Child Equity Atlas - BIDS

Child Equity Atlas
disparity in the literacy rate and school attendance
was observed in 2001. This disparity on literacy
and school attendance between men and women
has reduced in 2011, with literacy rate (for all
ages) being 54.6 per cent for men and 50.8 per
cent for women, justifying the need to zoom into
disparities at lower levels.
1.4 Comparison of Population Census 2011
and Other Data Sets
1.4.1 A comparison has been made between the
results obtained from the census data to that
of the other data sets in Table 1.1. It is observed
that the estimates obtained from the census data
are comparable to that of the other data sets.
The comparison between the censuses 2001 and
2011 is also presented (Table 1.2). It is important
to note here that substantial improvements have
been noted between 2001 and 2011 in respect of
most of the indicators taken into account, while
disparities are more observable with further
disaggregation by social groups and regions.
1.5 About the Equity Atlas
1.5.1 The Equity Atlas is an important detailed
insight into the social situation of children, youths
and their families in Bangladesh, based upon the
2011 Census. Central to the atlas are the maps
while the graphs show the remarkable progress
achieved such as in the field of education and the
closing of the gender gap.
1.5.2 The maps are based upon selected indicator
value quintiles with defined value ranges per
indicator. The value ranges per indicator show
incredible inequity in Bangladesh for example with
upazilas values for access to electricity differing
from 98 per cent to 8 per cent. Another example
of unbelievable inequity is the range of female
child labour (who are not attending school) in
Bangladesh - from 0.1 per cent in one upazila to 27
per cent in another - factor of 270 times difference
between two upazilas in the same country.
1.5.3 The analysis also displays new indicators
like the “real child worker” and teenage marriage.
Female Teenage Marriage (married in the
age bracket of 15-19 years) is still very high in
Bangladesh (32.5 per cent on an average but as
high as 55 per cent in one upazila), which shows
higher prevalence in the western part of the
country, suggesting not much relation to poverty
levels but possibly to structural issues of social
norms.
1.5.4 One of the new elements in the study is the
analysis of prevalence of the real child worker,
i.e. children who are working and not attending
school. It is a very important issue that deserves the
concerted effort of families, community leaders,
civil society organizations, private sector leaders,
development partners with the authorities of
Bangladesh. The real child worker situation affects
more than five per cent of children (predominantly
boys). In Dhaka city, about one in six children are
real child workers, while one of the wards shows
43.8 per cent of children as real child workers.
1.5.5 The Atlas also puts the Out Of School Children
(OOSC) into a new context. The proportion of Out
Of School Children is alarmingly high (almost one
in four). The proportion of OOSC has a correlation
of 0.9 with the composite deprivation index, hence
a clear indicator of deprivation in general. In the
worst upazilas, almost half (45 per cent) of children
are out of school.
1.5.6 In this study, a composite deprivation
index (CDI) of social dimension of poverty has
been created. The CDI is strongly related to
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