Education and Poverty Alleviation
Education plays a vital role in the alleviation of poverty. In poverty alleviation, the dynamic role of education cannot be devalued. Bangladesh is placed in human development efforts at 147 out of 174 poor countries of the world. About 48% of its population live under the poverty line. So our main concern is to alleviate poverty. The literacy rate in Bangladesh is about 65.5% which is deplorable. The female literacy rate is about 30% and the male literacy rate is 49%. In the literacy programmes, women and girls should have priority as two-thirds of them are illiterate. The condition of the girls is deplorable compared to the condition of the males. The number of girls starting education is lower and the number of drop-outs is greater than that of the boys. The colossal number of drop-out hampers national progress and prosperity. Different local and foreign NGOs are playing important role in this regard. There are some NGOs who are engaged in basic education and health care. They also provide micro-credit. Micro-credits help to raise the income of the family. It has raised the control of the women over the finance and the family. The government has taken many steps also. It has introduced stipends to attract school-going girls. It also retains the pupils to complete grade five. Different government agencies are providing micro-credits. Financial assistance is provided by different banks to improve the economic conditions of people. Poverty alleviation is a very complex task. An all-out effort should be made by the government and the NGOs towards the spread of education for the alleviation of poverty.