Better WASH Interventions Impacted to Increase School Attendance in Bangladesh

Abstract

The CDI2WASH program was implemented by BDRCS in collaboration with International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies at four communities and 29 schools of Rangpur and Gopalganj in Bangladesh from 2014 to 2018. Different types of hardware and software WASH interventions including context specific water and sanitation technologies, WASH sessions, meetings and discussion were done under the program. The study was conducted to assess the impact of WASH intervention on class attendance between 2015 and 2017 year in the 15 schools of two districts under the program. The study results were derived using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Some significant changes were seen among the students and teachers of these schools centering the WASH practices. Improvement of education was also seen in the selected schools and its surroundings as well. Increasing attendance rate in the schools was one of the significant achievements of the program. It was revealed that class attendance of the students increased significantly in 2017 comparing to 2015 and 2016. The study found that the class attendance in the selected schools was 67% in 2015. It gradually increased to 73% in 2016 and 75% in 2017.

Keywords: CDI2, WASH, School, Attendance, Improvement