Education gets only 1.83% of GDP

Tk81,449 crore has been allocated for the education sector, in the proposed budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

Of the total allocation Tk31,761 crore was for the primary and mass education ministry, Tk39,961 crore for secondary and higher education division and Tk9,727 crore for technical and madrasa education division.

The allocation is only 1.83% of the total GDP of the country, which is way below the recommendation of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).

Unesco suggests spending 4-6% of the GDP of any country on its education sector, but the ratio was 2.09% and 2.08% in FY21 and FY22, respectively, in Bangladesh.

In the FY21 budget, the government allocated Tk66,000 crore for the education sector, but the education-related ministries could spend no more than Tk56,000 crore.

"In line with the Eighth Five Year Plan and Sustainable Development Goals, we have taken initiatives to implement various action plans for the expansion and development of primary education," said Finance  Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal while placing the budget in the parliament on Thursday.

The finance minister said the government has been distributing free four-color textbooks to primary school students through the "Book Festival" on 1 January every year since 2010.

In the academic year 2022, a total of 9 crores 98 lakh 58 thousand 874 textbooks have been distributed to all the primary schools of the country, he added.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has placed the Tk6,78,064 crore national budget for FY23 at Jatiya Sangsad according top priority to safeguarding marginal people from inflation fuelled by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

This is the fourth budget of the third consecutive term of the government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and also the overall 51st budget of the country.

The proposed budget is Tk74,383 crore higher than the original budget size of the FY2021-22 fiscal year, which was Tk6,03,681 crore.