A recent report by Unesco has said it is worrying that Bangladesh, which spends only a small proportion of its gross national product (GNP) on education, has reduced spending further.
The “Education for All Global Monitoring Report of 2013-14” – which was published on Wednesday – said low spending on education was affecting the overall development of education.
“It is particularly worrying that some countries that were already spending a relatively small proportion of GNP on education, such as Bangladesh, have reduced their spending further,” the report said.
The report added that Bangladesh was among 25 countries which dedicate less than 3% of GNP to education.
The report showed that in terms of public spending on education, Bangladesh’s condition was worse than some African countries.
According to the report, Tanzania was already spending more than 6% of its GNP on education.
A total of Tk119.35bn has been allocated for education, including primary and mass education (from the development and non-development budgets combined) in 2013-14 fiscal year.
In terms of the percentage share of the total budget, the education budget has been decreasing in the recent years.
Educationalists have long been demanding an increase to overall spending on education.
In an interview with the Dhaka Tribune before the budget had been placed in front of parliament, Brac University’s Institute of Education Development Senior Adviser Manzoor Ahmed said:
“Since the adoption of the new education policy in 2010, the allocation to the sector had decreased every year from around 13% in FY2010, to 12% in FY2011, and around 11% in FY2012.
He said the 2% GDP allocated to education by Bangladesh was less than half of what it was in neighbouring South Asian countries.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid stressed on several occasions the need to increase budget of the education sector.
The report also said the Dakar Framework for Action which affirmed the commitment to achieving education for all by the year 2015 did not establish financing targets for education, resulting in wide differences in government spending on education. Therefore, children’s chances of being in school continue to depend on where they happen to be born.
It said the failure to set a common financing target for the “education for all” goals should be addressed after 2015, with the specific goal that countries allocate at least 6% of their GNP to education.
