All primary students to get unique IDs

The government is going to give unique identification numbers to students of all primary schools to ensure smooth admission, book distribution, scholarships and school feeding programmes.

It will also prepare an electronic database where necessary information of students will be preserved.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) passed a project titled “Formulation of Profiles for the Students at Primary Level with Taka 164.05 crore” yesterday. It is scheduled to be completed by December 2021.

According to the project proposal, profiles of about 2.17 crore students of pre-primary to fifth grade will be prepared in the first year. Profiles of 70 lakh newly-admitted students will be prepared in the second and third year.

Profiles of new students at primary schools and madrasas will be updated every year. Students will be given laminated identification cards.

After the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan told reporters that the project will not only facilitate students, but also help the government to maintain accurate statistics of school dropouts.

Planning ministry officials said the ID cards will help students get national ID (NID) cards in future.

Ecnec yesterday approved a total of eight projects, worth Tk 6,276 crore.

Another major project is construction of 340 bridges at an estimated cost of Tk 1,983 crore on upazila, union and village roads across the country, to ensure better road connectivity. The project is scheduled to be completed by June 2023.

Quoting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Mannan said there is no need of constructing new highways. She has given emphasis on repair of existing roads, and to focus on an integrated communication system across the country comprising roads, railways, waterways and airways, he said.

Ecnec also approved the Dhaka City Neighbourhood Upgrading Project worth Tk 880.46 crore, to develop roads, parks, playgrounds, and multipurpose complexes at Khilgaon, Sutrapur-Nayabazar, Lalbagh and Kamrangirchar area.

The government is also going to develop and renovate 1,812 Hindu temples and religious establishments across the country. The Tk 228.69-crore project will be implemented by October 2021. Hindu Religious Welfare Trust (HRWT) will implement it.

The government approved another Tk 2,582 crore project, to set up an economic zone at Araihazar in Narayanganj for Japanese investors. Of the cost, 82 percent will come from Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and the rest from Bangladesh.

Implementing agency Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) will develop land, construct access roads and set up a power plant, transmission lines and gas pipelines under the project.

The government will acquire 1,000 acres of land in Araihazar, 500 acres of which have already been acquired, according to a Beza official.

The other projects approved in the meeting are “Providing running capital and modernisation of hand looms for handloom workers” with Tk 158 crore, “Root and tuber crops development project” with Tk 156.32 crore, and “Tulshi-ganga Choto-jamuna, Chingri and Harabati river re-excavation project” under Joypurhat district with Tk 123.47 crore.