BSS, Dhaka
Tribal and indigenous leaders at a workshop yesterday said that most of their children had little access to primary education both in the hilly region and in the plain land.
They said tribal and indigenous children between 6 and 10 years in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region as well as in the greater Mymensingh, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Dinajpur have little access to primary education with only over 40 per cent enrollment in schools.
"Not only the limited enrollment, the drop-out has also reached a frustrating rate of over 80 per cent due to acute poverty, language barriers and absence of local teachers," said Sudha Sindhu Khisha of CHT Regional Council (CHTRC) at the workshop held in the LGED Bhaban.
Echoing other tribal and indigenous people from the hills and the plain lands, Khisha said special intervention from the government was needed to check the gradual 'extinction' of the indigenous community.
He said residential primary schools in CHT and recruitment of teachers from locals could help ensure primary education for tribal children.
Ministry of Primary and Mass Education organised the workshop on "Tribal Development Planning (TDP)" as part of its six-year programme which begins in January next year to ensure hundred per cent enrolment in primary schools with access for disadvantaged groups.
Prime Minister's Adviser on Primary and Mass Education Prof Jahanara Begum attended the workshop as chief guest, while secretary of the ministry Prof Tajmina Hossain and CHT Affairs secretary Syed Mushtaq attended it as special guests.
The ministry is considering the TDP project with an estimated cost of 25 million US dollars, said Prof Jahanara Begum.
The programme aims at ensuring quality primary education with special emphasis on disadvantaged groups like the children of tribal and indigenous people, who constitute 1.13 per cent of total population, Altaf Hossain, Deputy Chief of Primary and Mass Education Ministry, said in his keynote speech.
The country has little over 1.5 million indigenous and tribal people. Around
50 per cent of them live in the CHT region and the rest scattered over the plain
lands, sources said.