Program to support quality secondary education and stipends for poorer students in the offing

The Secondary Education Access and Quality Enhancement Project (SEAQEP), which will provide stipends to both poorer boys and girls in secondary education, is now being prepared with the aim to be implemented from early July 2008.  A high level Task Force and a Project Preparation Team of the Government are working on the preparation based on inputs from consultation with stakeholders. The project will be supported by the World Bank.

The proposed SEAQEP will be implemented in121 upazilas.  Although a follow-up to the second Female Secondary School Assistance Project  (FSSAP II) of the Government which ends on 30 June 2008, the SEAQEP would include a number of new dimensions. It aims to provide targeted support to the poorer girls and boys; improve academic performance through incentive awards to students, schools and teachers; extend additional support to teachers and students in teaching and learning; provide water and sanitation facilities to retain girls in school and develop an effective monitoring and evaluation system.

FSSAP II has already helped more than eight hundred thousand girls with stipends that improved SSC pass rates for stipend girls from 39% in 2001 to 60% in 2007.  A training program has reached 19000 stakeholders, largely from the communities, while some 6000 institutions were brought under school management and accountability training program. The Mobile Training Resource Teams (MTRTs) pilot has shown positive results. A Family Attractiveness Program to identify out-of-secondary-school girls from very poor families living in remote and economically disadvantaged areas has been introduced under this program.
It may be mentioned here that Bangladesh is now a global leader in girl’s education, thanks to a Government stipend program since 1993 that supported female secondary education. The World Bank has been a keen supporter of the initiative from the start through interest-free credit.

November 2007

Contacts: Rezwan-ul-Alam,  815-9015, Ext 4242. E-mail:salam3@worldbank.org 
For more information on the World Bank in Bangladesh, please visit : www.worldbank.org.bd & www.worldbank.org