Govt plans security fund for education
BSS
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith yesterday said the government is planning security fund against bank loan, to be lent from the banking system, for the purpose of education, reports BSS. Our economy has progressed forward ... so we can think of buying education depending on bank loan and the security fund would give a guarantee against those loans, said the finance minister. The finance minister was speaking as the chief guest at a function arranged on awarding education scholarship by Shahjalal Islami Bank at Officers Club in the capital. Chaired by the Chairman of the Shahjalal Islami Bank Board of Directors AK Azad, the function was also addressed, among others, by former advisor to the caretaker government Tapan Chowdhury, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society Chairman Hafiz Ahmed Majumder, Shahjalal Islami Bank Foundation Chairman M Towhidur Rahman, Managing Director of Shahjalal Islami Bank Farman R Chowdhury and member of the Board of Directors M Sanaullah Shahid. Muhith said when Awami League led grand alliance came to power in 2009, the country was suffering from acute power crisis, and now it is over, so we are giving importance to the education and health sectors. Allocation in the budget for education would increase, said the finance minister. Former FBCCI president AK Azad also urged the government to form special court in order to dispose of default loans. If the government reduces the extent of default loans, then interest rate of the bank loan would come down from 10 to 7 per cent, Azad said. Later, the minister formally distributed scholarship cheques among 500 students studying in different colleges, universities and medical institutions. Tk 20,000 was provided to each student who passed the SSC examination in 2015 and Tk 25,000 to each student passed HSC examination the same year, under the scholarship programme. Shahjalal Islami Bank has been running the scholarship programme since 2006.
