State minister for planning Zonayed Saki on Wednesday said that the government’s highest priorities in the next national budget would be the education and health sectors and employment generation.
At a pre-budget consultation, he also said that increasing investment in education to create a skilled workforce and achieve economic prosperity was one of the government’s targets.
Campaigners at the programme demanded at least 2.5 per cent of the gross domestic product or 20 per cent of the national budget as allocation for the education sector in the 2026-2027 financial year’s budget.
Bobby Hajjaj, state minister for primary and mass education, attended the event as chief guest.
He said that they would gradually upgrade primary education up to Class VIII.
Primary education will be made compulsory and free for children aged 4 to 13 years, he added.
The consultation on ‘Education Budget: Trends and Lessons’ was organised by the Campaign for Popular Education in the capital Dhaka.
Presenting the keynote, CAMPE deputy director Mostafizur Rahman said that the budget allocation for the education sector had gradually declined in recent years in Bangladesh, which was the lowest among the particular countries of Asia-Pacific region.
He also said that the utilisation of budget had declined from about 95 per cent to about 87 per cent in recent years due to procurement delays, weak annual development programme implementation and administrative bottlenecks.
CAMPE programme manager Abdur Rouf presented a memorandum with 21 demands, including at least 2.5 per cent of GDP or 20 per cent of the national budget as allocation for the education sector in the 2026-2027 financial year’s budget and an action plan to allocate 5 per cent of the GDP in the first three financial years and 6 per cent of GDP by phases in the five years of the present government for the education sector.
Attending the event as special guest, Zonayed Saki said that allocation of 5 per cent of GDP to education was a clear commitment of the government.
Currently the quality of education in Bangladesh is very poor, he said, mentioning that the government was putting emphasis on increasing the salaries of the teachers and their social dignity.
Bobby Hajjaj said that they had planned to introduce mid-day meal for all primary-level students in the next three years and close all coaching centres and guidebooks.
BRAC University professor emeritus Manzoor Ahmed said that year after year campaigners demanded increased allocation for education in budget, which all went in vain.
He urged the authorities concerned to form an education sector plan.
CAMPE executive director Rasheda K Choudhury said that there should be a close coordination between education and employment sectors.
As per the keynote, the government in the FY 2016-2017 allocated 14.38 per cent of budget or 2.49 per cent of GDP and in the FY 2025-26 allocated 12.1 per cent of budget or 1.53 per cent of GDP for the education sector.
In the FY2025-26, Tk 10,008 crore or 35 per cent was reduced from the approved annual development programme allocation for education and in the FY2024-25, Tk 10,399 crore or 11 per cent of the approved budget was reduced.
The budget allocation for education is the lowest in Bangladesh compared with that in Sri Lanka (1.97 per cent of GDP in FY 2025), Pakistan (2.7 per cent of GDP in FY 2025-26), India (3.5 per cent of GDP in FY 2025-26), Indonesia (4 per cent of GDP in FY 2025), Philippines (4.25 per cent of GDP in FY 2025), Afghanistan (4.3 per cent of GDP in FY 2025), Malaysia (4.5 per cent of GDP in FY 2025), Nepal (5 per cent of GDP in FY 2025-26) and Bhutan (7 per cent of GDP in FY 2025-26).
