Exploring the Graduates' Quality of Life Through Non-Formal Education Programmes in Bangladesh: Focus on Human Resource Development

Abstract

Non-Formal Education (NFE) programme is a remedial literacy programme which perform to impart the basic knowledge and skills to the under privileged people at outside the formal institution. NGOs have a vital role for working on NFE in Bangladesh. This study has attempted to explore the situation of human resource development and quality of life among graduates from skill-based NFE programmes in Bangladesh. Here, the skills acquisition and employment situation of the graduates have been examined and expressed the financial aspects of the graduates. This study also has identified the graduate's knowledge on physical well-being, individual well-being and social well-being which articulated the feature of quality of life of the graduates. This study has concentrated on convergent parallel mix method research approach under pragmatism paradigm. For this purpose, the quantitative and qualitative data has been gathered for better and deeper understanding of the research problems and to depict a significant conclusion. This study considers four categories of population i.e., the graduates from skill-based NFE programmes ofNGOs, trainer of the programmes, NGO officials and employers of the graduates. A representative number of samples have been drawn through probability sampling for the quantitative analysis and for the qualitative analysis followed by purposive sampling. Questionnaire survey, interview and content analysis have been applied to collect the data in a purposive mode. Both qualitative and quantitative data have been used simultaneously in this study. For data collection tools, questionnaires for surveys and interview schedule for interviewing have been used for primary sources data as well as the checklist for document analysis has been used for secondary sources of data. Three districts have been selected purposively from Rajshahi division: Nagoan, Natore and Rajshahi. The data have been collected from 385 graduates using questionnaire survey and 18 respondents (Trainers, Employers and NGO Officials) through in-depth interviewing. This study is observed that the disadvantaged group of people become moderate skilled from this NFE programme ofNGOs. The current study is found that the large number of graduates are employed with wage employment ( 49 percent) and only one fourth are self-employment (25 percent). The study has also revealed that the self-employment rate of the female graduates (31 percent) is higher than the male graduates (23 percent). From the study it is also remarkable that unemployment rate of female was 29 percent on the contrary male 24 percent. Additionally, this study also observed that separately the employment rate of female is amplified by 23 percent after getting training on the other hand the increased employment rate of male was 10 percent. It implies that the employment rate of women after completing training more than two times that of men. Conversely this study has articulated that more than one-fourth graduates are unemployed (26 percent) who are engaged in NFE programme. To find out the causes of unemployment, the study found that the content of entrepreneurial development is almost absent in the training manual, lack of micro credit facilities, lack of post-training communication to graduates with NGOs' authorities, minimum use of modem equipment during training, short time of internship period. lack of IT knowledge of the graduates etc. The findings of the study may important•• to the policy maker for encouraging the intensification of the programme for increasing the employment rate.