Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)

A total of BDT 15.10 billion was deposited with 1818,413 school banking accounts in 56 scheduled banks as of December 31, 2018, according to the central bank’s latest statistics.

The school banking service is more popular in the cities than in the rural areas as 1144,243 school banking accounts were opened in the cities against 6,74,170 accounts in the rural areas, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said in its latest quarterly report on financial inclusion.

The banking is also more popular among the male students than the female students as 1064,492 school banking accounts were opened by male students against 753,921 by female students.

“We’ve introduced such banking in 2010 to encourage students to build their savings habit,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the BBN in Dhaka.

Mentioning the school banking as a step in the financial inclusion campaign, the central banker said the programme has been adopted to introduce the banking system among the students of less than 18 years old.

“There are some advantages of opening such bank account like waivers of fees and charges, a waiver of minimum balance requirement and debit card,” the central banker explained.

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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- On an average 66.64 per cent of examinees passed the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations-2018 held under 10 education boards of Bangladesh this year.

Of them, a total of 29,262 candidates scored maximum grade point average GPA-5 this year, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said while addressing at a press conference on HSC and equivalent results at his ministry in the capital on Thursday.

Among the GPA-5 holders, 15,581 are male students and 13,681 are female, he said adding a total of 25,562 students achieved GPA-5 under eight general education boards, 1,244 students under madrasah education board and 2,456 under technical education board.

A total of 1288,757 students including 680,884 females from 8,945 educational institutions appeared in this year’s HSC and equivalent examinations, the minister added.

Among the examinees, 858,101 students have been successful in the HSC and equivalent examinations, according to the minister.

A total of 1183,686 examinees appeared in the HSC and equivalent examinations last year.

The minister handed over a summary of the results to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her Gonobhaban residence in Dhaka on Thursday morning, according to reports,

Female students in the HSC (Higher Secondary Certificate) and equivalent examinations have outnumbered the male students in terms of pass rate this year.

According to the results, percentage of pass of female students is 69.72 while that of the male students is 63.88.

On an average 66.64 percent of examinees passed examinations under 10 education boards of the country.

As many as 680,848 male students participated in the examination while the number of female students was 607,909, it added.

A total of 400 educational institutions achieved 100 per cent pass rate in the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and its equivalent examinations-2018 across the country this year.

Of those, 39 institutions are from Dhaka Board, 19 from Rajshahi, 14 from Cumilla, 6 from Jashore, 5 from Chattogram, 5 from Barishal, 5 from Sylhet and 10 from Dinajpur while the number of hundred percent successful institutions under Madrasa Board is 288.

A total of 532 educational institutions achieved 100 percent pass rate in the HSC and its equivalent exams last year.
Students of 55 colleges and madrasas under six out of 10 Education Boards failed to come out successful in this year’s HSC and equivalent examinations.

The number of zero pass rate institutions is six in Dhaka Board, six in Rajshahi Board, two in Cumilla, four in Jashore Board, one in Chattogram, two in Barishal Board, two in Sylhet, 12 in Dinajpur, 13 in Madrasah Board and seven in technical board.

The number of colleges and madrasas with `zero results’ was 72 last year.

Barishal Board has secured the top position among eight general educational boards with 70.55 percent pass rate in the HSC examinations this year.

Some 62,173 students appeared in the examination under Barishal Board. Of them, 43,861 have come out successful.
The pass rate of Rajshahi Board is 66.51 percent, while it is 66.13 percent in Dhaka, 65.42 percent in Cumilla, 62.73 percent in Chattogram, 62.11 percent in Sylhet, 60.40 percent in Jashore and 60.21 in Dinajpur Board.

Students under Dinajpur Education Board performed poor in terms of pass rate compared to other education boards with 60.21 percent pass rate.

The board also made poor performance in terms of its own performance compared to the previous year. Last year, Dinajpur Board secured 65.44 percent pass.

The eight general education boards secured 64.55 percent pass rate with 25,562 GPA-5 achievers in the HSC examinations this year.

A total of 1072,028 students appeared in the examinations while 691,958 came out successful under eight general education boards, according to the results published on Thursday.

The pass rate has reduced by 2.29 percent compared to the last year’s 66.84 percent.

Number of GPA-5 achievers also reduced as 33,242 students attained the maximum grade point average (GPA) in last year’s examinations.

The Technical Education Board secured 75.50 percent pass rate in the HSC and equivalent examinations this year.
Some 2,456 students scored the (Grade Point Average) GPA-5. Of them, 933 are male students and 1,523 are female.

Under the board, some 118,000 examinees appeared at the examinations while 89,089 came out successful. Of the successful students, 60,923 are male and 28,166 female.

A total of 2,669 students scored GPA-5 from Technical Education Board last year with 81.33 percent pass rate.

Madrasah Education Board secured 78.67 percent pass rate with 1,244 GPA-5 achievers in the HSC and equivalent examinations this year.

Of the GPA-5 achievers under the board, 864 are male and 380 are female.

Some 97,793 students appeared in the examinations and 76,932 came out successful under the Madrasah Board.
Of the successful students, 42,907 are male and 34,025 female.

The Madrasah board secured 77.02 percent pass with 1,815 GPA-5 achievers in the examinations last year.

As many as 263 students of seven overseas centres came out successful in the HSC examinations this year with 92.28 percent pass rate.

A total of 285 students appeared in the examinations from the overseas centres. Of the successful students, 16 got GPA-5.

Students of Science Group secured top position with 21,171 GPA-5 in the HSC examinations this year.

A total of 2,437 students got GPA-5 from Business Studies Group and 1,954 from Humanities group.

As many as 238,903 examinees from science group appeared in the HSC examinations this year, 564,231 from humanities group and 268,894 from Business Studies Group.

As many as 12,938 students scored GPA-5 under Dhaka Education Board in the HSC examinations this year with 66.13 percent pass rate. Among the GPA-5 achievers under Dhaka Board, 6923 are male and 6015 female.

Some 369,760 students appeared in the HSC examinations under the Dhaka board. Of the total, 244,512 came out successful.

Among the successful examinees, 118,399 are male and 1,26,113 female.

A total of 18,930 students scored GPA-5 from Dhaka Board last year.

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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)

Both agreements were signed by Kazi Shofiqul Azam, Secretary of Economic Relations Division and Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal on behalf of the government and the World Bank, respectively, at the Economic Relations Division in the capital Dhaka on Thursday.

The credit from the WB’s International Development Association, which provides grants or zero-interest loans, has a 38-year term, including a six-year grace period, and a service charge of 0.75 per cent, according to a WB statement.

By improving quality and access to primary education, the $700 million Quality Learning for All Program will benefit more than 18 million children studying in pre-primary level to grade 5.

The project will help improve learning by developing a stronger curriculum and exam system, creating a well-trained teacher pool, using ICT in education and regular systematic assessment.

In all government schools, the project will help improve recently introduced one-year pre-primary education, the WB said.

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)

The Quality Learning for All Program (QLEAP) will benefit more than 18 million children studying in pre-primary level to grade 5, a WB statement said.

It will finance implementation of the government’s Fourth Primary Education Development Program (PEDP4).

The project will help improve quality and equitable access to primary education. It 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 programme will help expansion of one-year quality pre-primary education in all government schools.

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.

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.

The credit from the World Bank’s International Development Association, which provides grants or zero-interest loans, has a 38-year term, including a six-year grace period, and a service charge of 0.75 percent.

The WB was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh following its independence.

Since then, the World Bank has committed nearly $28 billion in grants and interest-free credits to the country.

In recent years, Bangladesh has been among the largest recipients of the World Bank’s interest-free credits.

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Master of Economics (Entrepreneurship Economics) Programme starts at the DScE in Dhaka on April 07, 2018. Photo: DScE.

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Dhaka School of Economics (DScE),which is constituent Institution of University of Dhaka, has started class of Master of Economics(Entrepreneurship Economics) Programme.

“This program will motivate to entrepreneurial ability and visionary leadership to develop the economy,” Chairman of the Governing Council of DScE Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said while inaugurating the programme on Saturday.

The senior economist hoped that business incubator will be established in due course of time.

Coordinator of the programme Professor Muhammad Mahboob Ali Post Doctorate(Entrepreneurship) commented that this program is designed to putting emphasis on developing industry need based and pro people centric development of the economy of Bangladesh with bench marking of global exposure.

In future at undergraduate level the program may start for youth entrepreneurs, employment opportunity and giving soft skill emphasis, Dr. Ali also added.

The duration of the programme is 1.6 years and total 13 courses related to entrepreneurial economics.
Among others, faculty member Rehena Parvin also attended the programme.

The DScE earlier introduced Post Graduate Diploma in Enterprise Development programme aiming to develop new entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.

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BBN file photo

Washington, US (BBN) - The World Bank has approved $510 million financing to improve the secondary education system and student performance in Bangladesh.

The Transforming Secondary Education for Results program will benefit 13 million students in grade 6-12, said a press statement of the World Bank dated December 18.

The program will enhance quality of teaching and learning as well as improve access and retention of students, especially girls and children from poor households.

To improve quality of education, the program will support modernisation of curriculum and ensure professional development, management, and accountability of teachers.

It will also support learning assessments and reform examinations.

“In 1993, the World Bank started supporting the secondary education sector through an innovative and a globally renowned stipend project that dramatically increased girls’ enrollment. Today, Bangladesh is among a few low and low middle-income countries to achieve gender parity in secondary education. The next challenge is to improve quality of education and to ensure that poor children, both boys and girls, complete grade 12,” said Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

The secondary education sector faces several challenges. Less than 70 percent children in primary schools continue to secondary level, and below 60 percent complete grade 10.

Further, many students fare below the required standard in key subjects like Mathematics, Bangla and English. For instance, in 2015, nearly half of grade 8 students performed poorly in mathematics.

The current curriculum does not adequately focus on building problem solving skills. Compared to regional and international standard, the country has a low level of public investment in education.

To increase school completion rates, especially for girls and poor children, the program will support stipends and school grants.

Further, it will pilot an adolescent girls’ program to motivate girls to complete schooling.

This will include financial incentives for poor female students in grades 9-12 and adolescent health topics in the curriculum. It will also build separate toilets for girl students.

“The rural schools often suffer from a shortage of qualified teachers, particularly in English, Mathematics, and Science subjects,” said Saurav Dev Bhatta, World Bank Co-Team Leader for the project.

“The program will help attract, develop, and retain qualified teachers. It will recruit and provide pre-deployment training to the new teachers.”

The program will support the government’s Secondary Education Development Program.  It will implement a system of accountability for teachers as well as for school management committees.

The program also has a technical assistance facility, which is partially supported by a grant from the Global Financing Facility.

The credit is from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessional lending arm. The credits are interest-free and repayable in 38 years, including a 6-year grace period, and carry a service charge of 0.75 percent.

The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh following its independence. Since then the World Bank has committed over $26 billion interest-free credits to Bangladesh. In recent years, Bangladesh has been the largest recipient of the World Bank’s interest-free credits.

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Photo: UNICEF

Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh (BBN) - UNICEF plans to establish more than 1,300 new learning centres for Rohingya children who have fled Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh.

UNICEF is currently running 182 learning centres in Rohingya camps and makeshift settlements in Cox’s Bazar, and has enrolled 15,000 children.

It plans to increase the number of learning centres to 1,500, to reach 200,000 children over the next year, according to a statement.

“It is critical that these children, who have suffered so much in this crisis should have access to education in a safe and nurturing environment,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh.

“This is critical not just to provide them with a much-needed sense of normalcy now, but so that they can build a future to look forward to.”

The learning centres provide early education to children aged 4 to 6, as well as non-formal basic education to children from ages 6 to 14. In each learning centre there are three shifts, with each shift comprising of 35 children.
Children learn Bengali, English, Math, Burmese, Science, Arts and Anthems in the learning centres.

Children also receive psychosocial counselling, and are taught hygiene and life skills. The children are given books, pens, colouring pencils, school bags and other educational materials.
Over a quarter of a million Rohingya children have fled Myanmar into Cox’s Bazar since August 25 this year.

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Former BB governor Atiur Rahman addressing at an international conference in Dhaka on July 28, 2017. Photo: BBN

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The entire education system must reform itself to meet the demand for both Bangladesh and the World as the economy is getting increasingly globalised, former governor of Bangladesh Bank Atiur Rahman has said.
“For this to happen we need to increase our investment substantially so that we can get competent graduates who can as well meet the global demands,” Professor Rahman said while addressing at a international conference on TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training), on Friday held in the capital Dhaka.
The three-day long conference, organized by the Institute of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh, is scheduled to be ended today (Saturday).
Dr. Rahman also said TVET can provide us with the opportunities of 'killing two birds with one stone' by making our youths better ready for the changing job market and providing a stream of potential workforce for our growing industrial sector.
After elaborating on the challenges faced by Bangladesh in coping with the skills demand, the former governor suggested a few concrete ways forward.
Firstly, the policy makers must make not only coherent policies on TVET but also focus on quality of the graduates for their desired employability.
Secondly, policy decisions must be informed by necessary market research particularly on quality and demand issues.
Thirdly, private sector must be taken into confidence while making any policy decision related to TVET.
Fourthly, the TVET system mast adapt to changing global markets including the kind of jobs available abroad.
And finally, there is a need for change in mind set of the policy makers and as well as of the graduates for moving away from the desk-based to technology embedded jobs.
Dr. Rahman also emphasized greater participation of the private sector in TVET curriculum development so that the system can create more entrepreneurs who will be self-employed in addition to providing others employment.
“For that to happen we need to give greater emphasis on Research and Development for greater innovation in the educational institutions,” he explained.
The chief guest of the session, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Dr. Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury also emphasized on the significance of infusion of technology in our socio-economic development including government's push for making Bangladesh Digital.
Also he informed that the government has decided to launch the National Skills Development Authority to steer the development of skills for different sectors.
The session was chaired by Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).

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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- A two-day education fair, ‘Study in India’, began at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital Dhaka on Friday.
Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla inaugurated the fair as the chief guest in the morning.
The show was organised by Indian AFAIRS Exhibitions and Media Pvt Ltd in association with A2Z Study, a premier education consultancy firm based in Dhaka, and it was supported by the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
The objective of the fair is to provide right information and guidance to Bangladeshi students planning to pursue their studies in India.
The event will enable students and parents to gather correct information on courses which are in demand, eligibility, course fees, installment options and placement scope.
The participating institutions are offering the international curricula like Cambridge International Examination (CIE) and International Baccalaureate (IB) along with the Indian curriculum which are ISCE and CBSE.
Some of the participating schools are Pathways World School, Ebenezer International School, Genesis Global School, The Sagar School, Assam Valley School, KIIT International School and Oakridge International School.
The fair is offering spot registration of admission in engineering, medical, paramedical, dental, nursing, biotechnology, pharmacy, IT, MBA, BBA, hotel management, journalism, architecture and many more subjects as per the admission procedure of the respective colleges.
The fair will end tomorrow (Saturday).

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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)

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