Our Beneficiary

In Bangladesh the rate of school drop-out at Primary, Junior and Secondary level is quite high. It is seen that even in the high literacy districts the drop-out rate of students aged between 6-10 is about 15%. Out of an approx total 40 lac dropped out students, 200,000 aged between 6-10 years never went to school. Possibly, these children were either never admitted into school or never went to school even though took admission; or got admission in school after crossing the age group (6 to 10 years) mentioned here (UNICEF-2015). In the year 2015 total 22,72,288 students appeared the JSC and JDC examinations. Of them 20,82,000 students passed and 1,74,2007 failed. Apart from this, 1,00,000 students did not appear the exams even after being registered as examinees. In 2015 the number of dropped out students before completing JSC or JDC counted to about 2,75,000. According to UNICEF report the number of drop out in the rural areas is more than that in the urban areas and the ratio stands at 16:11. To overcome this
perpetual problem, it is imperative to pay more attention to the educational system of rural students.
In the same year (2015) out of 16,95,467 registered SSC examinees, only 14,52605 appeared the exams. Among those who passed the examinations, only 13,010,99 got admission to college to appear the HSC examinations. It shows that the drop-out rate of students is more prior to and after SSC period. About 3,94,368 students wither away before and after SSC examinations. According to a government statistics, in the year 2015 about 40.29% students withered away before their SSC examinations and the percentage comes at 19.11% for Class VIII students before JSC Examinations. It only tells a little about our backdated education system. The most frustrating point is that among the drop-outs, females account for 45.92% and males about 33.72% (The Daily Star 26 February 2016). The major causes for which the students drop-out from school/colleges affecting the progress of education system are:

• 1] Family’s financial crisis handicapping the students’ education and resulting in drop-out due to involvement in works as daily laborers to help improve family’s financial condition.
• 2] Lack of motivation and counseling from family, teacher or some other organization about the importance of education.

ProChESTA believes in the inherent potentiality and talents of every child. It also believes that little bit of assistance and morale boosting of the children can bring about a big change in the social structure. With this concept in mind, ProChESTA is working relentlessly to instill hope and aspiration in the under privileged children by providing them with necessary guidance and counseling. Our first and most important objective is to make arrangement for under-privileged children’s education thereby contributing directly in the expected improvement of the country’s overall education system.
While Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics has shown people with daily intake of 2122 calories or less as being below the poverty line, about 85% poor have their daily intake at 1805 calories or less and 75% have 1600 calories or less. The extreme poor lack access to many basic needs, including shelter, nutritious food, safe drinking water, sanitation, regular employment, healthcare and education (Battling Extreme Poverty in Bangladesh Part 1: The Measurement Problem- ASIA & PACIFIC by Nayma Qayum, July 18, 2013). ProChESTA is trying to reach these families and take care of their children’s education.
A small proportion (around 6%) of the total population of Bangladesh constitutes the elderly population, but the absolute number is quite significant (about 7.2 million) and the rate of their increase is quite high. This change in population characteristics will have serious consequences on society as well as the overall socio-economic development of the Country (M. Taj Uddin, Md. Nazrul Islam, Md. Johurul Alam and
Gias Uddin Baher, 2010. Socio-Eonomic Status of Elderly of Bangladesh: A Statistical Analysis. Journal of Applied
Sciences, 10: 3060-3067 ) Good news is, various governmental and non-governmental programs are ongoing to look after the elderly people. But given the huge number of elderly population, the services are quite insufficient. ProChESTA is trying to reach poor - elderly population by integrating service to the elderly citizens of the country alongside its other programs.