31 lakh primary students to get school meals from November: DPE DG
NN ONLINE:
Director General of the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) Abu Noor Md. Shamsuzzaman has said that around 31 lakh children in 165 upazilas will start receiving nutritious food under the national school feeding programme from next November.
In an exclusive interview with BSS at the DPE office in Mirpur today, he said, “Under the programme, eggs, milk, bananas, bread, biscuits, and local fruits will be provided to children five days a week. We hope to launch the programme on November 17.”
He expressed hope that the distribution of nutritious food, along with improved facilities, would make children more attentive, enhance nutrition, and reduce dropout rates—thereby strengthening the foundation of primary education in Bangladesh.
The initiative, based on poverty data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, covers one upazila in each district, while all schools in Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar will be included in the programme. The project for 15 upazilas in these two districts is financed by the World Bank, while the remaining 150 upazilas are funded by the government.
The DG said the second phase would cover the remaining 349 upazilas in the next fiscal year, bringing around one crore students across the country under the school feeding programme.
Shamsuzzaman added that there are 13,500 vacant assistant teacher posts and that recruitment rules are being finalized to issue a notification in November. He said the 10th grade for head teachers will be implemented soon, while the proposal for the 11th grade for assistant teachers has been sent to the Finance Ministry.
He also mentioned a pending case that is delaying the promotion of 32,000 acting head teachers, which, once resolved, will open those posts for new recruitment. The DG highlighted new measures to empower and train teachers, including a plan to raise head teachers’ repair expenditure authority from Tk 1.5 lakh to Tk 3 lakh, with payments requiring joint certification.
He detailed several infrastructure projects—school repairs, model schools, boundary walls, and PTI-URC development—aimed at ensuring no dilapidated schools remain within three to five years, alongside the launch of PDP-5 in July 2026.
The DPE is also distributing 3,000 interactive flat panels, he said, adding that they are determined to cover over half of schools within five years, despite challenges of cost, electricity, and security. On school management, the DG said ad hoc committees led by education officers will be reformed to include educated and locally-committed presidents.