School banking is steadily eliciting a huge response from among students all over the country. As of December 2017, the total value of the deposits with the banking accounts stood at Tk. 1,362.96 crore.

The central bank's latest quarterly report on financial inclusion shows that a total of Tk. 1,362.96 crore was deposited with 1,453,936 school banking accounts at 56 scheduled banks, as of December 31, 2017.

“In November 2010, Bangladesh Bank launched this programme to introduce banking services and advanced banking technology to those school students of the country who are below 18 years,” Abul Bashar, general manager of the financial inclusion department of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), told The Independent.           

The objective of this programme is to make students aware in respect of financial literacy at an early age and grow up saving for their future, he added.

A student can open an account by depositing just Tk. 100 and a maximum of Tk. 5,000 can be withdrawn from his or her account. He or she will get a free debit card when opening an account, he added.

Branches of 57 scheduled banks from 64 districts have been operating the school banking system under the supervision of the BB. There is a designated ‘lead bank’, which leads the consortium of all banks in the area, he explained.      

During the October–December period of 2017, the accounts and deposit amounts have increased 15.63 per cent and 33.52 per cent respectively compared to the same period of the previous year.

During October–December 2016, school banking accounts numbered 1,257,370 and deposits were Tk. 1,020.79 crore.    

According to the report, the school banking service is more popular in cities than in rural areas as 889,029 school banking accounts were opened in cities against 564,907 accounts in rural areas. Such banking is also more popular among male students than female students, as 852,107 school banking accounts were opened by male students against 601,829 by female students.

Dutch-Bangla Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh, Eastern Bank, United Commercial Bank and Rupali Bank are the five lenders that drew most of the deposits from the students.

Islami Bank opened 2,37,398 accounts, which is 16.33 per cent of the total accounts, while Dutch-Bangla Bank ranked first by collecting deposits worth Tk. 406.72 crore with school banking accounts.

First Security Islami Bank Ltd is one of the lead banks of the Financial Studies Programme in educational institutions of school banking.

Talking to The Independent, principal officer of the public affairs and brand communication division of First Security Islami Bank Ltd, Moniruzzaman Chowdhury, said: “The purpose of the school banking has been to let the students know through school banking about savings, create a savings mentality and grow up with a positive view of savings.”

First Security Islami Bank Ltd organised a ‘School Banking Conference 2018’ at Cox’s Bazar a few months ago to spread awareness about school banking across the country, he said.