal of Public Administration, Bangladesh Institute International and Strategic Studies Journal, Journal of Rural Development, The Journal of Rural Development (BARD), Bangladesh Journal of Public Administration etc. He has experience in designing and managing training programs for national and international level participants. Mr. Mizan also holds positions in academic/professional bodies.