Education sector gets more allocation
Experts say funds not enough
Although the government has been increasing budgetary allocations for education over the years, attaching top priority to it, the funds proposed in the current fiscal year (FY) are far below the expected level, experts said.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday (Thursday) set aside Tk. 34,370 crore for the education and technology sector in the 2015-16 fiscal year, which is 11.60 per cent of the total budget.
Experts said the allocation should have been at least 20 per cent of the national budget and six per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
However, for the ministry of education and the ministry of primary and mass education, the minister allocated Tk. 31,618 crore to ensure quality education for all.
Countries like Vietnam and Nepal are much ahead of Bangladesh as regards spending on education. Vietnam spends around 6.6 per cent and Nepal over 4.7 per cent of their GDP for education.
Experts said there has been an increase in the number of students, teachers and institutions in the last decade, but the allocation did not increase in proportion to the growth of the national budget.
The revised budget in the last FY was Tk. 33,499 crore in the education and technology sector. An amount of Tk. 14,502 crore was set aside for the primary and mass education ministry, while the revised budget for the FY 2014-15 was Tk. 12,417 crore.
For the education ministry, Tk. 17,103 crore was allocated, while the revised budget in the last FY was Tk. 16,197 crore.
For the ministry of science and technology, Tk. 1,551 crore was allocated, and Tk. 1,214 crore for the Information and Communication Technology Division.
The minister, in his budget speech, said the government is placing special emphasis on ensuring primary education and planning to expand primary education up to class VIII by 2018.
He said: In order to retain the benefit of hundred per cent enrolment, we have taken up a school feeding programme for about 33 lakh 90 thousand children in all primary schools of 93 upazilas. Formulation of a school feeding policy is also in the offing.
He further said: Out of the planned 1,500 primary schools, 1,019 have been constructed in villages having no school and the rest is under construction.
The minister said the government is implementing the 3rd Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP-3) with the assistance of 10 development partners/countries. Efforts are on to make all activities in the primary education field administration IT-based, he added.
About education of children of the ethnic minority, he said: Tribal children are now able to undertake primary education in their own language, as the curriculum has been developed in 11 tribal languages.
Muhith said the provision of stipends for girl students at the graduate and equivalent levels will also be continued from the profit of Tk. 75 crore earned from Tk. 1,000 crore seed money of the Education Assistance Trust Fund of the Prime Minister.
About technical education, he said: In order to reap the benefits of demographic dividend, we need wider expansion of technical education. With this end in view, a project of Tk. 924 crore is being implemented to establish one technical school in each of the 100 upazilas.
In addition, development projects have been undertaken for setting up of a technical school in every divisional town, poly-technical institutes in 23 districts, four technical institutes for women in four divisions, and an engineering college in every division, he added.
