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BUDGET-EDUCATION
Tk 71,951cr proposed for education
DHAKA, June 3, 2021 (BSS) – Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today proposed an allocation of Taka 71,951 crore for education sector in the national budget for 2021-22 fiscal year (FY), which was Taka 66,400 crore in FY 2020-21.
He allocated Taka 26,311 crore for primary and mass education, Taka 36,486 crore for secondary and higher secondary education and Taka 9,154 crore for Technical and Vocational and Madrasa education.
While placing the national budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 at the Jatiya Sangsad, the minister said, “You are aware that one of the important steps we took to prevent the spread of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was the declaration of a general holiday for all educational institutions”.
It is to be noted that since the beginning of the pandemic, Kamal said, the government has taken various steps to keep students involved in academic activities.
“To maintain the continuity of the course curriculum, classes on important subjects have been launched through Bangladesh Television under the title of ‘Amar Ghare Amar School’, and teaching activities have been continuing using online platform, Bangladesh Betar and Community Radio,” he said.
“This step allowed us to keep around four crore students engaged in academic activities and practicing lessons and keep them attentive to lessons as well,” he added.
During this crisis, alongside adopting life saving strategies, Kamal said, the government will give highest priority to ensure the continuity in teaching activities by restoring normalcy in the academic environment.
“To accelerate the development of education by overcoming the impact of COVID-19, we will implement the inclusive and science- oriented education initiatives and develop infrastructure as announced in the last financial year, as well as expand the scope of our ongoing activities, such as providing stipends through mobile banking and continuing with the distribution of textbooks and learning materials to cater to their increased demand,” he added.
Noting that online examinations are being organised in private universities, the minister said to ensure participation of students in online classes at the university level, soft loans have been provided to 41,501 financially insolvent students to purchase smartphones.
“To achieve the targets set in the 8th Five-Year Plan, we are continuing with various initiatives to raise the standard of primary education to the international level and promote practical education,” he said.
As many as 1,495 new government primary schools have been set up under the project named ‘Establishment of 1,500 Schools in areas where there are currently no schools’ while 80,638 classrooms have been constructed in 21,556 schools, the minister said.
Besides, steps have been taken to introduce two-year pre-primary education programme for children aged four, Kamal said, adding, “We will implement the School Meal Project consistent with the School Meal Policy 2019, the Basic Literacy Project in 64 districts, the Support to Quality Enhancement in Primary Education Project and the COVID-19 School Sector Response Project”.
Efforts will be made to identify those people who (illiterates) are out of education in the country and undertake motivational and sensitisation programme for them, the minister said, adding that steps will be taken to capacitate the Bureau of Non-Formal Education so that it can implement this programme.
The government has been attaching the highest importance to the expansion of sustainable and quality secondary and higher secondary education, Kamal said, adding that three projects are being implemented to develop physical infrastructure of 1,610 private colleges and 6,250 private schools at the secondary and higher secondary levels, and new buildings for 3,000 private schools are under construction.
Bearing in mind the importance of science and technology based education, especially the Fourth Industrial Revolution, he said, “We have taken a number of initiatives to leverage ICT and digital technology in education management and education programme”.
The minister said a large number of students in the country are graduating every year and becoming eligible for employment in the job market.
To ensure that these new graduates can easily get jobs in their respective fields, he said, the government will give priority to launch the ‘internship programme’ for them in both public and private sectors. To that end, a ‘Policy Framework’ will be formulated in the coming fiscal year for the immediate launch of this internship programme.
About technical education, he said, the government is continuing its efforts to improve the quality of technical, vocational and madrasa education.
“As part of our preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we are taking steps to mainstream technical education. At the same time, we are expanding the scope for quality technical and madrasa education with the purpose of creating skilled manpower suitable for both domestic and international labor markets,” he added.
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