Midday Meals for All Primary Schools by Year-End
Education Minister A N M Ehsanul Haque Milon has announced that a Mid-Day Meal programme will be introduced in all government primary schools across Bangladesh within the current year. He also said arrangements would be made to provide school uniforms for children within the next three months.
The minister made the announcement while addressing the opening ceremony of the Primary School Gold Cup Football Tournament as the chief guest at National Bangla School in Mirpur, Dhaka, on Thursday morning, June 4.
Expressing the government's commitment to making education more enjoyable, Dr. A N M Ehsanul Haque Milon said, “During the tenure of the previous government, the student dropout rate increased alarmingly. Therefore, the current government is giving the highest priority to primary education. We will take all necessary measures, including integrating sports into the institutional curriculum, so that children can learn in a joyful environment while smiling, playing and enjoying themselves.”
He added, “According to our plan, no school will remain without meals. No school will remain without tables. No student will remain without a school uniform. We are ensuring all forms of comfortable learning facilities for them. We do not want to see children carrying bags filled with books. They will build the Bangladesh of tomorrow through joyful learning, play and healthy competition.”
Highlighting the scale of the tournament, the minister said, “I believe this event is a world record. More than 65,000 institutions are represented here. From among these participants will emerge the Messis of tomorrow. We are creating a safe environment for children from an early age and encouraging sports participation. We have already seen our women athletes achieve success at the Asian Games.”
The event was chaired by Primary and Mass Education Secretary Md. Sakhawat Hossain. Special guests included State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj and the Prime Minister’s Education Adviser Dr. Mahdi Amin. Director General of the Directorate of Primary Education Shahina Ferdousi delivered the welcome address.
Speaking as a special guest, Bobby Hajjaj said that today’s young footballers from primary schools would go on to represent Bangladesh in international competitions and bring glory to the nation on the global stage.
Prime Minister’s Education Adviser Dr. Mahdi Amin highlighted the government’s long-term vision for education, stating, “Children are the architects of tomorrow’s Bangladesh. We will develop the sports sector in such a way that sports can become not only recreation but also a profession. We want to modernize and make the education system more relevant to the times so that students can become skilled individuals and worthy citizens of the state.”
The tournament began at the union and municipality levels on April 6 this year. Students from 65,569 government primary schools participated in the competition. In the boys’ category, 1,110,814 players from 65,342 teams took part, while the girls’ category featured 1,103,291 players from 65,321 teams.
Following competitions at the union, municipality, upazila/thana, district and divisional levels, the divisional rounds concluded on May 23. The national phase officially began on Thursday, featuring eight divisional champion teams in both the boys’ and girls’ categories, for a total of 16 teams competing in the tournament’s final stage.
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