Govt to strengthen EED to improve education infrastructure: Education Minister

Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon on Thursday said the government will seriously consider expanding the organisational structure and manpower of the Education Engineering Department (EED) to make it more dynamic and capable of accelerating education infrastructure development.

“Currently, there are many ongoing projects related to education infrastructure and the EED must play a more active role in implementing them,” Milon said while addressing an important meeting with officials of the department in the EED.

He said the scope of EED’s activities could be expanded to the upazila level, similar to the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and other institutions.

The minister expressed hope that coordination among relevant institutions would improve further as they now operate under the same administrative framework, helping speed up development work.

Emphasising the need to ensure quality in construction, Milon said many newly built structures often become dilapidated within a few years.

“Contractors must be assigned work only after assessing their technical capacity, manpower and ability to complete projects within the stipulated time.”.

He also stressed the importance of effective monitoring mechanisms and necessary policy measures to maintain construction quality.

Highlighting the need for modern approaches in construction, the minister said the use of advanced technologies and innovative designs is essential.

“The innovative ideas of the new generation of engineers and the use of modern technologies must be ensured so that construction work becomes sustainable, aesthetically sound and cost-effective.”

Milon also said such interactive discussions with officials would be held more frequently in the future to address challenges and take necessary initiatives through direct engagement.