Govt considers education as nation’s top investment: Prime Minister

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has reaffirmed that the current government regards education as the nation’s highest priority investment and is committed to building a quality, life-oriented, and inclusive education system.

Responding to a written question from MP Md. Selim Reza during Wednesday’s (April 8) parliamentary session, presided over by Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad Bir Bikram, the Prime Minister outlined the government’s comprehensive plans to strengthen the sector.

He noted that the government aims to gradually raise the education budget to 5 per cent of GDP and has identified 43 key areas for short, medium, and long-term initiatives.

Emphasising primary education, the government will distribute free school uniforms to 2,00,000 government primary students this fiscal year, with plans to expand the programme to all upazilas. School feeding or mid-day meal programmes will also be introduced progressively to meet students’ nutritional needs.

To prepare students for global competition, multimedia classrooms will be set up in all primary, secondary, and equivalent institutions. Additionally, free Wi-Fi will be provided in 1,500 secondary schools, colleges, and universities, and unique digital IDs (‘Edu-ID’) will be issued to all students and teachers to reduce digital inequality, the prime minister said.

He added that at the secondary level, technical education will be made mandatory alongside general education. Plans include establishing technical schools and colleges in every upazila and polytechnic institutes in all districts. Within 180 days, free Wi-Fi will be introduced in 2,336 technical and 8,232 madrasa institutions. Madrasa education will be modernized with smart classrooms, teacher training, and inclusion of technical courses.

The Prime Minister also highlighted initiatives by the Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) under the ICT division to provide students with training in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, mobile app development and design, Python programming, and AI-based digital marketing over the next six months.