Cabinet orders resubmission of draft NFE bill

The Cabinet on Monday directed the Primary and Mass Education Ministry to resubmit the draft bill, titled ‘Non-formal Education Act, 2014’, following the Law Ministry’s vetting. The proposed law is aimed at bringing the existing non-formal education (NFE) of the country under a legal framework. The directive was given at the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at Bangladesh Secretary with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the cabinet approved the proposed law in principle in May 2013 and directed the Primary and Mass Education Ministry to take cognizance of the observations of the Law Ministry’s Legislative Wing. The Cabinet secretary said the priority of the government is to mainstream education as a large number of children remained out of the formal education for various reasons, including dropout. The government is providing education to those deprived of formal education due to dropout or who could not get formal education within their age of 14 under non-formal education directorate, according to a news agency.