Notwithstanding many pro-active measures for improving access to and participation in basic primary education, every fifth child in Bangladesh still does not go to school. Therefore, the paper concentrated on this issue by examining the government plans/programs aimed at improving access and participation, by identifying the groups of out-of-school children and also by exploring the factors that hamper their inclusion. As discovered, programs implemented were not sufficient to ensure access and participation for non-enrolled children who were persistently excluded from schooling. The study...