Prime Minister Tarique Rahman announced in parliament on Wednesday that the government will slowly increase the monthly allowance and pay for primary and secondary school teachers across the country.
The Prime Minister explained that the previous government spent a lot of money building new school structures but did not do enough to help the people working inside them. He stressed that if teachers do not receive proper training and adequate salaries, we cannot expect them to give students a high-quality education.
Many teachers are currently forced to take on second jobs in farming or other fields just to feed their families, the Prime Minister noted. This financial stress often means they have to leave classes early. Tarique Rahman said that teachers should not have to look for extra work. Instead, they should earn enough to focus all their time and energy on teaching their students.
To help the education sector, the government is currently spending 2 per cent of the country’s total economic budget (GDP) on schools. Along with higher pay for teachers, the government also plans to give free school uniforms and school bags to 12 million young students across 65,000 government primary schools.
During the parliamentary session, which was led by Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, the Prime Minister also shared some exciting trade news. Following a recent state visit to China, Bangladesh has signed a deal to export jackfruit to the Chinese market, where the fruit is highly popular.
Tarique Rahman shared that during a meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, he learned that Malaysia sells one billion US dollars’ worth of durian—a fruit that looks a lot like jackfruit—to China every year. The Prime Minister expressed high hopes that Bangladesh can do the same with jackfruit, helping the country earn valuable foreign currency.
