Returning to School or Dropping Out after the COVID-19 Closure?

Based on a July 2022 survey of approximately 1,200 households in Cox’s Bazar, the report finds that while public school attendance in the Bangladeshi host community increased after the pandemic, there was a dramatic 30% drop in attendance at NGO learning centres for female Rohingya youths over age 12. The decline for refugee girls is attributed to family obligations, marriage, and a deteriorating security situation in the camps, whereas male refugee dropouts are more frequently linked to the need for income-generating work.

• Public school attendance among children in the Bangladeshi host community increased significantly after reopening; attendance for children aged 8 to 12 rose from 30–60% before March 2020 to more than 90% in June 2022.
• Female Rohingya youths over the age of 12 experienced a 30% drop in attendance at NGO learning centres compared to pre-pandemic levels, with less than 20% attending such centres in June 2022.
• The primary reasons cited for female refugee youths not receiving education include family obligations, age (cited by 30%), and marriage (cited by 10%), while security concerns were cited by 20% of female youths and not mentioned for males.
• Male refugee youths are more likely to drop out due to economic necessity; 25% of respondents cited the need to work for income as the reason for a male youth's lack of education, compared to 8% for female youths.
• There was an increase in the use of private informal tutoring outside the home between March 2020 and June 2022, rising to 15% for refugee children and 11% for host-community children.

APA

Nilsen, M., Østby, G., Koning, J., & Gjerløw, H. (2022). Returning to School or Dropping Out after the COVID-19 Closure? Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/a9a7d7b6-6f9a-4679-ac63-2eb620c70cef/Gjerlow et al - Returning to School or Dropping Out after the COVID-19 Closure PRIO Policy Brief 19-2022.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Nilsen, Marte, Gudrun Østby, Jens Koning, and Haakon Gjerløw. Returning to School or Dropping Out after the COVID-19 Closure? Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2022. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/a9a7d7b6-6f9a-4679-ac63-2eb620c70cef/Gjerlow et al - Returning to School or Dropping Out after the COVID-19 Closure PRIO Policy Brief 19-2022.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nilsen |first1=Marte |last2=Østby |first2=Gudrun |last3=Koning |first3=Jens |last4=Gjerløw |first4=Haakon |title=Returning to School or Dropping Out after the COVID-19 Closure? |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=2022 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/a9a7d7b6-6f9a-4679-ac63-2eb620c70cef/Gjerlow et al - Returning to School or Dropping Out after the COVID-19 Closure PRIO Policy Brief 19-2022.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nilsen2022returning, author = {Nilsen, Marte and Østby, Gudrun and Koning, Jens and Gjerløw, Haakon}, title = {{Returning to School or Dropping Out after the COVID-19 Closure?}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2022}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/a9a7d7b6-6f9a-4679-ac63-2eb620c70cef/Gjerlow et al - Returning to School or Dropping Out after the COVID-19 Closure PRIO Policy Brief 19-2022.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }