Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon on Wednesday announced closer monitoring and enhanced oversight to improve the quality of primary education, saying necessary steps will be taken to accelerate work and motivate all concerned.

“Education begins at the primary school level. So we must increase our focus right from the start. Without proper implementation of plans, it is not possible to achieve the desired outcomes,” Milon said while addressing a view-exchange meeting with officials at the Directorate of Primary Education.

The minister said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman holds a weekly review meeting on education every Saturday, where progress of the week’s activities must be presented. “Ensuring dynamism and accountability in the education sector is now a demand of the time.”

Referring to various demands and grievances of officials and employees, Milon said, “There will always be demands, and it is not possible to fulfil all of them completely. The reasonable ones will be addressed in phases. No one will be deprived.”

Expressing optimism that the BNP government would increase budget allocation for primary education, the minister said the sector is likely to receive a higher budget this time. Initiatives will be taken to resolve justified complaints through detailed discussions and effective decisions.

The minister also stressed the need to strengthen activities up to the field level, saying greater dedication from all concerned would help improve education standards. “We need to focus on what we have done, what should be done and how we can further enhance the quality of education.”

He further noted that previous projects undertaken by the Education Ministry would be evaluated to assess how far their missions and visions were implemented. While earlier initiatives placed relatively more emphasis on infrastructure development, the focus will now shift to ensuring quality education.

The meeting was chaired by Director General of the Directorate of Primary Education Abu Noor Md Shamsuzzaman and attended by senior and field-level officials of the department.