‘Children to get classrooms of int’l standard’

The World Bank has approved $700 million to help improve the primary education sector in Bangladesh.

More than 18 million children studying in pre-primary level to grade 5 will benefit under the ‘Quality Learning for All Programme (QLEAP)’, said a WB news release issued from Washington on Thursday.

It will finance implementation of the government’s fourth ‘Primary Education Development Programme’ or PEDP4.

The project, according to the release, will help assess and improve learning outcomes for Bangla and mathematics for Grade 3 students.

For this, the programme will develop a stronger curriculum and exam system as well as textbooks and supplementary learning materials, including digital materials.

The program will help expansion of one-year quality pre-primary education in all government schools.

“At birth in 1971, Bangladesh had a very low education base... Today almost every child steps into a classroom and 8 out of 10 children complete primary education,” said WB country director Qimiao Fan.

The project will bring about one million out-of-school children to learning centers that would follow national curriculum, and thus help them integrate with the formal education system, said the release.

It will also build about 95,000 classrooms, teachers’ rooms, and multipurpose rooms to ensure international standard students-to-classroom ratio.

The project will also build 80,000 water and sanitations blocks and 15,000 safe water sources with special emphasis on facilities for girl students and female teachers. It will also recruit and provide training to about 100,000 teachers. 

“A major thrust of the project will be to improve school management system and provide professional growth for teachers,” said WB team leader for the project Syed Rashed Al Zayed.

“The financing will help ensure strong governance, adequate and equitable financing, and good management of the primary education system in Bangladesh.”