The government plans to spend nearly Tk 21,900 crore on two projects to modernise classrooms in secondary and higher secondary institutions from January 2027 to December 2031, The Daily Star reported.
The larger project, costing Tk 18,505 crore and still under feasibility study, would install interactive digital panels in 100,000 classrooms across 10,000 institutions, provide 100 Mbps broadband to each, issue digital ID cards to teachers and students, and give teachers tablets and training in digital teaching.
The second, the Tk 3,397 crore NextGen Secondary Education Program, is awaiting Planning Commission approval. It would train 369,643 teachers and administrators and set up at least 2,100 ICT and AI labs, with robotics, 3D printing and machine learning equipment, in 1,050 schools. The Asian Development Bank is providing Tk 2,662 crore of the cost.
Experts urged caution. Dhaka University economics professor M Niaz Asadullah said, "Before committing Tk 21,900 crore, the government must explain how these projects will improve learning." Earlier evaluations found many laptops, projectors and lab devices supplied under past digital education projects unused or out of order.
Representative photo. Photo: Jubair1985, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
