The European Union provides a grant of EUR 60.125 million (around Tk 760.58 crore) to support Bangladeshs education system through a budget support operation of EUR 245 million for primary education, technical and vocational education and training.
According to a release, the European Union has transferred the grant, to Bangladesh following its successful implementation of some key ongoing education reforms, in line with the 2010 National Education Policy and the related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) said the EU Embassy in Dhaka on Thursday.
"I commend the government of Bangladesh for its efforts to enhance its education system, emphasizing its significance within the national and global context," European Union Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley said.
Stressing on education as the "most powerful tool" to ensure a peaceful society and prevent conflict, Whiteley added that in the global challenging economic context, the fight against poverty and inequality has become paramount. Progress on climate change, digitalisation and conflict prevention is also becoming more and more important.
For safeguarding values and future development, investment in education should be steadfast and further boosted, commented Whiteley.
Through this partnership, the Government of Bangladesh has committed to continue implementing the initiatives critical to improving the delivery of quality education services along with strengthening the institutions for efficient use of resources.
Thus, even the poorest children and young population of the country will benefit from receiving quality education for employment and decent work, it reads.
With a view to upgrading the quality of teachers, in fiscal year 2022-2023, the government continued to work to increase the number of trained teachers with special emphasis on professional development.
In this context, more teachers were trained both in the primary and TVET subsectors. Additionally, focus continued on universal enrolment, in particular, students from the marginalised and vulnerable population.
In this context, while more students with disability and from ethnic minority groups were enrolled in TVET, the Government of Bangladesh partnering with NGOs, has successfully brought back a significant number of children (around 8 lakh) to schools who were never enrolled or dropped out, the release said. This shows that Bangladesh is committed to ensure the SDG principle that no one is left behind.
With support from the European Union, Bangladesh continued its work towards strengthening data systems for planning, such as HRMIS and a sector performance system in TVET, said the Embassy.
Finally, the National Action Plan 2022-2027 for Skills Development in Bangladesh was published in the Bangladesh Gazette to facilitate access to decent jobs and promotion of employment opportunities.
The disbursement of this payment comes after a positive decision of the Budget Support Steering Committee of the European Commissions Directorate-General for International Partnerships in June 2024.
