When books compete with bread: The harsh trade-offs of education in rural Bangladesh

In the mango, rose apple, and tamarind season in rural Satkhira, teenage boys disappear from classrooms and reappear on trees. This is not a poetic metaphor—it's a survival strategy.

During recent fieldwork for our study titled 'Governance in transition: Scoping the landscape of secondary school management in Bangladesh' supported by BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), in Kolia and Noapara villages of Tala upazila, Satkhira, we encountered numerous students who missed weeks of school to earn money during harvest seasons. 

As researchers, educators, and citizens, we must ask: Why are students skipping class to pick fruits? The answer lies in the difficult intersection of poverty, weak educational support, and the harsh economic realities of rural life. This is not an isolated incident—it's a common pattern across rural Bangladesh.

Rather than a right, education is a risk, a luxury, and too often, a lost dream in rural Bangladesh.

When survival comes before education

Asif (pseudonym), a 15-year-old student in class 9 from Kolia, works during the mango season to earn around Tk500 per day. He isn't saving for gadgets or leisure—he's paying his school exam fees and helping to feed his family.

His reality is shared by hundreds of rural households, where education directly competes with the need to earn a living. While public secondary education is officially free, hidden costs—such as transportation, uniforms, notebooks, coaching, and exam fees—add up quickly. For a poor rural family, the actual cost of this "free" education can exceed Tk2,000 per month.

And so, children work. In fields, in shrimp farms, in households. According to UNICEF Bangladesh (2023), nearly 1 in 10 Bangladeshi children aged 5–17 is engaged in child labor predominantly in rural areas.

In Satkhira's agrarian economy, students often disappear from school during peak agricultural seasons—harvest time, rice planting, and shrimp cultivation—when their labor is most needed and can earn the most. Teachers report a 25–40% drop in classroom attendance during these times. 

Choosing between two futures

Once students fall behind, catching up becomes a struggle many cannot afford. Chronic absenteeism leads to poor grades, humiliation, repetition, and eventual dropout.

A national survey by CAMPE (2022) reveals that only 67% of rural students complete secondary school, with economic hardship and child labor being the most cited reasons.

This dropout crisis isn't just an educational issue; it's a development catastrophe. It locks generations into cycles of low-skilled labor, poverty, and social immobility, undermining Bangladesh's own aspirations of becoming a knowledge-based economy.

For rural girls, the classroom door closes earlier

While boys are pulled from classrooms to work, girls are pushed out by patriarchy. In Satkhira, many girls stop attending school after puberty. The reasons include the distance to school, lack of transport, poor sanitation facilities, and most of all, fears about safety and 'family honor'.

Rina, a 14-year-old from Noapara, was withdrawn from school after Class 8. Her mother said, 'The school is far. If something happens to her, who will take responsibility? We'd rather marry her off early.

UNFPA and BBS data (2021) show that over 50% of girls in rural Bangladesh are married before 18, and school dropout rates spike after age 13. In regions like Satkhira, early marriage is not just a cultural issue—it's a direct consequence of weak school governance, infrastructure gaps, and economic fragility.

The myth of 'free' education

On paper, Bangladesh offers one of the most ambitious public education frameworks in South Asia. But scratch beneath the surface, and the gaps are glaring.

Our research in rural secondary schools revealed several deep-rooted systemic flaws. Many schools are underfunded and have poor infrastructure, which particularly affects girls. Although government-run, these schools often rely on private coaching centers, adding to the financial burden on families.

Stipends intended to support students are often delayed or fail to reach the intended recipients. School Management Committees (SMCs), which are responsible for oversight, remain largely inactive and lack proper training. Moreover, the school environment is gender-insensitive, with inadequate sanitation facilities and no safe transportation options, making it especially difficult for girls to continue their education.

Even well-meaning initiatives falter due to poor implementation. For example, stipends often arrive late, are too small, or get siphoned off before reaching the students. Coaching becomes essential because regular classroom teaching is either absent or inadequate, forcing families to pay for what is supposed to be free.

The path forward: What needs to change

Bangladesh has made commendable strides in improving primary enrollment. But enrollment without retention, and retention without learning, is an illusion. If secondary education cannot be accessed or sustained by the poor, our much-celebrated education system becomes a gatekeeper of privilege rather than a ladder of mobility.

The structural tension between earning and learning won't be resolved through lip service. It demands bold, practical, and localised solutions:

1. Introduce season-sensitive academic calendars: Align rural school terms with local agricultural cycles to reduce student absenteeism during peak labor seasons.
2. Enhance and streamline stipend delivery: Increase the amount to realistically meet student expenses, ensure timely disbursement, and use digital tracking to curb mismanagement.
3. Invest in safe, gender-responsive infrastructure: Build separate toilets for girls, provide sanitary facilities, and arrange subsidized transport especially for girls in remote areas.
4. Revitalise School Management Committees (SMCs): Train SMC members to actively monitor attendance, fund utilisation, and learning quality. Involve community voices in school governance.
5. Integrate vocational skills into curriculum: Teach practical skills alongside academics, so students and parents see education as a source of future income not just a delayed expense.

The rural children of Satkhira are not indifferent to education. On the contrary, they dream of a better future. Yet, faced with economic urgency, broken systems, and cultural anxieties, they are forced to choose between learning and living. We must reject this false choice.

Let no child have to trade classroom chalk for shrimp baskets. Let no girl's education end with puberty. Let no parent feel forced to pull their child out of school just to survive.

The future of rural Bangladesh depends not only on building more schools but on creating an education system that truly serves, supports, and sustains its most vulnerable children.

Until then, the question will remain painfully real in villages across the country: Will today be a day for books or for bread?

Sketch: TBS

Md Al-Mamun is a Researcher and Social Scientist at the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), an applied social science research and teaching institute of BRAC University, and Faruq Hossain is a Research Coordinator at BIGD, BRAC University.  

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.