Free education for children of July uprising martyrs, injured: Education Minister

Education Minister Dr A N M Ehsanul Haque Milon has instructed that children of those martyred in the July uprising and injured or disabled 'July student fighters' be provided with free education up to university level.

He gave this directive during a discussion and exchange of greetings with officials and employees on the first working day after Eid at the ministry's conference room on Tuesday, March 24.

Senior officials from the Secondary and Higher Education Division, Technical and Madrasa Education Division, and Primary and Mass Education Division were present at the meeting.

Discussions were held on the 180-day programme under BNP's election manifesto, plans for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, and the five-year education sector development strategy.

The education minister emphasised taking swift action to implement election pledges, stating that programmes including 'One Teacher, One Tab', multimedia classrooms, compulsory third language education, technical education for all, and 'One Child, One Tree' would be implemented to ensure modernisation and inclusive development in the education sector.

He also stressed providing free school dresses and shoes (canvas), student loans for higher education abroad, and honouring Hafez-e-Quran.

The minister called upon all to work sincerely to implement the 180-day programme, which he said was adopted for the welfare of the people and to realise their dreams. He added that realising the dreams of the people of Bangladesh is Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's goal.

At the meeting, the education minister instructed taking practical steps to address teacher training challenges in improving primary education. He suggested ensuring training for all teachers quickly by conducting training programmes in multiple shifts if necessary. He also directed that teachers aged over 50 in nationalised schools be brought under training.

Additionally, it was decided at the meeting that free school dresses and shoes would be distributed to over two lakh students in each upazila within the next 180 days, with a plan to provide free school dresses and shoes to all primary students across the country at the earliest. Plans were also made to provide tabs to all primary, technical, madrasa, school and college teachers within one year. Decisions were also made to launch mathematics olympiads at upazila level and establish compulsory debate competitions and debate clubs in every educational institution to develop students' talents.