The government has moved to bring Bangladesh’s 4.5 million people aged between 15 and 45 years under a basic literacy programme.
It cleared a Tk 4.53 billion project on Tuesday at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said that the literacy project aimed to cover 4.5 million people, which is only seven percent of the country’s 350 million illiterate people.The project would be implemented by 2018 in 250 Upazilas of all 64 districts. According to a working paper of the Planning Commission, the project had been formulated in line with the government’s pledge to eradicate illiteracy by 2014.
It said that in accordance with the Non-Formal Education (NFE) mapping report-2009, the number of the illiterate people aged between 11 and 45 years was about 35 million.
There was no scope of bringing this huge population under a formal education programme. Providing them with a second chance of education was possible through non-formal education, the paper observed.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the adult literacy rate was nearly 57 percent.
The meeting of the top economic policymaking body was held at the NEC conference room at Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar with Prime Minister and ECNEC Chairperson Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
It approved a total of six development projects, including the Basic Literacy Project, involving an outlay of Tk 9.61 billion.
Of the total cost, Tk 7.63 billion will come from the national exchequer and the remaining Tk 1.98 billion from the organisation’s own funds.
The ECNEC approved another project involving Tk 1.98 billion to develop gas a distribution system and covering gas deficit in Joydevpur roundabout, Rajendrapur, Chandra, Kaliakoir, Dhaka EPZ and Tongi areas.
This is to be achieved by increasing 300 mmcfd (million standard cubic feet per day) gas flow to Joydevpur CGS. Titas Gas Company will implement the project from July 2013-December 2015 term.
The four other projects approved in the meeting are: Bangladesh Textile University Development (Tk 844 million-GoB); Establishment of Beel Nursery and releasing fingerlings in open water bodies (Tk 1.18 billion-GoB); Construction of NGO affairs Bureau office building (Tk 344.1 million-GoB) and Production of Electricity by Co-generation and Establishment of Sugar Refinery at North Bengal Sugar Mills (Tk 734.7 million-GoB).
Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Members of the Planning Commission, Secretaries and officials concerned were present in the meeting. – bdnews24.com
