“Upon request from the Ministry of Education and under the special directive of the Prime Minister, necessary funds have been earmarked in the budget for this year for enlistment of new schools in the MPO list,” he said in his budget speech delivered in Parliament on Thursday.
A total of Tk 79,486 crore was allocated in the proposed budget for the education and technology sector, which was 15.2 percent of the Tk 523,190-crore budget.
The budgetary allocation for the sector was Tk 67,935 crore in the current fiscal year of 2018-19, which came down to Tk 66,273 crore in the 2018-19 revised budget.
Of the allocation of Tk 79,486 crore, Tk 24,041 crore was kept for Primary and Mass Education Ministry while Tk 29,624 crore for the Secondary and Higher Education Division, Tk 16,438 crore for Science and Technology Ministry, Tk 1,930 crore for ICT Division, and Tk 7,453 crore for Technical and Madrasa Education Division.
In the outgoing fiscal year (2018-19), the budgetary allocation is Tk 22,466 crore for Primary and Mass Education Ministry while Tk 24,888 crore for the Secondary and Higher Education Division, Tk 12,200 crore for Science and Technology Ministry, Tk 2,681 crore for ICT Division, and Tk 5,700 crore for Technical and Madrasa Education Division.
Noting that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has put the highest importance to education, the Finance Minister said, “We don’t have any scarcity of students now. But there’s a dearth of suitable and trained teachers. In all areas of education beginning with the primary level, we want to engage our competent and trained teachers.”
“Much of our future depends on how we manage our education system. It’s now the demand of the time to ensure selection of competent teachers in all areas of education, provide them with training, and ensure selection of appropriate and timely academic subjects. Our government will take necessary measures from this year to ensure their implementation,” he went on.
Quality education, not the numbers, is the Priority of Coming Days
The Finance Minister in his speech said Bangladesh achieved a great success in enrolling students both at primary and secondary levels maintaining gender parity as it kept on laying emphasis on increasing the student enrollment.
“Now, the main challenge for us is to improve the quality of education and expand primary education. Various measures have been adopted to ensure quality and universal primary education,” he said.
He said the Fourth Primary Education Development Project (PEDP-4) is ongoing for the expansion and quality enhancement of primary education.
“The capacity of primary school teachers will be enhanced by providing practical and modern trainings home and abroad to meet the standard of modern education,” said the Finance Minister.
Pilot project for digital primary education
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.
About the secondary education
The Finance Minister said the government has undertaken various programmes for the expansion of quality secondary education.
To facilitate the qualitative improvement in secondary education, a five-year Secondary Education Development Programme will be implemented. Under this programme, providing education service for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics will be given priority, he said.
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, said Mustafa Kamal.
Over the higher education
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, said the Finance Minister.