Govt to seek big funds from donors to execute edn plan
Sunday, 6 December 2009
FHM Humayan Kabir
The government will sit with leading donors this week to help bank-roll a US$2.0 billion project aimed at improving quality of education in the country and streamlining madrassas and non-formal institutions under one umbrella.
Finance ministry officials said the government needs credit support worth around a billion dollars to execute the third phase of the five-year long primary education development programme (PEDP) beginning from FY2012.
"We have invited all the donors to a meeting on Wednesday. We will seek funds from them to run the newly framed third phase of the programme," a senior Economic Relations Division (ERD) official told the FE.
The ongoing US$1.8 billion second phase of the PEDP would end in 2011. Under the plan, the government has constructed more than 30,000 school rooms, appointed 35,000 teachers and given stipends to hundreds of thousands of students.
"If we cannot mobilise funds from the donors Bangladesh's achievement in primary education will face a blow," said ATM Mohiuddin Ahmed, a joint secretary of the primary and mass education ministry.
"The government alone cannot fund the PEDP-3. We need a sizable amount of credit from the donors," he said.
The government was committed to improving quality of the primary level education and ensure enrollment of all Bangladeshi children to schools and other institutions under the third phase, he told the FE.
Joint programme director of the PEDP-II Chowdhury Mufad Ahmed said they would give more emphasis on madrassa and non-formal educational institutions, which account for more than 30 per cent of the country's total school enrollment.
"Under the current phase, we mainly supply inputs to the schools. But in the next scheme we will also review achievements particularly quality of education being imparted to the students," he said.
Mr. Ahmed said the donors would be informed about the project goals and how it would raise the level of education in the country.
Another official of the ministry said their main challenge would be extend the primary level education up to class-VIII. Presently, class V is considered the final year of education.
The donors including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Sweden, DFID, European Commission and UNICEF have provided nearly $650 million out of the $1.8 billion cost for the ongoing PEDP-2.
The government will sit with leading donors this week to help bank-roll a US$2.0 billion project aimed at improving quality of education in the country and streamlining madrassas and non-formal institutions under one umbrella.
Finance ministry officials said the government needs credit support worth around a billion dollars to execute the third phase of the five-year long primary education development programme (PEDP) beginning from FY2012.
"We have invited all the donors to a meeting on Wednesday. We will seek funds from them to run the newly framed third phase of the programme," a senior Economic Relations Division (ERD) official told the FE.
The ongoing US$1.8 billion second phase of the PEDP would end in 2011. Under the plan, the government has constructed more than 30,000 school rooms, appointed 35,000 teachers and given stipends to hundreds of thousands of students.
"If we cannot mobilise funds from the donors Bangladesh's achievement in primary education will face a blow," said ATM Mohiuddin Ahmed, a joint secretary of the primary and mass education ministry.
"The government alone cannot fund the PEDP-3. We need a sizable amount of credit from the donors," he said.
The government was committed to improving quality of the primary level education and ensure enrollment of all Bangladeshi children to schools and other institutions under the third phase, he told the FE.
Joint programme director of the PEDP-II Chowdhury Mufad Ahmed said they would give more emphasis on madrassa and non-formal educational institutions, which account for more than 30 per cent of the country's total school enrollment.
"Under the current phase, we mainly supply inputs to the schools. But in the next scheme we will also review achievements particularly quality of education being imparted to the students," he said.
Mr. Ahmed said the donors would be informed about the project goals and how it would raise the level of education in the country.
Another official of the ministry said their main challenge would be extend the primary level education up to class-VIII. Presently, class V is considered the final year of education.
The donors including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Sweden, DFID, European Commission and UNICEF have provided nearly $650 million out of the $1.8 billion cost for the ongoing PEDP-2.