The government has proposed raising allocation in the education and science and technology sector by 19 percent to Tk 70,103 crore for fiscal 2019-2020, compared to the revised allocation in fiscal 2018-19. In his budget proposals placed in parliament on Thursday, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal set aside an allocation of Tk 24,040 crore for Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, which was Tk. 20,521 crore in the budget for current FY2018-19.
In the fiscal 2019-20 it has also been proposed that Tk 29,624 crore be for Secondary and Higher Education Division, which was Tk. 25,866 crore in the current fiscal year. Besides, another Tk 16,439 crore has been proposed for Ministry of Science and Technology, which was Tk 12,391 crore in the last fiscal.
Overall, for any particular sector, education has got the second highest allocation in next fiscal year. The Finance Minister said, “The government’s aim is to ensure quality education, not the numbers, is the Priority of Coming Days. As we kept on laying emphasis on increasing the student enrollment, Bangladesh achieved a great success in enrolling students both at the primary and secondary levels maintaining gender parity.”
Now, the main challenge for us is to improve the quality of education and expand primary education, he said. Various measures have been adopted to ensure quality and universal primary education. Included among them are nationalization of 26,193 private primary schools, enactment of the Non-Formal Education Act, distribution of stipends through mobile banking, improvement of infrastructures in the newly nationalized and existing primary schools, distribution of free text books, supplying computers and multimedia to schools, and improvement of various education related infrastructures.
To increase the involvement of private institutions including 22 local elites in the school feeding program and expansion and coordinated implementation of the overall program, a process is underway to formulate the National School Feeding Policy will be formulated in FY2019-20. A pilot project titled ‘Digital Primary Education’ will be undertaken to facilitate qualitative improvement in education by enhancing the capacity of primary education together with the use of ICT. Under the project, interactive classrooms will be established in 503 model primary schools.
To facilitate the qualitative improvement in secondary education, a five year Secondary 23 Education Development Programme will be implemented. Under this programme, providing education service for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics will be given priority. A total of 2 lakh 67 thousand secondary school teachers have already been provided with trainings during the last two fiscal years, and 1 lakh 3 thousand secondary school teachers and 3 lakh 13 thousand ICT teachers will be given training in the current fiscal year.
As many as 580 classrooms were built in the schools in underdeveloped areas, and the process of building another 350 classrooms in the current fiscal year is ongoing. The government has introduced e-books, established upazila ICT training and resource centers, transformed 1 private school in each upazila into a model school, and established multimedia classrooms in 32,667 schools. Tuition fee up to degree (pass) and equivalent students is being provided from the Prime Minister's Education Assistance Trust Fund to ensure education for the poor and meritorious students who are otherwise deprived of education.
Stipends in this sector are provided to 2 lakh 21 thousand students in FY2018-19. Besides, 18 crore 13 lakh free text books are being distributed to 1 crore 25 lakh students at the secondary level.To enhance financial benefits and facilities for teachers, an annual increment of 5 percent on the basic salary is being provided from July 2018 to teachers/ employees of MPO-enlisted non-government schools under the Secondary and Higher Education Division. Besides, a Baishakhi Bonus amounting to 20 percent of the basic salary is being provided from the FY2018-19.
The government has allocated Tk. 9,000 crore in FY2019-20 for development projects in the secondary and higher education sector, which is 54 percent higher than that in FY 2018-19.Construction of physical infrastructure in 1,500 non-government colleges, 3,000 non-government schools under the Secondary and Higher Education Division will be completed by June 2019. Steps have been taken to construct 48,947 multimedia classrooms, 200 language-cum-ICT labs, 1,000 science labs, 2,120 smart classrooms and 46 hostels, and supply of furniture, office materials and ICT equipment to 26,200 educational institutions throughout the country.
ICT training and resource centers have been established in 125 upazilas in the country, and the process for establishing the same in another 160 upazilas is underway.An amount of Tk. 1,900 crore was allocated in FY2018-19 against 42 projects to develop physical infrastructure and other facilities at the public universities in the country.
Of these, development projects for 18 universities will be completed in FY2019-20. Besides, based on the promise of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 5 new universities have been established as part of the program for setting up new public universities.The government has taken numerous steps for the development and modernization of madrasa education. Infrastructures of Madrasas will be developed and multimedia will be set up in classrooms. Free text books are being distributed at Dakhil and Ebtedayee levels to remove discrimination in education. A total of 1,800 new madrasas are being established in the country.
