Reinforcement of Human Capital Reducing Secondary School Dropout: An Exploratory Analysis with Post Covid-19 Implications

Abstract

Human capital is one of the most critical economic growth and development determinants. The level of education and health perceives in a population. This paper interprets the challenges of reinforcement of human capital in Bangladesh and secondary school dropout as an interruption of its boosting with post-covid-19 implications. The public and private expenditures on education and health are crucial to fortifying human capital. On the contrary, school dropouts negatively affect social, political, environmental and economic development. Progress in education, especially women’s education, has reached a decent level here. However, the dropout rate in secondary education is still a concern, which has not been reduced to the desired level. This research aims to understand better the undisclosed causes of dropout at secondary level schools that lead to reinforcing the human capital to face the FIRe. Seven hundred ninety former secondary school level students and 1580 parents/guardians were interviewed in this research. The method used in this study is quantitative with logit analysis. The study reveals that school dropout is negatively related to boosting Bangladesh’s human capital and economic development. The study also explores that perceptions of education, working experience, lowest sociodemographic status (SDS), and family size significantly affect the probability of dropping out of school. Contrariwise, Parent’s academic support, NGO membership of family members, and the government’s SSNPs support significantly reduced the likelihood of dropping out. The study recommended authorities for rapid response to minimise dropouts for efficient formation of human capital, which led Bangladesh to achieve the targets of SDGs and come out a developed nation by 2041.