Schooling matters: a study of secondary school dropouts among low-income youth of Bangladesh

Past research has established a link connecting higher levels of education and development. Nonetheless, high incidence of dropout behavior persists in developing nations, and various organizations are focusing on reducing poor academic outcomes in both the primary and secondary levels. The present study employs a previously unused dataset—one that offers a higher level of homogeneity of household income and past student performance by considering the low-income youth of Bangladesh—to assess whether individual, household, or school characteristics are better indicators of student performance on exams. The results reveal that both household and school characteristics affect performance and the two most important factors appear to be whether a student resides in an urban or rural area and the school he/she attends.