Education Minister Dipu Moni on Friday said the government would publish a list of education institutions within a week for bringing them under the government’s pay order.

“We think we’ll be able to make the list, we’re now working for the MPO (Monthly Pay Order) enlistment, to be published within a week,” she said at a post-budget press conference in the city’s Osmani Smriti Auditorium in the afternoon.

Replying to a question, the minister said the government will surely enlist the education institutions under the MPO net, but didn’t disclose the number.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Health Minister Zahid Maleque, State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, Finance Senior Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder and Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem spoke at the conference.

The finance minister on Thursday unveiled the Tk 678,064-crore national budget for the financial year 2022-2023 with special focus on economic recovery from uncertainties caused by Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

In reply to a question about the budgetary allocation for education, Dipu said the budget of the Education Ministry increased by 19.72 per cent (some 20 per cent) this time comparing to the previous year. Besides, the allocation for research and development budget also rose in this sector.

Now they’ve to pay stronger attention to the effective utilization of the allocations made for them, she said, adding that not only his ministry and primary education ministry, rather a total of 28 ministries are working on education and development of human resources.

She thanked the prime minister and the Finance Ministry for preparing the pro-people budget amid the current global situation.

In the proposed budget, the allocation for education is Tk 81,449 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal year increasing from Tk 71,974 crore in the 2021-22 fiscal year.

The allocation against education still remains less than 2 per cent of the country’s GDP.

Tk 31,761 crore was allocated against the Primary and Mass Education Ministry for the upcoming fiscal year, while Tk 39,961 crore against the Secondary and Higher Education Division and Tk 9,727 against Technical and Madrasa Division.

We’re happy with allocation: Health Minister

In the press conference, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said some Tk 40,000 crore (exactly Tk 36,863 crore) was allocated for health sector this time, which is some 5.5 per cent (exact 5.43 per cent) of the total budget.

“The budget puts a high emphasis on health and education. So, we’re very happy,” he said replying to a question if he and his colleague Dipu Moni are satisfied over the allocations for health and education sectors.

The health minister said medical research, non-contagious diseases, vaccination production and improved health system were highlighted in the budget. The import duty on health equipment and raw materials were reduced, he said.