DHAKA: A total of Tk 21,408 crore has been allocated for education, including primary and mass education (development and non-development budget combined) in the proposed budget for 2012-13.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposed the allocation while placing the budget before the parliament Thursday.
He told the parliament that the education sector would get Tk 1,571 crore more than the allocation made for the sector last year, which was Tk 19,837 crore.
The finance minister said, “Our Government is attaching highest priority to education, the most important strategic tool for eradication of poverty and development.”
He added: “We have formulated Education Policy 2010, assimilating the essence of the charter for change, ‘Vision 2021’ and our commitment for building Digital Bangladesh.”
“We are also laying emphasis on expansion of vocational and technical training and to develop appropriate skilled manpower for export to the overseas markets,” the finance minister added.
Muhith said various kinds of facilities are being enhanced along with infrastructure development to improve the teaching environment in the educational institutions.
“Construction works of academic buildings of 1,500 colleges have been initiated,” he said.
“In order to remove urban-rural disparity in education, we have established as many as 306 model high schools in those upazilas where there is no government high school,” the House was told.
He said construction and other physical infrastructure works are underway to build another 164 model high schools.
“Education is the fundamental right of human being. We have, therefore, taken an initiative to establish a Trust Fund to ensure education for the poor and underprivileged meritorious students," the finance minister added.
In his budget speech, he told the house a total of 47,680 teachers would be recruited.
Referring to his previous budget speech, Muhith mentioned about the establishment of 1500 new primary schools.
Construction of a total of 780 primary schools is at the completion stage, he added.
Muhith said the incumbent government is continuing the stipend programme, at a cost of about Tk 4,000 crore, intended to prevent drop out due to poverty.
In addition, a School Feeding Programme has been taken up to increase the rate of enrolment and retain the students at school.
BDST: 1968 HRS, JUN 07, 2012
Edited by:
M. Mahbub Alam, Asst Output Editor
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