$510m aid for improving secondary education

Some 13 million students from grades 6-12 will be supported with facilities, many with stipends and grants, under a programme to improve quality of education, the World Bank said on Monday.

The global development agency signed an agreement with the government of Bangladesh for providing $510 million financing to enhance the quality and effectiveness of secondary education system in the country.
The transforming secondary education for results (TSER) programme will support the government’s ‘Secondary Education Development Program (SEDP)’, according to a WB news release.

It will also focus on access, so that students - especially girls and children from low-income households - can complete secondary education.

The programme will support stipends and school grants, said the release.

“Continuing to invest in quality education is critical for Bangladesh to achieve its vision of becoming a middle-income country,” said acting WB country director Rajashree Paralkar.

“For this, the programme will support modernisation of curriculum and ensure professional development, management, and accountability of teachers.”

Some 500,000 school teachers and school principals will be provided with training under the programme.

The release mentioned that the programme will support learning assessments of students in grade 6, 8 and 10 to identify learning gap and suggest policy actions.

Secretary of the economic relations division (ERD) Kazi Shofiqul Azam said, “The 7th five-year plan recognises secondary education as a critical education cycle to equip the youth with foundational skills to enhance work productivity and learn new technologies.”

The agreement was signed by the secretary, Shofiqul Azam, and the acting WB country head, Rajashree Paralkar, on behalf of the two sides at the ERD.