UNESCO chief in Dhaka

UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova is in town to join the International Literacy Day celebrations today (Monday). The UN agency usually observes the day and hands over its literacy award from Paris, but this year it proposed that Dhaka host the event. This is because Bangladesh is one of the 14 ‘champion countries’ of the UN Secretary General’s Global Education First Initiative launched in September 2012. Bokova arrived in Dhaka last night to join the programme. Bangladesh will also host an international conference on female education focusing on the way to fit the issue in the post-2015 development agenda. The conference, styled ‘girls and women’s literacy and education: foundations for sustainable development’ will bring education ministers of several countries and representatives of international NGOs together with Bangladeshi experts. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in a rare honour, will hand over the UNESCO Literacy Awards in the afternoon, according to a news agency.