Equity and Diversity in Bangladesh’s Primary Education: Struggling Indigenous Children

This paper describes how indigenous students face challenges with various school activities due to inadequate equity and diversity principles in mainstream primary schools in Bangladesh. This study focuses on indigenous students’ interactions with mainstream class teachers and students through teaching-learning activities at public primary schools. Ethnographic research methods guided data collection under a case study methodology in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) region where maximum indigenous peoples’ inhabitants. The participants (class teachers) shared information through in-depth interviews about their experiences in the four selecting schools. The authors also observed the effects of school activities by use of equity and diversity lens for indigenous students’ situations in those schools. The authors argue that the socio-economic situations of indigenous families are not supportive of the educational development of their children. Similarly, the Bangladesh government does not have enough initiative programs based on equity and diversity principles for fundamental education of indigenous children at rural schools level. Besides this, the conventional teaching system cannot improve the diversification among the students in classrooms. The principles of equity and diversity are not well embedded in professional development of teachers, and using teaching materials in classrooms. The findings suggest that implementing equitable education; there are needed to arrange teachers’ education with equitable knowledge and introducing diversified teaching materials, and implementing teaching through students centered activities that promote the diversification among the multicultural students.

• Md Rabiul Islam
• Ben Wadham

• Case study research
• equity and diversity
• Indigenous children.

[1] Aga Khan Foundation team, Non- state providers and public-private -community partnerships in education. Washington: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 2008
[2] Asian Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), A brief account of human rights situation of the indigenous peoples in Bangladesh. Chiang Mari, Thailand, 2007.
[3] T. Bleie, Tribal peoples, nationalism and the human rights challenge the adivasis of Bangladesh. Dhaka, Bangladesh: The University Press Limited, 2005.
[4] L. R. Carlisle, B. W. Jackson, and A. George, Principles of social justice education: The social justice education in schools project. Equity & Excellence in Education, 39, 2006, pp. 55-64.
[5] UNDP, Socio economic baseline survey of Chittagong hill tracts. Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2009.
[6] A. Barkat, M. Hoque, S. Halim, and A. Osman, Life and land of adibashis. Dhaka: Pathak Shamabesh, 2009.
[7] C. I. Bennett, Genres of research in multicultural education Review of Educational Research, 71(2), 2001, 171-217.
[8] S. R. Lucas and L. Beresford, Naming and classifying: Theory, evidence, and equity in education Review of Research in Education, 34, 2010, 25-84.
[9] M. Saffigna, D. Franklin, A. Church, and C. Tayler, Practice principle 4: Equity and diversity Melbourne, 2011.
[10] K. H. Robinson, and C. J. Diaz, Diversity and difference in early childhood education. Berkshire: Open University Press, 2006.
[11] C. A. Grant, and C. E. Sleeter, Turning on learning, New York John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2003.
[12] T. L. McCarty, T. Borgoiakova, P. Gilmore and K. T. Lomawaima, Indigenous epistemologies and education -Self-determination, anthropology and human rights. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 36(1), 2005, 1-7.
[13] S. Milies, and Ainscow (Eds.), Responding to diversity in schools Oxon Routledge, 2011.
[14] P. Drahos and S. Frankel, Indigenous peoples' innovation and intellectual property: The issues. In P. Drahos & S. Frankel (Eds.), Indigenous Peoples' Innovation: Intellectual property pathways to development. Canberra: ANU Press. 2012, P6.
[15] C. Power, The Power of education: Education for all, development, globalisation and UNESCO. Singapore: Springer. 2015, pp.248-252.
[16] M. R. Chowdhury, S. R. Nath, and R. K. Chowdhury, Equity gains in Bangladesh primary education. International Review of Education, 49(6), 2003, 601-619