The Challenges for Urban Floating Parents to Provide Free-Basic Education for Their Children in Bangladesh

Abstract

Previous studies have been able to establish a tenet suggesting that free basic education in emerging nations doesn’t generally pronounce quality, and the standard of free schooling is distinctly better in urban schools compared to their rural counterparts due to the parental participation. Under the acceptance of such tenet, the question of whether children of urban floating parents may even gain an access and attend free basic education has not yet been addressed—a subject of this study. A survey with 1,523 urban floating parents from 4 locations in Bangladesh who had 4,376 children at the age of basic schooling was conducted to learn more about the obstacles floating parents encounter when trying to provide their children with a basic education. The data was analysed using a descriptive statistical model, which indicates that despite tuition fees being waived and free textbooks being provided, three main problems—the absence of childcare attendants, transportation, and school utility fees—restrict the children to access or regularly attend the school in Bangladesh. Given the current situation, a generic model of free basic education might cover a greater portion of children in lower-quality basic education; nonetheless, children of urban floating parents continue to go neglected, necessitating a different kind of intervention.