The country's education sector is likely to get a significant boost in budgetary allocation in the upcoming 2025-26 fiscal year, aiming to enhance the quality of education and align it with international standards. Planning and Education Adviser Dr. Wahiduddin Mahmud has emphasised increasing the allocation for education, said sources at the Planning Commission. “He has given specific directives to prioritise increased budgetary allocations for education,” a senior Planning Commission official told UNB. The official said the upcoming allocation would represent a substantial proportional increase but the focus will not be limited to infrastructure. More emphasis will be given on procuring educational tools, scientific equipment, and research materials, he said. Speaking at a recent Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) briefing, Dr. Wahiduddin Mahmud said that the interim government is committed to enhancing education sector budget. Govt prioritises timely textbook distribution: Education Adviser “We think we will allocate a higher budget for education by the end of the fiscal year,” he said during the briefing. Dr. Wahiduddin, one of the country’s leading economists, had earlier highlighted the importance of human resource development alongside infrastructure investment. “Infrastructure without skilled human resources is merely a skeleton,” he said at a lecture organised by the Economic Reporters’ Forum in Dhaka. He warned that inadequate human resource development could trap the country in the lower-middle-income bracket. The ousted Awami League government allocated Tk 94,710 crore to the education sector in the 2023-24 fiscal year, a 7.42% increase from the previous year. Govt to form education commission soon: CA’s spl assistant Aminul The budget included Tk 38,819 crore for primary and mass education, up from Tk 34,722 crore in FY2023-24, Tk 44,108 crore for secondary and higher education against Tk 42,839 crore in the previous fiscal year. Besides, Tk 11,783 crore was allocated for the Technical and Madrasa Education, an increase from Tk 10,602 crore. However, as a percentage of GDP, education sector allocation has decreased to 1.69% from 1.76% in the previous fiscal year. This is the lowest allocation in 16 years and far below UNESCO’s recommended 4–6%. Annual Development Programme (ADP) for FY2024-25, approved by the National Economic Council (NEC), education ranked third among the top 10 sectors, receiving Tk 31,529 crore (11.36% of the total ADP outlay of Tk 265,000 crore). The transport and communication sector topped the ADP allocation with Tk 70,687.75 crore (26.67%), followed by power and energy with Tk 40,752 crore (15.38%). Investment in education must be increased to overhaul the system: Dr Salimullah Khan According to the latest World Bank data, Bhutan topped the region in 2022 by allocating 8.14% of its GDP to education. It was followed by the Maldives with 4.58%, Nepal with 3.65%, and Pakistan with 1.97%. India, in 2021, dedicated 4.64% of its GDP to education, while Afghanistan allocated 4.34% in 2017. In contrast, Sri Lanka allocated only 1.20% of its GDP to education in 2022.

he national budget proposed for the fiscal year 2021-22 lacks a clear outline to protect the lives and livelihoods and tackle the challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic, said Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on Friday. “It has been said in the budget to move ahead by protecting the lives and livelihoods, but there’s no clear outline how it’ll happen through necessary reforms and enhancing institutional capacity,” said CPD Executive Director Fahmida Khatun. Speaking at a press conference, she said, “Unlike last year, there has been clarity of thoughts about Covid management in the budget documents, but it has no similarity with the measures and allocations to tackle the challenges.” CPD, a non-governmental research organisation, arranged the programme at a city hotel to share its observations on the Tk 6,03,680 crore national budget presented by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in Parliament on Thursday. Read: CPD finds much in budget out of touch with reality Fahmida said they hoped that the health sector would get much allocation this time, but it did not happen. “The allocation for the sector is 0.95 percent of the GDP like last year. The total allocation has been increased to some extent, but there’s no increase in absolute terms.” Stating that the Health Ministry’s performance is the poorest in implementing the ADP, she said there will be no benefit if the allocation for the sector is enhanced without improving the institutional competence of the sector through reforms. Fahmida also said good governance and accountability must be ensured in the health sector by removing corruption and irregularities for improving its services and proper implementation of the budgetary allocation. “We didn’t see any step over the last one and a half years to strengthen the sector and establish good governance.” Read:New budget unveiled with focus on protecting lives and livelihoods She said the allocation for the social security sector is not sufficient though several thousand crores of taka have been increased. It remains at 3 percent of the GDP like the previous year. “But the amount is negligible compared to the number of poor people in the country.” Besides, she said, a quarter of the total social security has been allocated for the pension of the government employees.

The education sector of the country has been facing numerous risks due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, said Education Minister Dipu Moni Tuesday.