WB approves US $510m for secondary education

The World Bank yesterday approved a financing of US $510 million to improve the secondary education system in Bangladesh.

In addition, its “Transforming Secondary Education for Results” programme will benefit 13 million students from grade VI to XII, says a WB statement.

The programme would enhance quality of teaching and learning as well as improve access and retention of students -- especially girls and children from poor households.

To improve the quality of education, the programme would support modernisation of curriculum and ensure professional development, management, and accountability of teachers. It would also support learning assessments and reform examinations.

"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.

To increase school completion rates, especially for girls and poor children, the programme would support stipends and school grants. Furthermore, it would pilot an adolescent girls' programme to motivate girls to complete schooling.

This would include financial incentives for poor female students in grades IX to XII and adolescent health topics in the curriculum. It would also build separate toilets for female students.

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 six-year grace period, and carry a service charge of 0.75 percent.