The ‘Made in Bangladesh’ brand in the readymade garments sector is largely the contribution of its millions of workers. A large market of other commodities and services has grown in the country to cater to the demands of the RMG workers. But the country has yet to develop a robust system to ensure the much-needed welfare of the RMG workers even after four decades since the establishment of the industry in the early 1980s. A large section of these workers work for meagre wages due to lack of skills. Many women leave jobs to take care of their newborns in absence of daycare centres, while many pregnant workers leave jobs due to lack of proper care. The country’s RMG sector will secure more sustaining growth once we can ensure basic services, skills training and opportunities and services for the workers.

Currently, the RMG sector contributes 16% to the GDP of Bangladesh, which constituted 83% of the country’s total export earnings in 2021. Bangladesh, second among the world’s readymade wear exporting countries, engages nearly 4.4 million people, 60% of whom are women. At present, this industry brings over 32 billion dollars every year.

These observations and information were shared at an event titled ‘National consultation on the wellbeing of RMG workers’ organised at the BRAC Centre in the capital today (Thursday, 25 August). BRAC, the one of the world’s largest development organisations, hosted the programme with Bangladesh’s commerce minister and lawmaker Tipu Munshi in chair. Special guests at the event were labour and employment secretary Ehsan-E-Elahi, director-general of Health Economics Unit under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Dr Md Enamul Haque, and BGMEA vice president Md Shahidullah Azim. Professor of the Institute of Health Economics at the University of Dhaka Dr Syed Abdul Hamid and Centre for Policy Dialogue research director Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem were present at the discussion panel. Sk Mojibul Huq, programme manager, BRAC Urban Development Programme, presented BRAC’s one-stop service centre model. The event was moderated by the director of BRAC Urban Development Programme and BRAC and BRAC International Climate Change Programme Dr Md Liakath Ali.

The findings of a survey on the effectiveness of the services rendered by the one-stop service centre model were also presented. BRAC and research organisation Lightcastle Partners conducted the study. Lightcastle Partners director Jahedul Amin presented the findings.

Tipu Munshi, minister, Ministry of Commerce, said, “The government has taken various initiatives to ensure the workers’ salary, quality of life and basic services. The prime minister has been giving her full support in this regard. BRAC has set the example of a quality service. This model will ensure the welfare of workers.”

Md. Ehsan-E-Elahi, secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, said, “We have two funds - a central fund which is solely dedicated for RMG workers, another one is Shramajibi Kallyan Foundation. With these two funds, I have been mitigating payments to thousands of workers with one-off payment for healthcare, in case of injuries or death, and also for their children's education. We will consider implementing this model of BRAC if they share it with our ministry.”

Dr Syed Abdul Hamid, professor, Institute of Health Economics, University of Dhaka, said, “BRAC has created a 360 degree-model. However, the government’s action is needed here.”

Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director, CPD, said, “There were many projects that never saw the light of day. With the help of the government, NGOs can come forward and implement such an initiative.”
Md Shahidullah Azim, vice president, BGMEA, said, “To keep up with the new world, we have increased the use of advanced machinery. As a result, we do not require as much manpower as we did in the past. Thus the number of women in the work force is decreasing.”

Md Liakath Ali, director, Climate Change Programme, BRAC and BRAC International, said, “This initiative of ours was small, it will end this year. By doing the pilot programme, we were able to show that this model works.”

The presentation on the research findings informed the audience that BRAC UDP is implementing a 5-year pilot titled “Empowering the RMG workers living in urban slums of Dhaka” (2017-22). Under this project three one-stop service centres have been established in Tongi, Gazipur and Savar, following an innovative OSCC model of BRAC to give coordinated services to garment factory workers. So far, 60,000 people of low-income families have received services including quality healthcare, legal aid, skills training, daycare service for children, financial inclusion services of deposit pension scheme and micro health insurance, and citizen rights awareness. According to the findings, the ERMG project also helped promote work-friendly environment in these areas through connecting the factory owners and workers.

Bangladesh is also among the countries facing a power shortage due to the ongoing fuel crisis in the world. To tackle the situation the government has called on the people to proactively save electricity and fuel. Responding to the call, BRAC has initiated a number of measures to reduce fuel and energy consumption at its head office and offices and settings across the countries. These measures will be effective from 1 August, 2022.

BRAC is doing this by a rigorous reinforcement of its policy measures maximising the use of natural light and air and through following fuel-efficient rules while using BRAC’s vehicles.

BRAC expects the following measures will help save electricity and fuel by at least 25 percent every month:

• BRAC employees will work from home every Tuesday from 1 August, 2022. During that time BRAC head office will remain closed except for urgent tasks.
• Lifts will be operated following an energy saving schedule during office hours. All but one lift will be closed on weekends and holidays.
• Electric lights in the lift lobby and in every floor of BRAC HO where there is sufficient natural light will be turned off. Printers, photocopiers, ovens, kettles and other electronic and electrical appliances will be switched off immediately after use.
• Internet connections will be switched off at BRAC head office from 10pm to 7am every day
• The maintenance team will ensure that electrical lights, fans, and airconditioners of the entire building are switched off by 6pm every day.
• Field visits will be coordinated and combined to minimise use of vehicles and other logistics support in the field

All BRAC field offices and facilities across the country have been instructed to actively save fuel and energy by following similar measures.

BRAC has been actively engaged with the local administration since the flood situation began deteriorating in the country. The organisation has already distributed emergency flood relief of BDT 3 crore allocated from its own funds to 59,000 families. From next 30 June BRAC will further initiate the distribution of cash assistance of BDT 7.50 crore to another 50,000 flood affected families. Under this initiative, each family will receive BDT 1,500. The relief operations are being carried out in 12 upazilas of Sylhet and Sunamganj, severely affected by the flood.

Animal feed is also being distributed among the affected ultra-poor families in the flood-hit areas. Every family is getting 40kg of animal feed. ACI, a reputed industrial organisation of the country, has come forward in this effort they have sold a total of 203 metric tons of animal feed to BRAC at its production cost. Besides, BRAC Nursery has donated 222 metric tons of silage.

Meanwhile, World Food Program (WFP), has joined BRAC’s relief effort, donating 85 metric tons of high energy biscuits. BRAC's humanitarian staff are delivering these to the flood affected families in remote areas, with each family receiving 50 packets [2.5kg] of biscuits.

As always, priority is being given to the women-led households, and those with elderly, pregnant and lactating women and people with physical and mental disabilities. Even after the floodwaters recede, BRAC will continue supporting the people in the flood-hit areas with necessary healthcare services, housing repairs, and restoring their lives and livelihoods.

BRAC's humanitarian initiative, 'Dakche Amar Desh’, is raising funds for the relief effort. So far, this initiative has been able to raise BDT 17 crore.

In response to BRAC's call, the following organisations have joined its relief effort:  World Food Program (WFP), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, BRAC Bank, HSBC Bank, BRAC University. Besides these organisations, numerous individuals have joined this initiative with personal donations.

Asif Saleh, executive director of BRAC, has called on all sections of the society to come forward in this effort and stand beside the vulnerable communities in the flood affected areas.

Details of public donations are available on this website:  'Dakche Amar Desh': https://brac.net/dakcheamardesh/. Donations can be sent via this bKash number (merchant number): 01730321765.

On Thursday, 23 June 2022, BRAC organised a research dissemination event, “Learning Loss Study and Bridge School Evaluation” at BRAC’s head office in Mohakhali. In this event, findings of two studies on BRAC Bridge Schools and learning loss were presented.

BRAC firmly believes that everyone has the right to education. The organisation is moving forward in leaps and bounds to ensure access to primary education for every child. BRAC Education Programme has launched an innovative model called "Bridge School" in 2014. Children from marginalised communities get left behind when it comes to education. With that in mind, the non-formal primary education (NFPE) model was initiated for children who have never been enrolled in any school or have dropped out of primary school at an early stage. Children who have some literacy, knowledge in numeracy and have dropped out of school are included in a bridging course and then they are enrolled in either Class 2 or Class 3 as per their learning qualifications. In the Bridge model, a five-year course of primary education is followed in an intensive method so that children can gather knowledge in a short period of time. In the Bridge model, a four-month bridge course is conducted for Class 2 students. The goal of this course is to overcome students' learning loss and improve their primary knowledge.

A study was conducted to understand how effective this course is. Under BRAC’s supervision, a team of international researchers used Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) tools to evaluate the learning of BRAC Bridge School students. According to their data, it was found that BRAC Bridge School students were ahead in Bangla and Mathematics compared to their Indian counterparts. This assessment was completed in 2021, when Bridge School students – like others from around the world – were at a risk of severe learning loss (due to prolonged school closures since 2020).

Some notable findings of the evaluation of BRAC Bridge Schools include:

• Bridge School students have better skill in reading short stories compared to Indian students (53% relative to 50%)
• Bridge School students are more competent in division math compared to Indian students (63% relative to 28%).
• A significant difference was found when Bridge School students’ short story reading and division math skills were compared to their counterparts from different upazilas/thanas (story reading skill 34% to 85% and division math skill 35% to 89%)
• The performance of urban school students in division math is significantly weaker than those of rural students

The study was led by Stephen Heyneman, emeritus professor at Vanderbilt University, USA; John Richards, professor of public policy at Simon Fraser University, Canada; and Shahidul Islam, a doctoral student at Queen’s University. They all gave a  presentation at the event titled, “BRAC Bridge School Evaluation”.

John Richards said, “The Bridge model is targeting children who have dropped out of a government school or have never been enrolled. Most of the children are from low-income families. At present, about 20% of children never finish primary school. One important success of Bridge Schools is that they probably have better reading and math results than the average government schools.”

Stephen Heyneman said, “I have worked in 65 countries and seen many schools. I can say that Bridge Schools were clean, colourful and provided a happy learning space. Children wanted to be there. Learning should be joyful; and these schools had all the materials. We noticed that the teachers all used innovative techniques to connect with parents who used their phones and learned how to monitor their children’s learning. I have not seen that level of control and contact anywhere.”

Shahidul Islam said, “The four-month bridging course that BRAC’s Bridge School model offers to dropout children to put them back on the education track, helps them progress toward graduation that is unique in the world. This model has huge potential for replication in resource-poor settings/countries. It can immensely help in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 in countries where school dropout is a major challenge.” 

Another study was conducted to evaluate the learning loss of children in Bangladesh where Samir Ranjan Nath, programme head of BRAC IED, conducted the ‘Literacy Test’. In this study, Nath found that the enrollment rate in pre-primary schools was 62.7% in 2020, which has come down to 49.6%. Although 96.2% students participated in primary in 2020, it has come down to 93.6% in 2021. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of female student participation was higher than that of male student participation in pre-primary – which has now declined. After schools reopened, 79.7% students participated of whom 78.6% were in primary and 80.6% were in secondary schools. The attendance rate was found higher for girls than for boys. In rural areas it was 80.9% but in urban areas it was 77.5%.

Samir Ranjan Nath presented his findings on learning loss at the event. He added, “Learning loss is a reality. The question is how fast can we recover from it. This can start with assessment of learning levels of all students, categorise them and prepare recovery strategies as per students’ needs. Parents, peers, retired teachers and temporary teachers can be utilised -- keeping the regular teachers at the centre. Follow-up assessments of students can help understand the progress and take necessary actions.”

Prof Md Farhadul Islam, Chairman, National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) was a special guest at the event. He said, “We who work in the education sector - we believe in working collectively. Research is very important to evaluate the situation of our education. We will request BRAC to share their findings so that we can use their learning and gather information from them. We will go forward collectively. We are working on a plan to reduce learning loss. In this case, collaboration is necessary.”

Md Nuruzzaman Sharif, Director (Joint Secretary), Bureau of Non-Formal Education (BNFE), Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, was also present at the event. He commented, “The findings are very important for all of us who are working in the education sector. With the recommendations of the two presentations, we will work together with BRAC and others, and learn from their suggestions; and with that we will complete our two running projects.”

Mr Md Muhibur Rahman, Additional Secretary (School) at the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education was present at the event as the chief guest. He said, “The Bridge School Evaluation presentation was done on a BRAC school programme. I don’t have much to comment on it. Our education system is suffering from multifaceted problems. I will put emphasis on the recent problems: school closures and learning loss. It is still too early to comprehensively evaluate these, we are at an early stage. But I believe we can find a solution together if we all work collectively and share our learnings to go forward.”

Asif Saleh, Executive Director of BRAC Bangladesh, was the chair at the event. He said in his closing note, "The impact on learning caused by the school closure during the pandemic is profound. We need to collectively work together to recover the loss of learning and get the education of both children who have dropped out and children who may potentially drop out back on track, especially girls, children with disabilities, and children from ethnic communities. The learnings from our proven Bridge School model along with the findings of BRAC IED's learning loss study will benefit policymakers and practitioners on ways to accelerate learning and build our education systems back better."