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Students Learning Performance in Various Types of BRAC Schools
Goutam Roy
Notan Chandra Dutta
Samir Ranjan Nath
November 12, 2007
Background
BRAC initiatives non-formal education programme since 1985.
Three types of BRAC schools: BRAC Primary School (BPS) BRAC Community School (BCS) BRAC Formal Primary School (BFPS)
Number of BRAC schools: BPS – Around 32,000 BCS – 44 BFPS – 11
BRAC schools follow the curriculum made by NCTB.
Background
The test was administered on three types of BRAC schools in 2004.
Education Watch group developed a competency based test instrument in 2000 for the grade 5 completers.
Of the 50 competencies, 27 fall fully or partially in cognitive domain and others in psychomotor or affective domains. It is a paper-pencil based test having 64 items.
Differential performance regarding learning achievement of BRAC schools was observed.
Another study was conducted to know the reason.
Objectives
The objectives of the study were: to assess the learning achievement of the students of three types of BRAC schools and: to know the causes behind the differential performances.
Specific Objectives To know the difference in learning achievement
among three types of BRAC schools. To look at the difference in learning achievement
regarding gender and disability. To explain the reason behind differential
performance of the students.
Methodology Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used.
SamplingQuantitative Part Following number of students were tested randomly
BPS – 845 from 60 schools BCS – 406 from 29 schools BFPS – 343 from 11 schools
Qualitative Part Four regions where all types of BRAC schools
existed; two regions selected purposively Six schools were selected; two from each type 113 informants (38 from BPS, 40 from BCS and 35
from BFPS) were selected
Tools and TechniquesQuantitative Part
Test instrument to assess the students.
Qualitative Part In-depth interviews Focus group discussion Non-participatory observation
Separate checklists were used. Two classrooms and six refreshers training were
observed. More than one technique was used for a number of
sources.
Methodology
Methodology
Respondents Quantitative Part
Students
Qualitative Part Head office level Managers – In-depth interview Regional Managers – In-depth interview Area managers – In-depth interview Programme Organizers – FGD and In-depth interview Teacher – FGD and In-depth interview Students – FGD and In-depth interview Parents – FGD Common villagers – FGD
Performance of Students
Percentage of students achieving all the competencies in Bangla
50.252.6
67.3
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
BPS BCS BFPS
Percentage of students achieving all the competencies in English
23.9 22.2
39.4
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
BPS BCS BFPS
Percentage of students achieving all the competencies in Mathematics
15.3
26.5
20.7
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
BPS BCS BFPS
Percentage of students achieving all the competencies in Social Studies
28.5
18.3
26.5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
BPS BCS BFPS
Percentage of students achieving all the competencies in General Science
24.526.9
43.7
05
10
1520
25
30
3540
45
BPS BCS BFPS
Percentage of students achieving all the competencies in Religious Studies
31.6
42.549.9
0
10
20
30
40
50
BPS BCS BFPS
Mean number of competencies achieved by school type and gender
18.9 19.2
21.2
15
17
19
21
23
25
BPS BCS BFPS
21.6
19.719.1 20.9
1918.7
15
17
19
21
23
25
BPS BCS BFPS
Boys
Girls
Some basic statistics by school type
School type
BPS BCS BFPS
Mean 18.9 19.2 21.2
Median 20.0 20.0 22.2
SD 5.1 5.2 4.0
CV 27.0 27.1 18.9
Summary of the Result
BFPS did best performance, followed by BCS and the BPS.
Of the six areas (subjects) under the test, BFPS did the best in most of them, BCS in mathematics and BPS in social studies.
Gender difference was higher in BPS than that of BCS and BFPS.
Disabled students did less well than their peers.
Reason behind Differential Performance
Students of the three types of BRAC schools were not homogeneous in respect to their households’ economic strength.
Better economic status and well parental education of the students of BFPS helped them in various ways in achieving more competencies.
Our teacher often provides us with home tasks, which I can not do always because my mother wants me to help her. If I fail to do home tasks, my teacher becomes angry and punishes me.
- A student of class V in a BRAC Primary School
Students of BCS and BFPS schools got one year pre-primary education.
Reason behind Differential Performance
BCS and BFPS were more equipped with qualified, experienced and trained teachers than BPS. Teachers of BFPS knew better English than the others.
BFPS was visited frequently by various types of concerned people which ensure more supervision.
We always keep our students up to date. If any of them fails to respond correctly to the questions asked by any visitor it’s a grate shame for us.
– A teacher of BFPS
Teaching-learning provision in the BFPS was relatively better compared to BCS and BPS.
Fully use of NCTB-prepared textbook helped BFPS and BCS to achieve more competencies. BPS received easier and fewer amounts of contents, which led to lower performance.
The recruitment process was flexible for BPS which allowed less-qualified teachers.
Formal school students took private supplementary tutoring in English which was vice versa for BPS.
Students of BPS got two years less study time compared to their peers in BCS and BFPS. Due to less contact hour, the syllabus of BPS was unfinished in every year.
I often face difficulty in completing the syllabus with a shorter duration of four years.
– A teacher of BPS
Reason behind Differential Performance
Reason behind Differential Performance
BPS teachers followed social studies guidebook properly.
No final examination based on whole book was found in BPS. Due to unfamiliarity with the type of test taken and duration of it, the students of BPS might do less well than others.
Dropout rate of both teacher and students of BPS was higher than BCS and BFPS. This also hampered education in BPS. The new teachers of BPS often start taking classes without a basic training.
POs of BPS were transferred frequently which was not true for BFPS.
Students of BPS and its teachers added more value than others with their limited wealth.
Parents emphasised more on boys’ education rather than girls’, which was the main cause of poor performance of girls.
BPS considered almost all the girls for admission and a section of the boys. The boys with relatively better cognitive skills got priority in admission.
Lack of learning friendly atmosphere for disable students was found in BRAC schools.
Refreshers trainings were focused on content-based, not on concept-based.
Reason behind Differential Performance
Recommendations
BPS should be extended from four years to five years and introduce annual examination.
Government should provide NCTB textbooks to all students of BRAC primary schools as the government is committed to its free textbook policy at primary level.
The ministry should allow the BRAC pre-primary school students to enrol in BRAC primary schools.
Provision of additional tutoring after official school hour can be introduced in the schools so that the pupils can learn better.
Frequent transfer of the POs should be stopped so that they can get enough time to understand the communities well and work with the schools for longer period.
Annual examination for BPS should be started.
Teacher recruitment process for BPS should not be flexible.
Teachers and POs should be trained on disable education.
Emphasis on understanding the concepts along with the contents should be an important part in monthly refreshers training session for the teachers.
Recommendation
Thank You
