Several steps proposed to dev edn, health sectors

FE Team | Published: June 08, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FE Report
Finance Adviser Mirza AB Azizul Islam Thursday proposed a series of measures for the development of two basic sectors education and health.
In his budget speech Azizul Islam said the government has taken up a new initiative for research and investment in higher education.
The government will provide financial assistance to the faculties of physical science, life science and mathematical science of any public or private university in the country if they can publish at least three research papers in recognised and well-reputed journals and also can organise an international seminar in a year.
The proposed assistance will be provided following a purely competitive process based on specific research proposals.
An allocation of Tk 100 million has been made in the next year's budget as education research grant, he said.
"We have already removed gender disparity at the primary and secondary levels of education. None of the countries in South Asia except Sri Lanka has achieved this milestone," the finance adviser said.
The present government has prepared a National Work Plan for universal primary education, he said.
Special initiatives have been taken to ensure distribution of books and stationeries free of cost to the extremely poor and in remote regions of the country, he said.
In FY 2007-08, about 15 thousand primary teachers will be recruited of which 60 per cent will be females, he said.
He hopes that this initiative will help bring the current student- teacher ratio of 55:1 down to 46:1, he said adding that 5,50,000 primary students will be given monthly stipend at the rate of Tk 100.
Actions are underway to bring back dropouts in 11,000 teaching centres, he said. In the next fiscal year, 10,000 teachers will be trained, he added.
As many as 18 thousand 186 classrooms will be built. 6.5 lakh persons from among those who have attained literacy through mass education programme will be provided with income generating training through continuous education within the next fiscal year.
Mosque and temple-based child and mass education will be strengthened.
Alongside the secondary female stipend programme, the government is also introducing stipend programme for the poor male students.
He said 63 per cent of the non-government budget allocation of the Ministry of Education is spent for salary subventions of the teachers and staff of non-government educational institutions.
In the revised budget of the current fiscal year there is an allocation of Tk 30.13 billion for this purpose, he said.
"In order to make this huge spending cost effective, the allocation against each institution will be linked with performance. An Independent Inspection Body will undertake performance evaluation," he said.
Steps are being taken to provide special training for the teachers. Emphasis has been laid on English language and vocational education, he said. Information and statistics on education are being enriched, he added.
In the health sector he said efforts aimed at for human resource development cannot succeed without concurrent development in health sector.
The government is taking steps to put in place improved hospital management system for enhancement of quality of health services, he said.
However, one of the strategies in this case would be to ensure increased involvement of the private sector at different levels of health services, he said.
The areas where private sector is more efficient will be contracted out on management contract basis, he said.
Alongside the steps to increase the number of nurses rapidly by setting up more nursing institutions in public sector, measures have also been taken to mobilise the support of hospitals, universities and other institutions operating in the private sector, he said.
The largest programme in the health sector is Health, Nutrition and Population Sector Pro-gramme (HPNSP), he said.
A number of pragmatic steps have been taken to implement this sector wise programme efficiently, the adviser said.
He said a decision has been taken to ensure increased involvement of NGOs in activities like population control and prevention of malnutrition and contagious diseases.
Implementation of a programme on health infrastructure development is underway across the country, the finance adviser said.
Institution-based project implementation has been strengthened to extend the facility of specialised health services. Monitoring has been intensified at the same time, he said.