DHAKA, June 7, 2018 (BSS) – Finance Minister AMA Muhith today proposed an
allocation of Taka 12,201 crore for the Science and Technology Ministry in
the budget of fiscal 2018-19, which is Taka 1,163 crore more than that of the
proposed budget of outgoing fiscal 2017-18.
The Finance Minister made the proposal while placing the national budget
for 2018-19 fiscal in Jatiya Sangsad this afternoon with Speaker Shirin
Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.
The allocation in the proposed budget of 2017-18 fiscal was 11,038 crore
while the revised budget for the ministry was Taka 9,691 crore.
Muhith said: “We have widened the coverage of the ongoing science quiz
contest and extended it from district to upazila level aiming to kindle
students’ interest in science education.”
The government has begun to open branches of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman Novotheatre in Khulna, Barishal, Rangpur, Sylhet, Mymensingh and
Chattogram divisions, he said.
In addition, the Finance Minister said, the area coverage of Science
Olympiad has been expanded to division, district and upazila levels and side
by side subject based science Olympiad is also being organised. “We are
providing assistance to the concerned private institutions to organise such
programmes.”
Noting that the government is transforming Bangladesh Council for Science
and Industrial Research (BCSIR) into a centre of excellence as well as a
centre for technology transfer and innovation, Muhith said steps also have
been taken to strengthen the infrastructure of Bangladesh Atomic Energy
Commission has to ensure nuclear security together with safety arrangements
from radiation.