FINANCING FOR EQUITY
1. Overall Education Financing Mechanisms
2. Policies and Programmes to Provide Resources to Schools
3. Education Policies and Programmes to Provide Resources to Students and Families
4. Social Policies and Programmes to Provide Resources to Students and their Families
The State ensures free basic education (8 years) including one year of pre-primary education since 2008. The government covers facilities, teaching materials, teachers, and uniforms. For secondary education, more than 98% of secondary schools are non-government schools (including madrashahs) for which the Government pays 90% of the teacher and staff salary under the condition that they are registered with the government.
Household expenditure makes up a significant part of total education financing: equal to government expenditure in primary education, two-third of government expenditure in secondary education, and in tertiary education, household expenditure is higher than public expenditure. In primary education, expenses include: sports, transportation of government-supplied textbooks, examination fees, etc.
The central government through the ministry of finance initiates and coordinates the budget implementation process. The Ministry of Secondary and Higher Education and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education fill in the budget requirement according to their needs and based on the actual expenditure of the previous year using an ‘incremental’ or ‘line item’ budget method: a stable budget structure and adjustable budget lines that increase based on the previous year’s allotment. The resources for teachers’ salaries are based on the teachers and the fixed government pay scale. Budgets are not prepared on the basis of teacher-student ratios5, but on the basis of staffing patterns for teaching and non-teaching staff at each level of education.
In 2018, education expenditure represented 1.99% of the country’s GDP and 14.65% of the government’s expenditure. The school-aged population is of 60.5 million school aged people.
In partnership with the WFP and EU, this program targets areas based on poverty and educational performance and provides a hot meal to primary students. For the last 5-year education sector plan, the budget for this program was USD 230.4 million (BDT 19.5 billion) or 10.7% of the education sector plan allocation and sought to reach 2.7m children or 4.46% of the school aged population.
Special Education/ Inclusive education
The current program addresses only the needs of children with mild physical disabilities There are no specific targets for other excluded groups, such as linguistic minorities or children in extreme poverty. For the last 5-year education sector plan, the budget for this program was USD 2.9 million (BDT 250 million) or .013% of the education sector plan allocation.
Second Chance and Alternative Education
Targeted to children who never enrolled in school and those who have dropped out. This program seeks to reach 2.5 million students or 4.17% of the total school aged population. The program was estimated to cost USD 22.1 million (BDT 1.8 billion) or 1.03% of the education sector plan allocation.
No information was found.
It includes stipends or conditional cash transfer to students from poor families at primary level for both boys and girls and for girls only in rural areas at the secondary level8. The program seeks to increase the enrolment rate of children and to reduce the dropout rate. In 2013, 10.8 million (17% of school aged population) girls and boys at the primary level and rural girls at the secondary level received stipends.
The Stipend on Primary Education targets poor families who receive a stipend of USD 1.18 – USD 1.47 (BDT 100 -BDT 125) per month for sending one or more children to school. The conditionality relies on if the children attend school for at least 85% of the time and they get 40% in the final examination. In 2002, USD 108 million (BDT 6.5 billion) was allocated for this program. About 40% of primary school students receive stipends and the program amounts to about 66% of the government’s development budget.
The Stipend on Secondary Education seeks to increase the secondary school level enrolment of girls by providing stipends to girl students studying in Grades 6 to 10. The conditionalities are: attending school for at least 75% of the total school days, obtaining at least 45% on average in the final examinations, and remaining unmarried up until the SSC examination. Stipends for girls add up to about 33% of the government’s development budget.
Stipend for students with disabilities
It is a program of the Ministry of Social Welfare targeted to students with disabilities promoting their enrollment in general education institutions. Eligible students should be over 5 years old and have a school attendance rate of at least 50% and take the examination test.
The monthly stipend is of USD 3.53 (BDT) for primary, USD 5.30 (BDT 450) for High School Level, USD 7.06 (BDT 600) for College, and USD 11.77 (BDT 1000) for University. In 2016, the budget allocated for this program represented 0.11% of the social protection budget.
