The government will form a separate pay commission for teachers from primary school to university levels aiming to restore their dignity, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said yesterday while unveiling a package measure for upgrading the education sector.

"We want to form separate pay commission and recruitment board for all the teachers," he said, adding that it's a 'time-consuming' matter to implement the major recipe of the Grand Alliance government.

The Education Minister made the disclosure to reporters after inaugurating a Tk 682 crore project titled 'Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project' at a city hotel. The new government is also going to frame an education policy that will be pro-employment compatible with the requirements of the local and international employers. "We have already started work," he told the function.

The Minister said they would provide stipends for the disadvantaged students in tea gardens, char regions, North Bengal and the Hill Tracts to prevent dropout in these backwoods.

He said 100 percent stipends will be provided to the students, up from the present 40 percent.

Releasing a finding, Nahid told his audience that about 42 percent students get dropped out from the stage of admission into class nine to the secondary school certificate examination.

He stressed more budgetary allocation in education sector to resolve such a problem.

The HEQEP will be implemented by the University Grants Commission (UGC) with financial support from the World Bank to enhance standard of education at university level. The UGC organized the function to launch the five-year project with its Chairman Prof Nazrul Islam in the chair.

Speaking as special guest, eminent academic Prof Dr AM Harun Ar Rashid asked the government to establish a central research institute and central library at Dhaka University for all the universities to boost the qualitative improvements.

"Politicization in the educational institutes still hampers producing quality students and researchers," he said and suggested that the government should learn the lesson from the four months in their tenure. Prof Dr Harun also stressed nanotechnology, ICT, global climate change research and genetic engineering in implementing the project.

UGC chairman Nazrul Islam said about the project that it is aimed at developing academic and research activities in higher studies.

"The project is designed to contribute to generating eligible and qualified human resources," he added.

Universities and their departments, faculties and institutes can now design their own projects to enhance teaching and research capabilities with Academic Innovation Fund under the project, the UGC chairman said.

World Bank representative Mohamad A Toure said the country has made significant strides both in primary and secondary education. Citing a single important instance of attainment, he said, "Bangladesh has achieved gender parity in its education."

The donor agency's representative suggested that to increase competitiveness of Bangladeshi students, both in local and global arenas, the country must take concrete steps to enhance university education.

Source: UNB, Dhaka