Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Dec 31) said her government wants to form an international standard education system in Bangladesh following the curriculum of world-renowned educational institutions. "We will give money whatever needs in education. There are renowned international universities - We have to see how they teach. What curriculum and which method do they follow? We want to establish international standard education system in Bangladesh," PM said. The premier said this while opening free textbook distribution programme at an event at her office through handing over books to students of pre-primary, primary and secondary levels in the morning. PM Sheikh Hasina said she wants to develop a nation with modern technology-knowledge-based education as she desired that students get such education from an early age. So, her government is giving importance to technical education and vocational training, she said. "We want to build a nation with modern-technology-knowledge-based education. We've already done everything for that," she added. Mentioning that the present era is the age of modern technology and knowledge, Sheikh Hasina said, "We will never be left behind. We have to keep pace with other countries. so we want our boys and girls to learn technology from early age." PM added, "We want our country to keep pace with the world. That is why we have to change our education curriculum." Referring to a quote of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the prime minister said Bangabandhu didn't consider the cost of education as an expenditure rather he used to think it a kind of investment. Calling on the students to pursue study attentively, she said life becomes failure without education as there may be wealth with many things but education is one thing that no one can take away. "We want to build the nation with versatile education. To build the smart Bangladesh, we need smart skilled population the most," she continued. Highlighting the importance of education to get rid of poverty, the head of government said they want to make Bangladesh a poverty-free country.   "Only education can make a country free from poverty. That is why we have given the most importance to education," she said. At the textbook distribution ceremony on the eve of 2024, Sheikh Hasina wished all a Happy New Year-2024. With Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni in the chair, Deputy Minister for Education Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury delivered the welcome address. Since 2017, the government has been distributing braille books among the blind students alongside handing over books in Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Garo and Sadri languages to the children of minority ethnic groups to facilitate them to study in their mother tongue.

Bangladesh’s leading business daily, The Business Standard (TBS) celebrates its second anniversary of print run today. “Two years is just a tick in the timeline of a newspaper, and yet it is long enough to bring a change to the industry. The Business Standard has just proved that,” The Business Standard editorial board said. Maintaining Covid protocols, an in-house celebration function was organised at the news platfrom’s office at the capital’s Eskaton Garden area on Thursday. Editor Inam Ahmed, Executive Editor Sharier Khan along with the editorial board members were present during the event. Operating in both online and print, The Business Standard emphasises on visual storytelling too. In its two year stint, the news platform has tried to adhere to those values and is determined to continue doing in the years to come. “We have told the story just as it should be. We have explained with the best of our ability. We have made the stories alive with our graphics. And the readers have just loved it. We thank them for their fine judgement and depth of understanding,” editorial board added. “Covid-19 pandemic has been hard on every as it was on everybody else. Many of us including those in our organisation have lost their dear ones. Our deep condolences for them. The only answer to this devastating pandemic is to emerge stronger, all of us, together, and be victorious,” it further said. Led by seasoned journalists and backed by The Horizon Media and Publication Ltd, the news platform aims to promote good governance and best practices in business and economy. The Business Standard puts an extra emphasis on business news – while also covering general news, sports, features and entertainment. The platform also provides selective international news and analysis from Bloomberg, Reuters, Foreign Policy, Project Syndicate and Hindustan Times. “We will launch our journey in the third year with more creativity and ideas for the values we believe in,” the The Business Standard editorial board wrote. AH

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Wednesday) told the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) that the government aims to set up an international standard vaccine institute to tackle different viruses, including Covid-19, alongside formulating a vaccine guideline.        “The present government has a plan to set up an international standard vaccine institute to produce vaccines and formulate a vaccine guideline aiming to tackle different viruses such as coronavirus,” she said.       The premier revealed it while replying to a tabled question from Awami League Lawmaker Anwar Hossain Khan of Laxmipur-1 constituency.       Highlighting the benefits of the vaccine institute, she said once the institute is established in the country, it will ensure vaccine production, training on related research and technical assistance as well as enhance the capacity of local vaccine producing firms.       Moreover, the management of vaccine production, application and standards will be further time-befitting, she opined.         Sheikh Hasina said the institute will also ease the production of newly developed vaccines in the country upon the technology transfer, which will ensure the availability of vaccines at cheaper rates in the country.        She further said the establishment of the institute will also pave the way for attaining WHO-prequalification for the new vaccine that might help in expanding foreign market of the vaccines produced in Bangladesh.         Highways Development:         Answering another question from Jatiya Party lawmaker Syed Abu Hossain from Dhaka-4 constituency, the Prime Minister said a total of 9330km highways were expanded, including renovating 7320km highways, in the country from 2009 to June 2021.         In this period, some 357 development projects were implemented under the Roads and Highways Department, she added.         She informed the House that a total of 632km national highways were upgraded to four-lane ones from 2009 to June 2021, while the service lanes were constructed on both the sides of 1053km national highways across the country.        Dredging Master Plan:        The Prime Minister said her government has made 10,000km of waterways navigable through dredging 178 dried or almost dead rivers in the country.         Besides, they have collected 38 dredgers and 168 dredging auxiliary vessels, she said.        She added the government has adopted a dredging master plan in a bid to smooth operation of water vessels on the river routes through increasing navigability of the country’s big and small rivers.        Sheikh Hasina continued that BIWTA has taken a programme to create the navigability of some 10,000km waterways by carrying out dredging in 178 rivers under the master plan. Source: BSS AH