PM Hasina suggests innovative financing mechanism to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has suggested devising innovative financing mechanism to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 4 that has 10 targets encompassing many different aspects of education.

“It is evident that the financing in education would be increased by a huge margin to achieve the ambitious targets of SDG 4. Despite substantial estimated increase in funding from domestic sources a wide financing gap will remain,” said Hasina.

The prime minister was speaking at an event on the international finance facility for education organised by the Education Commission at the UN Headquarters in New York on Monday.

To fulfil the goals, she said, “We must work together towards devising innovative financing mechanisms.”

Putting emphasis on partnership with the private sector for financing the SDGs, Hasina said, “Traditional aid will not be enough to fill the gaps in education financing. We must also engage with the private sector. The private sector should invest in education with rights based approach, with an aim to make education affordable to the mass rather than profiting from it, as quality education of workers would keep their business thriving.”

The international financial organisations too have responsibility to share the burden by providing more grants than loans to help countries achieve education goals, she said.

Urging the world community to invest in education to help secure peace for the future generation, the prime minister said, “Education is the strongest tool in ensuring sustaining peace. Let’s invest in education to help secure peace for our future generation.”

“When delivered well, education cures a host of social ills. For individuals, it promotes employment, earnings and poverty reduction. For economy, it spurs innovation and growth. And for society, it strengthens institutions and foster social cohesion.”

Lauding the efforts of organisations like Education Commission in securing such funds. Hasina said, “Development partners must keep the flow alive.”

In 2015, she said, when the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 was adopted at that time all were committed to ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all.

“Regrettably, about 263 million children in the world are out of school in the world. We’re alarmed at the report that 800 million children are predicted to lack basic skills globally by 2030.”

The key to success in attaining the Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 will be commensurate upon channelling resources in education and skill development sector, said the prime minister.

With this understanding, she said, Bangladesh has projected an allocation of Tk 867.2 billion for education sector in the country’s Seventh Five-Year Plan. In the current financial year, the prime minister said, it allocated 26.9 percent of the annual development programme in the education sector.

All these efforts, she said, have resulted in the rise of net primary enrollment rate up to 98 percent and brought dropout down to 18.8 percent.