Economic effect of school dropout in Bangladesh

Abstract

School dropouts have negative consequences for the social, political, environmental and economic development of a country. This study aims to determine the economic effect of school dropout in the context of Bangladesh. It also explores the factors associated with school dropout in Bangladesh. An extensive review of the literature has been performed especially on international peer-reviewed research articles. Studies have been assessed on some pre-defined domains like reasons for school dropout, social, economic, political, and environmental factor, government initiatives to reduce dropout, school’s study environment, geographical factors, social norms and values, and expert opinion. The study reveals that school dropout is negatively related to economic development in Bangladesh. The study also explores that chronic poverty, parent’s unwillingness, financial problem, school’s poor infrastructure, biased social practice, lack of quality education, geographic isolation, unequal access to education, and security problems for girls are major causes of school dropout in Bangladesh. The study suggests that free education program, reducing paid coaching culture, lessening cost of private school, raising awareness of parents by teacher-parents relationship, improving school’s infrastructure, ensuring equal access to education, providing quality training for teachers, provision of all related facilities should be ensured at the policy level by government's policymakers.