The education and technology sectors get 5.0 per cent higher allocation in the proposed national budget for 2022-23 fiscal year (FY23), placed by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in Parliament on Thursday.
The allocation was increased to Tk 999.78 billion from Tk 948.78 billion in FY22. The allocation is 14.7 per cent of the total proposed budget.
However, the allocation for only education is Tk 814.49 billion in FY23, which was Tk 719.74 billion in FY22. The allocation against education still remains less than 2.0 per cent of the country's GDP.
In the proposed budget, Tk 317.61 billion was allocated to the Primary and Mass Education Ministry, while Tk 399.61 billion to the Secondary and Higher Education Division, Tk 97.27 billion to Technical and Madrasa Division, Tk 166.13 billion to the Science and Technology Ministry and Tk 19.16 billion against the ICT Division.
In the budget speech, the finance minister said the government is relentlessly working to build Sonar Bangla as envisaged by the Father of the Nation by giving the highest importance to the education sector and has adopted education as one of the main strategies for development.
He said the government has taken special initiatives in the education sector to compensate for the loss during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Our education programme was disrupted since the first week of March 2020 due to the spread of coronavirus infection. However, the government took various steps to continue the academic schedule by keeping the education activities free from the negative effects of the pandemic," he said.