Business Desk :
Experts at a discussion on Monday underscored the need for full use of funds allocated for the children in the national budget to build the future of Bangladesh.
They observed that the government is allocating funds for children through 15 ministries, but they are not able to use their full allocation.
They made the observation at a discussion on ‘Specific Allocation for Children is Essential in National Budget’ at Jatiya Press Club in the city.
Child Affairs Journalists’ Network (CAJN) and Urban Programme of the World Vision Bangladesh jointly organized the discussion.
Speaking at the discussion, State Minister for Planning State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam laid emphasis on taking initiatives for the development of children and properly implementing the initiatives.
“The government is allocating funds for children through 15 ministries. Allocation of fund is not big issue for us. Properly utilization of the allocated fund is big issue,” he added.
He said each part of the society will have to play roles to develop the children.
To develop the education environment of the children, DU Prof Dr Abu Yousuf said there should be a proper assessment of the condition of the education sector and then a formulation of a strategy categorizing the interventions into short, medium and long-term measures.
“The government now has a good database of millions of students’ mothers who receive the stipend money through the digial payment system. One strategy could be utilizing this database to identigy the affected students and families. Affected families with dropped out students could be incentivized to bring back students to the school,” he added.
Lawmaker and Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for the Women and Children Affairs Shabnam Jahan and Editor of the Daily Jugantor Saiful Alam attended the discussion as special guests while Deputy Director of the Field Programme Operation, World Vision Bangladesh Monju Maria Palma presided over the discussion.
