Assessing Child-Friendly Space (CFS) Standards in Dhaka’s Government Primary Schools: A Case Study Approach

Abstract

In Bangladesh, compulsory primary education covers classes of 1 to 5, administered by the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE). In Dhaka city, it includes 342 schools under 12 educational zones. Due to multilateral shortcomings of budget policy, governance and emerging population, these schools are fighting to provide proper infrastructure to students. Inadequate classrooms and playgrounds, poor light ventilations, unhygienic toilets, lack of multipurpose activity spaces and poor building quality are the significant shortcomings. The objective of this study is to identify the inadequacy of physical environment design of government primary schools based on Dhaka. Relying the child friendly school (CFS) model from different organizations this study attempts to scrutiny the indoor and outdoor quality of the built environment as well. Adopting descriptive case study approach, this qualitative study compared between the CFS standards and primary schools to cross examine the presence of the CFS attributes. As the schools are designed in prototype designs, a randomly selected school was used for data collection through a combination of direct observational methods and semi-structured stakeholder interviews, ensuring a comprehensive dataset. The quantitative data was solely used to assess the attributes of the CFS model. The findings show that the physical facilities of these schools do not satisfy the CFS standards. After a meticulous observation, the researcher found that the schools have acute inefficient sanitation facility. The researcher concludes that proper building maintenances, adequate budget allocation, child inclusive built form and proper communication between stakeholders are much needed to elevate the quality of the physical environment.