Chapter 1

Introduction
1.1.1 Overall Theme of Budget
Budget is the financial plan of a government for a given period. It shows what resources are
and how they will be generated and used over the fiscal period. It is an estimate of income
and expenditure for a future period. Budget is an essential element in the planning and
control of the financial affairs of a nation. Budget reflects the vision and mission of
incumbent government. The government leaders usually try to fulfill election manifest
to through the budget.
1.1.2 What is National Budget?
-

A statement of estimated receipts and expenditures

A policy instrument that allocates scarce resources among competing sectors, and

economic and social needs.

A managerial or administrative instrument that lays down and means of providing public

services.
An economic instrument that can foster nations growth
An accounting instrument that holds government officials responsible for expenditure
and revenue mobilization

1.1.3 Objectives of National Budget

-

To maintain macro-economy stability

To reduce Poverty
Foster sustainable growth
Carry on economic and structural reforms, economic liberalization, human resource

development and good governance.

1.1.4 Budget- Constitutional Provisions
The constitution requires that, a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the
government in respect of each financial year shall have to be laid before the parliament. The
statement is called Annual Financial Statement- name given to the budget in the
Constitution of Bangladesh.
1.1.5 Budget Structure in Bangladesh

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In Bangladesh- Government Budget = Non Development Budget + Development Budget.

Non-Development Budget = Recurrent (Revenue) Exp. + Net lending + Capital Exp. +
Net Food Outlay + Non-ADP Project. Non development budget includes mainly
recurrent expenditures, e.g. pay & allowances, supplies services, operations &

maintenance etc.
Capital Expenditure pertains to investment in shares and equities.
Net Lending is calculated as net payments (payments-receipts) of loans and advances to

SOEs and govt. servants.

Non-ADP projects are capital expenditure of development nature but historically bundled
with non-development expenditure.

Chapter 2
Purpose, Problems & Limitations
2.1.1 Purpose of this Assignment
This assignment has been assigned to us by our honorable faculty in purpose of expanding our
knowledge over National Budget. The primary & main emphasis is on the educational sector
of 2016-2017 National Budget of Bangladesh. At the same time the other sectors are also
required to be analyzed. After analyzing the educational sector comparison is needed to be
made with the previous years budget. Thus, the recommendation is needed to be given based
upon the detailed analysis.
2.1.2 Problems & Limitations
The limitation that I faced while doing this assignment was the information over the internet
was sometimes misleading to me. Too much information was available, but most of them were
not organized. For gathering the accurate information I had to take interview of one of the
secretaries of the Ministry of Finance of Bangladesh.

Chapter 3
Sector Analysis
3.1.1 Analysis
Budget FY17 has been presented at a time when:

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 Accelerating economic growth, reducing poverty, and creating higher employment

opportunities are required to implement the 7th Five Year Plan
Formulation of action plan to implement the SDGs is underway and this would call
for reflections from the national budget perspective
A need for formulating LDC graduation strategy as Bangladesh is well positioned to
graduate from the group in next eight years or so
The objectives of the budget for FY17 appear to be:
-

High growth of revenue targeted for underwriting overreaching expenditure

Harmonization of taxes and tariff in line with the new VAT and SD Act 2012
Higher allocation for building physical infrastructure to enhance capacities Enhanced
allocation for social sector

Five criteria for assessing the FY17 budget have been deployed to assess the efficacy of the
recent budget experiences:
1. Clarity and credibility- Was the budget designed within clear and credible limits of
fiscal policy?
2. Alignment with medium-term priorities- Was the budget closely aligned with the
medium-term strategic priorities of government?
3. Effectiveness of development budget framework- Does the development budget
framework meet the national development needs in a cost-effective and coherent manner?
4. Justifying the allocations- Did the budget present a comprehensive, accurate and
reliable account of public finances?
5. Quality of prospective management and monitoring plan- Is there a concrete plan
to manage and monitor commitments made in the budget?

3.1.2 Medium Term Outlook

The GDP growth target for FY17 has been set at 7.2% (7.05% in FY16, provisional)
Moderate improvement in GDP growth and public investment forecasted
Private investment as a share of GDP (23.3%) is expected to rise by 1.5 percentage points
An additional (approx.) Tk. 80,000 crore private investment will be required in FY17
ICOR is expected to rise (decline in capital productivity) in FY17
Inflation is expected to decline to 5.8%

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 Budget speech mentions that during 2010-2015, 47 lac people joined the labor market of
which 98% found jobs in the domestic market
However, it has not been mentioned that between 2013 and 2015 pace of additional jobs
creation slowed down considerably from about 13 lac per annum between 2010-2013 to
about 3 lac between 2013-2015 (Jul-Sep).
Both revenue and total expenditure (as % of GDP) to grow in FY17 by about 2.1
percentage points.
Reliance on domestic sources in financing budget deficit led by bank borrowing after
small reduction in FY17, is expected to be maintained in FY18 and FY19.

Public debt as % of GDP is at a reasonable state for Bangladesh may increase insignificantly
in FY17 largely due to rise in domestic debt
Currently about 57% of the public debt is attributable to domestic source and 43% to
foreign finance
The composition is expected to change further by FY19 about 63% of the total debt
will be incurred from domestic sources
Government needs to use low-cost borrowings this is not the case in recent years
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 Interest payment for domestic debt has already risen substantially

Debt servicing for borrowing for large infrastructure projects may put further pressure in
future.

3.1.3 Revenue Mobilization

-

FY17 budget targets an additional Tk. 65,351 crore revenue with a 35.4% growth over
RBFY15

~ CPD Projection: (approx. Tk. 75,000 crore)

NBR to take the lead role (accounting for 81.3% of incremental revenue) with 35.4%
growth

~ LTU is expected to account for 37.1% of incremental NBR revenue.

30.8% of incremental revenue from income tax; while 28.8% from VAT
~ Two-third of total income tax will be collected from companies
~ Belated implementation of new VAT act will pose serious challenge
Import duty collection growth target is set at 31.1%.

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3.1.4
Total Public Expenditure

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3.1.5 Top Five Sectors in ADP FY 17

Chapter 4
Overview of the Education System in the National Budget
4.1.1 Ministry of Education Medium Term Expenditure
Ministry of Education Medium Term Expenditure
Projection
Description

Budget 2015-16

2016-17

2017-

18
Non-Development
Development
Total

12916,32,00
4197,34,00
17113,66,00

14335,61,40
4153,85,60
18489,47,00

15764,00,67
4574,40,33
20338,41,00

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Revenue
Capital
Total

14440,03,79
2673,62,21
17113,66,00

15858,88,10
2630,58,90
18489,47,00

17482,64,70
2855,76,30
20338,41,00

4.1.2 Mission Statement and Major Functions

a) Mission Statement To develop well educated and efficient human resources imbued with
the moral values by imparting education and training in combination of general, vocational,
science and technology-based education system.
b) Major Functions
1. Policy and project formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, with
focus on improving the quality of secondary, higher secondary, technical and tertiary
education;
2. Reforming and formulating the administrative policy related to secondary, higher
secondary, vocational and tertiary education and registration of non-government school
teachers and providing financial assistance;
3. Establishment of specialized university and creation of open educational resources ;
4. Preparation and development of the curriculum for secondary and higher secondary,
technical and university education;
5. Preparation and printing of text books for primary, secondary and higher secondary
levels;
6. Distribution of free text books for primary and secondary level;
7. Providing broad-band connection, multi-media books to educational institutions,
ensuring use of ICT in class rooms and application of ICT in education management;
8. Implementation of the recommendations of the Education Policy.
4.1.3 Medium Term Strategic Objectives and Key Activities
Medium Term Strategic

Activities

Implementing

1. Improve access to quality

Provide training to teachers and

Department of Secondary and

secondary education

members of School Management

Higher

Committee

National Academy for Education

Conduct all public examinations

Management (NAEM)
Department of Secondary and

and publish results in time

Distribute text books to all

Higher Education (DSHE)

National Curriculum & Text Book

Departments/Agencies
Education

(DSHE)

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students

on

1stJanuary

and

Board (NCTB)

celebrate the day nationally

Establish new educational

institutions in underserved areas

Department (EED) Directorate

of Technical Education (DTE)

Department of Secondary and

Establish

new

educational

Education

Engineering

institutions in Barisal, Sylhet,

Higher

Khulna and Dhaka City area

Education Engineering

Construction

of

new

Education

(DSHE)

and

extension of existing buildings of

educational institutions (school,
college & madrasa) and supply of
furniture
Repair,

maintenance,

and

Education

Engineering

extension of existing educational

Department (EED)

institutions
Introduce Multi-media book

NCTB Bangladesh Bureau of

Education

Information

and

Establish Upazila ICT training

Statistics (BANBEIS)

Bangladesh
Bureau

and resource centers

Education

Transform one non-government

Statistics (BANBEIS)
Department of Secondary and

school into model school in each

Higher Education (DSHE)

Information

of
and

of the 306 Upazilas where there

2. Ensuring equity and equality

is no government school

Provide
stipends

at all levels of education

scholarships to eligible female-

Higher

male students at junior secondary

Directorate

and secondary level and to

Education (DTE)

female
3. Generation of skilled human
resources

for

domestic

international labor market

and

students

at

and

and

vocational education and training

Provide Competency- Based
(CBT)

to

Education
of

(DSHE)

Technical

higher

secondary and degree level

Provide
technical

Training

Department of Secondary and

Directorate

of

Technical

Education (DTE)

teachers

working in technical education

institutions
Introduce emerging trade and
technology

courses

by

modernizing curriculum
Provide stipends/scholarships to

9 | Page

female/male

students

at

secondary(vocational),higher
secondary

and

diploma

4. Improvement of the overall

engineering level
Establish new

universities

quality and expansion of tertiary

(engineering

education focusing on general

agricultural and general)

Develop various infrastructure of

science,
technical,

applied

science,

vocational

business

and

administration

the

&

technological,

universities

necessary

and

University Grants Commission

(UGC)

supply

equipment

and

accessories
Introduce ICT-IT courses and

education

new departments in universities

Introduce a research network for
social research for exchanging
relevant information and data
among researchers and fellows of
the country
Conduct research on various

University Grants Commission

issues related to education and

(UGC) National Academy for

5. Strengthening governance in

training
Introduce School Performance

Education Management (NAEM)

Department of Secondary and

education management

Based

Higher Education (DSHE)

Management

(SPBMS)and

School

Assessment

(SBA)in

the

spirit

of

all

evaluation

Education Management (NAEM)

of

educational

National

Academy

programmes; facilitate training

and

through

Education

national

Statistics (BANBEIS)

discussion
and

Bangladesh

Bureau

Information

seminars/workshops
Strengthen BANBEIS as the

National

for

Education

and

Statistics (BANBEIS)

level

education

Promoting

Based

institutions at secondary level

Conduct
research
and

international

6.

System

center

information

Bangladesh

Bureau

Information

for
of
and

of
and

knowledge repository
Inspect and audit educational

Department of Inspection &

institutions
Distribute

Audit(DIA)
Department of Secondary and

documents

and

liberation war, history, heritage

literature on Liberation War to

Higher

and national culture

educational institutions

Directorate

Revise curriculum in the light of

Education

Education

(DSHE)

of
(DTE)

Technical

National

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the history of liberation war

Curriculum & Text Book(NCTB)

4.1.4 Priority Spending Areas / Programmes

Priority Spending Areas/Programmes

Related

Medium

Term

Strategic

1. Improving quality of the Secondary

Objectives
Improving access to quality secondary

Education Key initiatives to improve the

education

quality of education includes various study,

baseline survey, curriculum development,
decentralization

of

the

education

management, and establishment of new

school in under-served areas, model school,
college and madrasa. Apart from these,
providing stipends to female students and
creating more opportunities for secondary
education ensures quality education. Hence,
this has been given top priority.
2. Modernization of existing technical and

Generation of skilled human resources for

vocational institutions and establishing new

domestic and international labor markets

ones Removing unemployment problem and

creating productive human resources by
imparting technical and vocational education
is very critical. Hence it has been given the
second priority.
3. Creating facilities for education and

Generation of skilled human resources for

training in different need based trades and

domestic and international labor markets

technologies In order to respond to the

demand of labor market for both home and
abroad, traditional curriculum has been
revised

by

introducing

emerging

trades/technologies. ICT based training at

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Upazila Resource Centers at field level

played a significant role in providing these
trainings. These activities have, therefore,
been given priority.
4. Development of physical infrastructure for

Improving access to quality secondary

Government and non Government education

education

institutions Construction of new buildings for

different educational institutions (school,
college and madrasa), repair and renovation
of existing institutions and establishment of
new schools in underserved areas will
directly contribute to the expansion of
education

opportunities.

Hence,

these

activities have been identified as priority.

5. Provision of stipends to female students at

Ensuring equity & equality at all levels of

secondary and higher secondary levels

education

Continuing the stipend programme for

female students will contribute to reduce
dropout rate and ensure gender equality.
Hence, this initiative has been given priority.
6. Expanding and upgrading the physical

Improvement of the overall quality and

infrastructure and strengthening existing

expansion of tertiary education focusing on

university

general science, applied science, technical,

associated

programmes
with

technology and

especially

science,
management

those

engineering,

vocational

disciplines

education

and

business

administration

Professional higher education not only

creates specialized productive manpower but
also reduces the unemployment problem.
This is why this has been given priority.
4.1.5 Expenditure by Department/Agencies/Operational Units

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Chapter 5
Problems, Prospects & Recommendations

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5.1.1 Challenges Facing the Education Sector in Bangladesh

The assessment carried out as part of the present study shows the following:
1. There is a need to significantly reduce the level of absenteeism in, and dropout rates
from, schools, at both primary and secondary levels. Formidable challenges remain in
delivering quality education in Bangladesh.
2. Low teacher-student ratio, inadequate quality-enhancing training facilities for
teachers and substandard early childhood development (ECD) programmes are some of the
major challenges that need to be addressed to provide quality education.
3. Challenges also persist as regards ensuring geographical access (including hardto-reach areas) to education and in reaching the marginalized groups. The contribution of
non-formal education needs to be acknowledged in this regard, as also the need for making
technical and vocational education and training (TVET) an integral part of the education
system in Bangladesh, which the study has stressed.
Many of these challenges have been recognized in successive policies and plans of
Bangladesh. However, mobilizing the necessary resources, raising allocative efficiency and
ensuring efficacy of resource utilization continue to remain as highly challenging tasks.
5.1.2 Findings
Analysis of the budgetary trends in the context of addressing education sector challenges,
undertaken as part of this study, has come up with the following key findings.

a)

Low Level of Standard on the Allocation for Education: Current level of budgetary

allocation for education is, by any standard, well below than what is required. The share of
the education sector budget has declined over the recent years, both as percentage of gross
domestic product (GDP) and as a share of total budget. Share of the education budget as a
proportion of the total budget, decreased to 11.6 per cent in FY2016 from 15.9 per cent in
FY2007. According to World Development Indicator (WDI) data, Bangladesh, with an
education budget to the tune of 1.9 per cent of GDP, has been ranked 155 out of 161
countries in the world. In all other South Asian countries, the corresponding figures are
higher (Afghanistan: 4.6 per cent, Bhutan: 5.6 per cent, Nepal: 4.1 per cent, India: 3.9 per
cent, and Pakistan: 2.5 per cent). Indeed, the figure has remained around 2 per cent of GDP
for the last 14 years. Regrettably, budgetary allocation for education is projected to decline
further as a proportion of national budget as also GDP in the coming two fiscal years
14 | P a g e

(FY2017 and FY2018), as is evidenced by the Medium Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF)
projections.

b) Inadequate Social Safety Net Programmes:

Budgetary allocation for education-related

social safety net programmes (SSNPs) remains inadequate. The share of the educationrelated SSNP budget, as percentage of the total SSNP budget, has been declining since
FY2013 and stands at 6.4 per cent in FY2016. Indeed, overall allocation for SSNPs, as
percentage of GDP, also remained unchanged over the past years. Furthermore, allowances
(e.g. stipend per pupil) for education-related SSNPs were unchanged in terms of nominal
value which has resulted in significant erosion of real purchasing power. The coverage of
major education related SSNP has also remained stagnant or even suffered some erosion over
the last six years except in case of the school feeding programme.

c) MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) in the budget are focused more on quantity, but
not on quality.

d) Risk of Proper Allocation

of Resources: Disguised allocations under education head,

going to a number of government entities, are often not well-documented and wellscrutinized. Apart from the two core Ministries (Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and
Ministry of Education), there are at least five other agencies which also receive allocation
from the national budget for education-related purposes. When education resources are
channeled through a diverse range of agencies, the rationale and justification of such
allocations and criteria as regards optimal use of limited resources may get diluted;
transparency and accountability of budgets may also be compromised.

e)

Lack of Resources: Lack of resources is a major reason for governments inability to

provide adequate allocation for education. Domestic resource mobilization (tax-GDP ratio),
which account for almost 90 per cent of total education financing in Bangladesh, is one of
the lowest (only 9.6 per cent of GDP) in the world. To make matters worse, the ratio has been
declining in recent times. Apart from a few isolated years, the government missed its revenue
collection targets for most years, which made it much harder to allocate additional resources
for education. Foreign aid as a source of financing education has also lost ground in recent
15 | P a g e

times. Concerned ministries related to education and local government has only a very
limited capacity to generate their own resources. Cross country data of 26 countries suggests,
there is a strong correlation between domestic resource mobilization and budgetary
allocation for education. Lack of resources is often cited as a major reason for governments
inability to provide adequate allocations for education. Curiously, over the last five years,
between FY2011 and FY2015, the public expenditure had never reached the target level. For
example, in FY2015, the budget deficit was Tk. 9,893 crore lower than the target; this was
equivalent to about 31.3 per cent of total budget for education.
Due to the hierarchy of quality among different types of institutions, a small proportion of
mostly urban institutions meet acceptable standards for educational provisions and facilities.
Our national budget does not have any provision to remove this sort of inequity.

f)

In Bangladesh the students are more focused on private tutoring rather than school

teaching. As a result the student who cannot afford private tutoring faces enormous troubles.
At the same time the level of education drops due to less concentration at the school level.
The national budget is yet to solve this issue.

g) Low teacher-student ratio particularly in science and mathematics and inadequate qualityenhancing training facilities for teachers affect the quality of education. The national budget
is yet to solve this issue.

h) The growth rate of the students enrolled in TVET (Technical and Vocational Education
and Training) has increased but it is volatile and still remains low. The proportion of students
enrolled in TVET increased from 0.4% in 2001 to only 1.8% in 2013. According to
UNESCO (2013), the global average for proportion of secondary school people enrolled in
skills development programmes in the year 2010 was 11%. The government plans
emphasizes increase in enrollment of secondary level students in TVET, but the national
budget 2016-2017 is yet to provide any specific plans for the development in this sector.

i)

Deficiency in basic facilities, teaching-learning materials and aids and basic amenities,

ineffective teaching-learning practices and style were reported as other potent barriers to
TVET course effectiveness. Empirically, it was found that the rural young people (31.1%)
16 | P a g e

were facing the problem more than the urban youth (24.4%). Girls in both rural and urban
areas were suffering more compared to the boys. The national budget should have included
the procedure of eliminating these sorts of deficiency.

j)

In the national budget there are inadequate physical infrastructure acts that may be

considered as a barrier to participation for skills development training.

k) Access to education in hard-to-reach areas is still a major drawback. One-fifth or more of

the non-government schools & madrasas are still in hard-to-reach areas. The figure was
recorded at 16.4% in case of the non-formal primary schools and only 8% for the
government primary schools.

L)

The following issues that were included in the 7FYP (The 7th Five Year Plan) of the

government are not clear that how these targets will be achieved in the national budget:
1) All primary schools to have at least 1 and all secondary schools to have at least 3
multimedia classrooms;
2) 30% of primary schools and 100% of all secondary schools to have an ICT
laboratory
3) To provide leadership training to head teachers
4) Increase higher education rate from 12% to 20%
5) Establish at least one primary school in the villages that have none
6) The ratio of teacher and students in primary education to be 1:30 by 2018
7) To provide non-formal education to diverse types of children deprived of education,
like un-enrolled or dropout children and hard-to-reach children to enhance their
employability and productivity through skill training.

M) Current level of budgetary allocation for education is, by any standard, well below than
what is required

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As % of GDP, education budget in Bangladesh is one of the lowest (1.9%)

Ranked 155 out of 161 countries (data for 2012/2013)
Also lower than its other South Asian counterparts
Allocation for education as % of total budget, in Bangladesh is also not
significant
Ranked 81 out of 155 countries (data for 2012/2013).

N)

The following three obstacles in the budget may be considered as damaging for the

sustainability of providing quality primary education for all:

a) Inadequate resources,
b) Management capacity and
c) Lack of commitment

O) Inadequate Allocation of Finance: Allocation of finance to priority education areas is

less than adequate. Allocations for quality of education, promotion of market-responsive
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TVET and educational access to hard-to-reach areas as well as for people who are
marginalized and disadvantaged remain inadequate vis--vis the expected outcome targets.
As is widely known providing quality education is a heavily labor intensive enterprise.
Teachers salary account for up to 80 to 90 per cent of the total expenditure in education.
Operational or recurrent expenditure for teachers should not be considered as non
developmental or inappropriate expenditure. Utilization of allocated scarce resources for
education falls short of the needed level. It was also found that, government agencies
responsible for implementing the budget for education are often not being able to fully utilize
their respective allocations. Indeed, incidence of leakages and misuse of funds is particularly
observed in activities related to distribution of education-related SSNPs, and implementation
of development projects.

P) The share of the education sector budget both as % of the GDP and the total
budget is declining. Education budget both as % of total budget and GDP is
projected to decline further in FY17 and FY18. Growth of education budget was
highly volatile and dropped significantly in FY16 while it is projected to increase
marginally in FY17 and FY18.
Education budget as %of GDP and total budget

Growth

in

education budget

q)

On a positive note, development budget for education has been increasing

proportionately since FY2010, but decreased again in FY2016

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Development vs. Non Development Allocation

The current study selected 12 priority projects of ADP for closer scrutiny and find
out whether these projects got enough allocation to get completed by FY16
Among these 12 projects, half of the projects are supposed to be
completed by FY16
PEDP-III, which is also scheduled to be completed by FY16 has only 59%
possible completion rate suggesting a further time extension.
However, as per project profile, the project timeline has extended to December
2017

r) Budgetary

allocation for education-related SSNPs (Social Safety Net

Programme) remains inadequate:

- The share of education-related SSNP budget as % of total SSNP budget has
been on declining trend since FY13
- Allowance amounts for SSNPs were unchanged (in nominal value)
- Stipend for primary students which is Tk. 125 was unchanged since 2003
the real value now is about Tk. 50
- Coverage of major education related SSNPs also remained stagnant or
even suffered some erosion over the last six years, except in school feeding
programme.
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s) Disguised allocations, under education head, going to a number of

government

entities,

are

often

not

well-documented

and

well-

scrutinized: Apart from the two core Ministries (MoPME, MoE), there are at least
five other agencies (MoD, MoRA, MoSW, MoWCA, MoYS) that also receive
allocation from the national budget for education-related purposes. When
education resources are channeled through a diverse range of agencies, the
rationale and justification of such allocations and criteria as regards optimal use
of limited resources may get diluted; transparency and accountability of budgets
may also be compromised

5.1.3 Recommendations
Addressing the aforesaid challenges will not be an easy task, particularly in a country such as
Bangladesh, which has one of the lowest revenue-GDP ratios globally; and these challenges
cannot be solved over a short span of time either. In order to establish an equity-focused
quality education system which would help sustain the impressive recent gains in terms of
human capital accumulation and in view of the emerging and growing needs of the education
sector, Bangladeshs budgetary policies and priorities will need to significantly change.
Addressing these tasks is the key to propelling Bangladesh to a higher stage of development
through enhancement and advancement of its human capital. Keeping this in the purview, the
present study has put forward a set of recommendations for consideration by the
policymakers.
Recommendation 1:
The Budget Allocation for the Education Sector should be Enhanced
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It is important that a comprehensive review is undertaken with a view to enhancing

budgetary allocations for education sector. The government needs to chalk out a plan in this
context which is then gradually realized over a period of time. The plan will need to set the
target of allocating 6 per cent of the GDP for education. The government needs also to set out
a plan to raise the proportion of GDP available for the public education budget to at least 4
per cent, and eventually to 6 per cent (and/or 20 per cent of the national budget). The
education budget planning ought to be informed by the aspiration of attaining the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and 7FYP targets.
Recommendation 2
Align 7FYP and sectoral education-related targets with the SDG4
Coherence between 7FYP and the SDG targets is important. This is particularly relevant to
ensure appropriate distribution of budgetary allocations. Relevant objectives and policies will
need to be backed by a set of quantifiable annual targets (indicators). Adequate resources will
need to be invested to monitor these indicators. The exercise to enact a new education law is
a good opportunity to improve the legal framework for some of these targets, provided that
the law reflects priorities pertaining to education.
Recommendation 3
Improvement of Teaching Quality through Budgetary Measures
The 2030 Agenda has called for quality education which critically hinges on availability of
adequate human resources and skilled teachers. By far the largest expenditure item in
education is on account of the teaching personnel. Budgetary measures have to provide for
ensuring adequate numbers of teachers and optimum teacher-learners ratio. This would raise
the productivity of the largest education budget head. In addition to improving current inservice training of teachers, measures have to be taken to make teaching an attractive first
career choice for talented young people.

Recommendation 4
Fund non-formal alternatives for out-of-school children more effectively

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A second opportunity programme must be a part of the key strategy of universal primary
education up to grade 8, but this can work only if a partnership is built with non-government
actors such as the non-government organizations (NGOs). As is known, NGOs that have a
proven track record of commitment and capacity in this area. For the sustainability of nonformal primary education (NFPE), the envisaged move from current donor dependence to
domestic sources of financing should be the subject for close scrutiny.
Recommendation 5
Invest in TVET on a priority basis
Taking the rising demand for skilled workers in both domestic and global markets into
cognizance, more investment for TVET has to be a top priority. The TVET policy will need
to consider the required self-employment skills, as also types of skills required for
Bangladeshs growing manufacturing sector. Hence the TVET policy and its finances need to
take cognizance of other relevant macroeconomic policies including trade and industry
policies of Bangladesh.
Recommendation 6
Provide adequate allocation for the education-related SSNP
Education needs of the poor, disadvantaged and marginalized groups including persons with
disabilities, and those of indigenous people, will need to be considered in allocating funds. It
is important to review and revise, on a regular basis, the allowances for education-related
SSNPs. Implementation of the recently adopted National Social Security Strategy (NSSS) is
an important first step towards attainment of these objectives and allocations should be
aligned with the NSSS.
Recommendation 7
Put concerted efforts towards generating resources
The budget plan for education needs to be backed up by concerted efforts towards raising
finance. Domestic resource mobilization is key to raise adequate allocations for education.
With the low revenue-GDP ratio as it is, it is unlikely that significantly increased resources
will be available for education. Raising the revenue-GDP ratio will require increase in tax
compliance, broadening of tax base, plugging the loopholes and putting in place good
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governance practices. An ideal scenario that could improve adequacy of education resources
in Bangladesh would be through significant enhancement of revenue-raising capacity of local
government bodies (union and upazila councils, municipalities, and city corporations). In the
meantime, pragmatic measures should be considered to generate dedicated resources for
investment in education perhaps, an education cess (taking into account the positive and
negative lessons from India in this connection).
Recommendation 8
Redesign foreign aid strategy for education
Bangladeshs foreign aid strategy for education will need to be redesigned in view of the
7FYP and the SDG targets. There is hardly any doubt that external assistance will be an
important source for financing education, in spite of Bangladesh being a (lower) middle
income country, at least till 2030. It is important that Bangladesh remained engaged in
dialogue with the traditional and new development partners on a continuing basis in view of
attaining the SDG 4 agenda. External assistance has to be aligned with national priorities and
strategies, which in turn should be designed through broad-based stakeholder participation.
Recommendation 9
Emphasize efficacy of resource utilization to attain the envisaged outcomes
It is important to raise the efficacy of resources going to the education sector. Good
governance should be established in the education sector, as well as other sectors. Proper
implementation of development projects will depend on timely completion, and avoidance of
wastages and cost overrun. If more resources are to be earmarked for the education sector,
and these are to be then appropriately used, it will be extremely important that capacities of
concerned institutions are significantly raised.

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Chapter 6
Conclusion
Bangladeshs ambition is to have high quality education that will be a key driver in a skills
and productivity driven economy. As is known, a new Education Act is expected to be
enacted soon; the Act should reflect this aspiration. The law needs to be finalized by keeping
in the purview the broad objectives of establishing a rights and equity-based education
system in Bangladesh. However, it is important to recognize that the proposed Act itself can
only outline the broad guidelines; the Act will need to be specified by appropriate follow-up
rules and regulations. The enacted law must be backed up by the capacity and motivation of
the people responsible for implementing these provisions and ought to be supported by
strong political commitment and accountability. Finally, implementation of the aforesaid Act
and attainment of the envisaged education-related targets will critically hinge on appropriate
prioritization of tasks, allocative efficiency and high efficacy of allocated resources.

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References
1. Ahuza, H.L (2014): Managerial Economics 8th revised edition.
2. http://www.cpd.org.bd
3. http://www.nbr.gov.bd/budget
4. http://archive.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2016/jun/02/budget-glance
5. http://www.mof.gov.bd

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