Govt plans free education for girls up to honours level: PM
The government also plans to introduce scholarships for meritorious female students, the prime minister says
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has said the government is planning to provide free education for girls up to the honours (or degree) level, extending the existing support that currently covers female students up to higher secondary education.
"The BNP government led by Begum Khaleda Zia introduced free education for girls up to the higher secondary level, and we now want to extend this facility to the honours or degree level," he told parliament today (8 July) while replying to a supplementary question from reserved-seat lawmaker Helen Jerin.
He also said that his government was giving equal importance to women's education and economic empowerment.
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As part of this effort, the Family Card programme has already been introduced, while scholarship opportunities are also being considered for meritorious female students under the proposed free education scheme, he added.
Addressing female students who were present in the parliament gallery to observe the proceedings, the prime minister urged them to pursue higher education and said the government was committed to creating more opportunities for women.
Replying to another supplementary question from reserved-seat lawmaker Shammi Akter, Tarique said the government also plans to provide free school uniforms and bags to students of government primary schools from classes one to five.
He further said that around 12 million students are studying in nearly 65,000 government primary schools across the country, and the government aims to bring all of them under the programme in phases.
