Abstract
Objective: Although Bangladesh is rapidly gaining economic development, education and health related indices are not equally developed in all parts of the country. The objective of the study was to compare the socio-economic and health status of students in public and private primary schools.
 Methods: This was a cross sectional study conducted among 99 public and 128 private primary school children during 2018. Two public and two private primary schools were selected purposively from 2 villages of Chandpur. Subjects were divided into 2 groups: public primary school students and private primary school students. During a ‘free health check-up and treatment program’, guardians were asked to participate in the study. After taking informed written consent, students and guardians were asked about demographic, socioeconomic (such as, education, occupation, monthly income), and health related factors (such as, antenatal checkup, mode of delivery, immunization, deworming); then, anthropometric measurements (height, weight) and physical examinations of the children were done. Comparison was done between groups.
 Results: On socioeconomic status, monthly family income was more and paternal education was higher in private-school students than the public-school students. On health indices, antenatal care (ANC), Caesarian section (CS), living standard, use of sanitary latrine, and nutritional status of private school students were significantly better than public-school students. However, Public school students had higher deworming rate.
 Conclusion: Students in private schools had better socio-economic and health status in Bangladesh. Health-related indices are comparable to national parameters. It is recommended that socio-economic and education status needs further improvements for sustainable health and well-being.
Highlights
Socio-economic status is considered as a leading predictive variable of health and wellbeing and there is consistent evidence that people who are socio-economically in better condition do better on most of the measures of health [1,2]
In the rural areas of Bangladesh, there are many primary schools which are mainly governed and financed by the public sector and there are private schools run by Non-government organizations (NGOs), donors, philanthropists, educationists and missionaries
There was no significant difference in weight between the groups
Summary
Socio-economic status is considered as a leading predictive variable of health and wellbeing and there is consistent evidence that people who are socio-economically in better condition do better on most of the measures of health [1,2]. Bangladesh is the 8th most populous country in the world and rapid economic growth had enabled Bangladesh to reach the lower middle-income country status in 2015 [3,4] It has been awarded several times for its achievements especially in health-related parameters [5,6,7]. It has been shown that schoolbased screening can identify children with health conditions, and monitor their growth and wellbeing which have impact on their future health and health of the nation [15]. It provides opportunity for evidence-based planning and community engagement for the children of this age group. The aim of this study is to pick up a cross section of Chandpur to assess the socioeconomic and health status indicators and to compare it to the available country data and find areas which needs more concentration for improvement
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
