This year, 7.5 lakh students across the country will get awards under the ‘Developing of the Reading Habit’ programme, according to project insiders.
Since 2010, Bishwa Sahitya Kendra (BSK) and Secondary Education Quality and Access Enhancement Project (SEQAEP) of the Education Ministry have been implementing the programme in schools and colleges to create “enlightened people”.
About 22 lakh students from 12,117 educational institutions under 250 upazilas took part in the DRH programme and appeared in the assessment tests this year and 7.5 lakh of them have been selected for awards in different categories as per the merit positions they secured in the tests.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Sunday handed over 11 lakh books to BSK President Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed at a ceremony at the BSK auditorium in the city for distributing those among the award winners of the DRH programme.
The SEQAEP organized the function with its Project Director Dr Md Mahamud-Ul-Haque in the chair. Secondary and Higher Education Division Secretary Sohrab Hossain and Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education Director General (DG) Professor Dr S M Wahiduzzaman addressed the function, among others.
Addressing the function, the minister urged the teachers to read more and ask the students to read creative books to boost their knowledge.
Referring to the country’s successes in the education sector, Nahid said many of the countries which took part in the recently held UNESCO General Conference in Paris lauded Bangladesh’s successes in the education sector.
“The number of female students in both secondary and higher secondary levels has crossed their male counterparts,” he said, adding that Bangladesh would be a model for the third world countries in advancing women education.
“We have achieved many successes in progressing the country’s education sector. Yet, improving the quality of education is still the main challenge for us and the whole world as well.”
Blaming that some teachers are involved in leaking out question papers, the minister said, “We will take measures to stop the offence”.
So far, over 83.34 lakh students have come under the DRH programme since its inception in 2010 with 94,640 readers at 1,000 educational institutions under 26 upazilas.
