Published: 11:44 PM, 15 September 2026
How Millions of School Children Slip Through the Cracks Unnoticed
Jamal Uddin Sarker
Every morning across Bangladesh, millions of children put on crisp uniforms, shoulder heavy backpacks, and head off to primary and secondary schools. But in thousands of classrooms from the urban slums of Korail to the riverine chars of Kurigram and Sunamganj, a quiet crisis plays out: desks slowly empty, attendance registers mark consecutive absences, and eventually, names simply vanish. While national celebrations laud soaring literacy milestones and near-universal primary enrollment rates, an alarming, silent exodus unfolds underneath—students dropping out of schools often go entirely unnoticed until it is far too late.
Boys face a higher primary dropout rate (19.02%) compared to girls (13.36%), often driven by early entry into the workforce. However, girls from low-income families still face severe completion barriers at the secondary level. More worrying still are the unacceptably high rates of primary school dropouts in some districts, which warrant urgent policy interventions. While the national average rose to over 16%, in the northeastern district of Netrokona it is over 44%. That means nearly half of primary school students in Netrokona never reach the secondary level of education.
From the latest government report, at least nine other districts can be identified where almost a third of students leave school without completing the primary level. Dropout rates are as high as 38.71% in Nilphamari, 36% in Mymensingh, 35% in Gaibandha and Sherpur, 34.24% in Sunamganj, and around 32% in Patuakhali, Jamalpur, Kurigram and Lalmonirhat.
According to recent official evaluations, the national primary school dropout rate recently climbed to 16.25%. In marginalized pockets like Netrokona and the wider Mymensingh division, the situation borders on catastrophic, with attrition reaching between 32% and 44%. As students transition into lower and higher secondary education, the system falters even further: nationwide surveys show that less than 44% of children in Bangladesh actually complete their secondary schooling. Yet, because this departure rarely occurs through a single dramatic event, it fails to capture headlines, fading into the background of daily survival struggles.
The underlying causes are deeply intertwined with economic vulnerability, societal pressures, and systemic oversights. Global post-pandemic inflation and rising living costs have eroded household budgets across Bangladesh, turning education from a promised ladder of mobility into an immediate financial burden. For young boys, particularly in low-income urban settings and rural farming belts, the pressure to contribute to household earnings drives them out of the classroom and into informal labor markets—automotive workshops, tea stalls, transport sector apprenticeships, and agricultural fields. Consequently, primary dropout rates among boys have surged above 19%, far outpacing that of girls.
Conversely, girls face a different set of societal traps as they reach adolescence. Despite legal frameworks against child marriage, economic hardship frequently forces families in vulnerable rural regions to prioritize early marriage over continued schooling, treating a daughter's education as an unviable expense. Climate-induced shocks—such as recurrent flash floods in Sylhet and erosion in the southern coastal belt—further accelerate this phenomenon, forcing entire families into seasonal migration where children are permanently severed from their academic tracks.
What makes this phenomenon uniquely tragic is its stealth. Dropouts rarely happen overnight; they begin with intermittent absenteeism due to illness, lack of transport fare, seasonal harvesting, or unaddressed learning difficulties. Because state-run primary schools frequently suffer from acute teacher shortages, congested classrooms, and double-shift schedules that limit student-teacher interaction, teachers seldom have the bandwidth to investigate why a child has missed school for three consecutive weeks. By the time school management committees notice a student’s prolonged absence, the child has already been absorbed into domestic labor or cheap industrial work, their educational trajectory quietly erased. Education experts emphasize that traditional incentives—such as free textbook distribution and static cash stipends—are no longer sufficient to combat the complex realities of modern poverty. To stem this invisible tide, Bangladesh urgently requires an integrated, community-level intervention strategy:
Digital Attendance Tracking: Implementing automated, real-time attendance monitoring across all primary and secondary schools to flag unexplained absences within 48 hours. Inflation-Adjusted Stipends: Expanding targeted cash transfers and mid-day meal programs to directly offset the opportunity cost of sending a child to school rather than to work.
· Community Taskforces: Mobilizing local government representatives, teachers, and civil society members to conduct immediate home visits when a child is at risk of dropping out.
· Flexible Learning & Remediation: Establishing catch-up classes for migrant children and vulnerable students falling behind, preventing academic frustration from turning into permanent abandonment.
Bangladesh cannot achieve its long-term economic aspirations or honor the human potential of its youth if millions of children remain forgotten outside classroom doors. Rebuilding a resilient education system requires looking past enrollment figures and actively ensuring that every child who enters a classroom is tracked, supported, and nurtured until they finish their journey.
Jamal Uddin Sarker is an ICT
trainer and a columnist.
