A programme to give free school uniforms to government primary-school pupils will be launched for the first time on 16 August.
State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj gave the information on Sunday (9 August).
Earlier, the government had presented a model for the new uniforms for government primary-school pupils — a frock for girls and a half-shirt with shorts for boys. Comfort, practicality and uniformity were prioritised in the design.
Bobby Hajjaj said the government is running various programmes to bring out-of-school children into education. To keep children in school, steps have been taken to provide free school uniforms and other support. The free uniform programme will be launched for the first time on 16 August.
The new uniform model was presented earlier, on 29 April, at an inter-ministerial meeting in the education ministry conference room. At that meeting, Education and Primary and Mass Education Minister Dr A N M Ehsanul Haque Milon said the uniforms would begin to be distributed free, as a pilot, in two schools per upazila from July.
The minister said then that various businesses had been approached to supply the necessary items and would donate according to their capacity. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has already pledged school bags, dresses and shoes for 100,000 pupils.
The meeting also heard that key stakeholders had discussed providing uniforms, bags and shoes to ensure coordinated support for pupils, with the aim of building a safe, orderly and equal-opportunity learning environment.
On the mid-day meal programme, Bobby Hajjaj said steps had been taken to correct the flaws and limitations identified during the pilot. A pilot’s success, he said, should be judged not only by how many it reached but also by what problems were identified during implementation and how effectively they were solved.
The government is running various programmes — uniforms, school bags, shoes and mid-day meals — to keep primary pupils in school and ensure a supportive, equal-opportunity environment, aiming to improve attendance and the learning environment.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report