Students are getting clothes-shoes-bags with stipend.After being stuck for a long time, about 14 million primary school students are finally going to get stipend money. Due to the coronavirus crisis, students will get money for 9 consecutive months before Eid. At the same time, for the first time, one student of primary school will get one thousand rupees for buying clothes, shoes and bags. For this, the duration of the project has been extended by one year.
On Tuesday, May 05, the director of the stipend scheme for primary education (third phase) Joint Secretary Md. Yusuf Ali said this and sent a letter to all the Upazila Education Officers across the country. There, he directed the Upazila Education Officers to upload the list of beneficiaries on Rupali Bank’s Sure Cash portal for disbursement of the third and fourth installments of the stipend by May 14.
The letter said the benevolent government wants to send the stipend money to the beneficiaries’ mobiles before Eid-ul-Fitr. Strict action will be taken against the concerned Upazila Education Officer if they fails to upload the list of stipend beneficiaries on Rupali Bank’s Sure Cash portal by May 14.
The letter from the project director further said that as per the promise of the Prime Minister, the students would be given a kit allowance of Tk. 1,000 for the purchase of clothes, shoes and bags under the project.
According to the Department of Primary Education, three months are paid together in each installment. This time the third and fourth installments of the 2019-2020 financial year are being paid together as there are six months of arrears.
The project expires in December. Primary students across the country have been deprived of stipends since October. This time the students are getting this money due to the personal intervention of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Last week, the Prime Minister extended the duration of the project till next June to facilitate poor students to get stipend money in this difficult time in Corona. The stipend was introduced to bring all children to school and prevent them from dropping out.
The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education also announced a fee of Tk. 500 per student for the purchase of new clothes, bags and shoes on the occasion of Mujibvarsha, the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation. The announcement was made last January. The students have not received this money so far. Now it has been increased to one thousand rupees.
There are 1 crore and 33 lakh students in 66,620 government primary schools in the country. All of them get stipends given by the government. They received the last stipend in September last year. It is believed that this money will be very useful for the students and parents who are in extreme financial straits in the country due to the fact that they are not getting any more money.
Dhaka Bureau Chief, May 06,2020