Gender, Poverty and Physical Abuse in Schools in Bangladesh

Sajeda Amin, Population Council
Quamrun Nahar, University of Hawaii at Manoa

This paper analyzes the patterns and correlates of physical abuse among school adolescents with teachers as perpetrators. In particular, the paper assesses variability in the prevalence of physical abuse among school adolescents to explore the role of poverty and gender. The data for the present analysis are taken from a nationally representative survey of young people between ages and 10 and 24 living in 20,000 households conducted in 2005 in Bangladesh. The results of the analysis shed light on the role of gender and poverty in the schooling experience as reflected in reports of violence in schools. These results have direct implications for formulating school policies with regard to corporal punishment. The results may also offer some insight into factors that contribute to high levels of reported violence in Bangladeshi society.