Over half of the female beneficiaries of a Bureau of Non-Formal Education pilot project for skill-based literacy for the out-of-school adolescents anticipate or have already faced pressure to exit apprenticeships they got after the project, according to an outcome study released on Saturday.
Currently 5,319 project graduates are working in different apprenticeships (as co-workers) and 598 are working as apprentice entrepreneurs.
The study showed that 57.4 per cent of the female graduates anticipated or had already faced pressure to exit apprenticeships. The study was conducted on 674 graduates.
At a national dissemination event held at a hotel in the capital Dhaka, the study also showed that the female adolescents faced the pressure due to marriage or family expectations 鈥撀� twice the rate for males.
The government, meanwhile, is currently working to expand the pilot project as a national programme to 64 upazilas under 16 districts, offering over 1,00,000 out-of-school and NEET (not in education, employment, or training) adolescents.
The local and foreign delegates said that the skill-based literacy model would directly address the country鈥檚 skills gap and contribute to the informal economy.
The BNFE, jointly with UNICEF, organised the event.
The bureau, under the guidance of primary and mass education ministry and with the technical support from UNICEF, piloted the skill-focused literacy for out-of-school adolescents project in Cox鈥檚 Bazar from September 2023 to June 2025.
This project delivered skill-focused literacy at a pre-vocational level to 6,825 out-of-school and low literate adolescents aged 14-18 years. Out of them, 6,805 completed the trainings and 58 per cent of them were girls.
At the event, Dhaka University鈥檚 economics department assistant professor Rubaiya Murshed gave a presentation of the SKILFO outcome study done by her on 674 SKILFO graduates.
Despite the fact that 57.4 per cent of the female graduates anticipate or have already faced pressure to exit apprenticeships, female participation in both the programme and subsequent apprenticeships has remained strong.
BNFE director general Debabrata Chakraborty said that they were trying to bring the female beneficiaries in employment market and in regular education system.
Rana Flowers, UNICEF Bangladesh representative and guest of honour, said that girls鈥� education matters to economic development.
Strengthening the government鈥檚 commitment to inclusive education and youth empowerment, the next essential steps are to the institutionalising and scaling up of SKILFO across Bangladesh, she added.
Primary and mass education adviser Bidhan Ranjan Roy Podder said as chief guest that they were supposed to start this expansion initiative few months ago with full preparation.
鈥榊ou all know that how slowly our government system runs鈥� he said, adding, 鈥榮o we could not start the project as the money for the project was not disbursed.鈥�
Earlier in April this year, Debabrata Chakraborty said that they had sent a proposal to the planning ministry for initially expanding the project in 16 districts and then gradually in all 64 districts.
Technical and Madrassah Education Division secretary KM Kabirul Islam suggested as special guest that the bureau officials should include some quomi madrassah students in the project.
The event was attended, among others, by Secondary and Higher Education Division secretary Md Shakhawat Hossain as the event chair.
