Pry, secondary students to get books in first week of Jan

DU Correspondent Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid Monday said that the government will hand over textbooks to primary and secondary level students within the first week of January next. "We will supply all textbooks to the students on time to ensure timely schooling of students," he said this while addressing the inaugural session of 'International Book Exhibition' in Dhaka University (DU) as the chief guest. DU arranged the eight-day exhibition at Teacher-Students Centre (TSC) of the university in cooperation with a world class book publisher and distributor Alkem Company, Singapore, and their local agent Tulip Enterprise to familiarise world's renowned books. "More than 70 per cent textbooks of primary and secondary level schools and Madrasahs for the next academic session have already been sent to the Upazila level," said Mr Nahid. Education Secretary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury said that such kind of exhibition will inspire the readers to be familiar with international books and to build personal collection. DU vice chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique presided over the session. Among others, Librarian-in-Charge of DU Central Library Prof Dr Nasiruddin Munshi and Deputy Librarian Akbar Ali Khan attended the function. 3 Sweden will provide financial support to urban poor FE Report Sweden, through its international development cooperation agency Sida, will provide a financial support worth Tk 450 million (SEK 41 million) to assist the urban poor of the country. Anneli Lindahl Kenny, Swedish Ambassador to Bangladesh, signed a deal with Dr Khairul Islam, Country Representative of WaterAid in Bangladesh at the Embassy of Sweden in Dhaka today (Monday). In next five years, the financial support of Sweden will directly serve over 0.3 million urban poor in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna through providing water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) services. Around 1.6 million floating users will also be benefited through mobile and public toilets. During the signing ceremony, the Swedish Ambassador stressed the improvement of basic services in rural slums.