A survey conducted by Compulsory Primary Education Implementation Monitoring Unit shows that the literacy rate with informal schooling below class-I (age 7+) is 7.51 per cent, while that of class-I and above is 55.51 per cent, class-II and above is 51.08 per cent and ClassIII and above is 46.24 per cent.

The adult literacy rate (age 15+) with informal schooling below class-I is 6.93 per cent while that of class-I and above is 47.87 per cent, class-II and above is 46.97 per cent and class-III and above is 45.25 per cent.

The dropout rate in primary cycle is 37.4 per cent. The dropout in class-III is highest 13.23 per cent followed by class-IV with 10.8 per cent, class-I with 9.4 per cent, class-II with 6.9 per cent and class-V with 3.6 per cent.

The study attributes 72.85 per cent of the dropout to poverty, 5.7 per cent to early marriage, 3.50 per cent to death of guardians, 1.71 per cent to business loss and 1.48 per cent to river erosion.

About 16.64 per cent of the households with primary school going children reported that their children participate in economic activities. Of them, 23.6 per cent are of well-off families, 45.4 per cent live from hand to mouth and 31.01 per cent are poor.

In urban areas, the participation of primary school children to economic activities is 7.43 per cent while in rural areas is 18.37 per cent.

The survey reveals that adults engaged in literacy programmes are also involved in various types of economic activities. Of them, 71.89 per cent are involved in various businesses and 45.51 per cent in household works.

According to the study, average recurrent annual expenditure and capital expenditure for each primary school are Tk 4,61,820 and Tk 24,353 respectively while regular income from tuition fees and other sources and development work are Tk 60,502 and Tk 15,104 respectively, while average per student expenditure is Tk 2022.

Other per student expenditure, excluding primary schools attached to secondary schools, has reduced to Tk 1936, the study shows.

The highest per capita expenditure for student is Tk 10,627 in NGO-operated schools, followed by Tk 5102 in community schools. The lowest per capita expenditure for students registered in non-government schools is Tk 977, followed by Tk 1235 in schools under the PTI pilot project.

The teacher-student ratio is highest 1:64 in government primary schools followed by 1:56 in non-registered non-government schools.