The education budget for the FY 2015-2016 stands at 1.8 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the last FY which was 2.2 per cent, said experts at a national seminar held today.  The net worth of the reduced amount stands BDT 6162 crore. The national seminar titled “Quality Education for Next Generation” was jointly organised by BRAC and Institute for Informatics and Development (IID) at BRAC Centre Inn. 

In the keynote presentation, Syeed Ahmed from IID highlighted although the total allocation for the country’s education sector slightly increased in size, but in terms of its share of the GDP, it declined significantly. The allocation has been the lowest since FY 2006-2007.

State minister for Education Mr Nurul Islam Nahid, MP said, “The national education policy has been set in alignment with the national goal of turning Bangladesh into a middle income country by 2021”. He stressed on the fact that Bangladesh is on the right track although the growth might seem slow. “We have worked two years to develop the education curriculum. 10 lacs teachers have been trained to improve the quality of education” he said. Highlighting the gender parity of teachers in the government schools he mentioned, “The ratio of female and male teachers in our primary schools is 51:49 and 53:47 in secondary schools.”

The consultation also highlighted that apart from GDP, the government has proposed 10.7 per cent for education sector for the next fiscal year against 11.7 per cent in the previous budget. This decrease in budget will seriously affect the quality of education stressed experts present at the seminar. More focus on the infrastructure of schools, quality of education in terms of relevance and age appropriateness, putting more resource in school management are the key factors that were emphasized in the discussion.

Present as a guest of honour, State minister for Ministry of Finance and planning, M A Mannan, MP said, “We need to be literate first before talking about other issues. At this moment we are raising the number of literacy. Focus on quality will come next. But we have brought infrastructural change in primary, secondary schools and madrasas in the last 6 years.” Appreciating the effort put up by BRAC and IID he said, “We will consider adjusting the inflation rate in the budget.”

Director General of directorate of primary and mass education Md Alamgir said, “We have piloted a project in 5 districts to avoid leaking questionnaire. For the first time we are using digital system to develop questionnaire” 

Amonsgt the notable guests were senior programme manager of Australian High Commission Meher Nigar Bhuiyan, Founder and CEO of JAAGO foundation Korvi Rakshand and representatives from media. BRAC’s director of Education programme Dr Safiqul Islam chaired the seminar which was jointly moderated by BRAC’s senior director Asif Saleh and the CEO of IID Syeed Ahmed.