Speaker: Poverty rate comes down to 23%

Poverty rate has dropped in Bangladesh thanks to the efforts of the government, says Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury. “Poverty rate has come down to 23% from 43%,” she said at a program at Shaistaganj High School in Habiganj marking the school’s 100th anniversary on Saturday. The speaker said the government has ensured gender equality to achieve millennium development goals. “Girls are now going to schools. They are getting stipends also,” she said. She also said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is taking the country forward. Supreme Court Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Hussain and former chief justice Syed JR Mudassir Husain also spoke at the program, with former shipping secretary Ashoke Madhab Roy in the chair. Eleven teachers and students of the school were given awards for their contribution to different sectors.