Education Minister A N M Ehsanul Hoque Milon on Sunday said the government has allocated the highest-ever budget for the education sector, amounting to 2 per cent of the country’s GDP, while unveiling an ambitious package of reforms ranging from multimedia classrooms and free Wi-Fi to unique education IDs and nationwide school nutrition programmes.
Taking part in the budget discussion in Parliament, Milon said the Prime Minister has attached the highest priority to education and allocated Tk 13.6 billion for the sector in the proposed budget.
He claimed that during the previous government’s tenure, education received only 1.39 per cent of GDP, alleging that the figure was misleading as it included allocations for the ICT Ministry and the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.
Emphasising the need to develop skilled human resources, the minister said technical and vocational education would receive the highest priority with plans to expand technical, professional education and training from Class VI.
The minister said part of the education allocation is distributed among different ministries, including Tk 1.07 billion for the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs, adding that the funds should have helped address shortages of schools in remote areas.
Highlighting the government’s education roadmap, Milon said initiatives have been undertaken to establish more multimedia classrooms, provide teacher training, introduce free Wi-Fi in educational institutions, launch a unique education ID for every student and encourage environment-friendly activities among learners.
He said teachers would be provided with tablet computers to facilitate multimedia teaching, prepare lesson plans and maintain student records digitally.
The minister said the government’s objective is to promote “learning with happiness” by reducing students’ dependence on textbooks and notebooks alone, adding that teachers are being trained to implement the programme.
Milon also announced plans to establish another 20,000 multimedia classrooms at secondary and higher secondary institutions in phases.
He said the government has initiated Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping of 500 educational institutions to help reduce social and geographical disparities and plans to provide free Wi-Fi at 15,000 educational institutions.
The minister said a unique education ID would be introduced for every student, noting that such a system would have been unnecessary if Bangladesh had a comprehensive national registration system from birth similar to the social security numbering systems used in many developed countries.
Referring to the Prime Minister’s “One Child, One Tree” initiative, he said every student across the country would be encouraged to plant a tree.
Milon said the government is also promoting innovation and entrepreneurship among students through startup initiatives, alongside strengthening co-curricular activities such as debate competitions, Olympiads, Scouts, BNCC and Girl Guides.
He said preparations are underway to increase the number of BNCC cadets to 24,000 nationwide from next year.
He also highlighted government plans to provide primary school students with uniforms, shoes, bags and midday meals nationwide.
The minister said the inspiration for the initiative came from the Prime Minister’s observations of schoolchildren’s welfare during a visit to London.
He expressed hope that the midday meal programme would be rolled out across Bangladesh in the next fiscal year to improve children’s nutrition.
Milon also raised concerns over salary delays for madrasa teachers, saying around 17,000 teachers recruited through the Non-Government Teachers’ Registration and Certification Authority (NTRCA) had not received salaries for May and June because the previous government had not arranged the required funds.
He said the monthly salary requirement for the teachers is Tk 5.01 billion, adding that the Finance Minister had already arranged Tk 1 billion and assured that the remaining funds would be released in July.
The minister further said teachers who retired from non-government educational institutions since 2022 have yet to receive welfare trust benefits and retirement allowances, thanking the Finance Minister for allocating funds in the budget to clear the outstanding payments.