Education, health outlay to rise 63%

The government is set to place education and health at the centre of its spending plan for the next fiscal year, with the combined allocation for the two sectors likely to rise by nearly 63 percent from this fiscal year’s revised budget.

According to budget documents, the two sectors are likely to get Tk 185,347 crore in fiscal 2026-27, up from Tk 113,921 crore in the revised budget for this fiscal year.

Education is likely to get Tk 122,495 crore from the Tk 938,000 crore-budget, up from Tk 85,867 crore, up 42.7 percent year-on-year.

Health is set to receive Tk 62,852 crore, up from Tk 28,054 crore this year.

Their combined share of the total budget may rise to about 19.8 percent next year, from about 14.5 percent in the revised budget this fiscal year.

Within education, priority has been given to primary schools, school meals, classroom improvement, technical and vocational education, madrasah infrastructure, government colleges, teacher training, university campuses and laboratories.

In health, the focus is on medicine and vaccine supply, upazila and district hospitals, union-level health centres, mother and child health centres, emergency medical services, e-health cards, cancer care, mental health and hospital waste management.

In education, the largest primary-level project listed is the Government Primary School Development Project, with a projected cost of Tk 14,061.12 crore.

Another major project is the Midday Meal Programme in government primary schools, with a projected cost of Tk 11,797.80 crore.

The primary education pipeline also includes Tk 3,821.46 crore for infrastructure development of existing model government primary schools and selected government primary schools in 10 city corporations.

Secondary and higher education includes Tk 1,500 crore for selected government colleges’ infrastructure development, Tk 1,000 crore for establishing new teachers training colleges in Bogura as well as for HSTTI and NAEM.

Technical education is also getting a push.

The Skill Up Bangladesh project has a projected cost of Tk 4,450 crore, while Tk 2,202.48 crore has been listed for capacity enhancement of 25 government polytechnic institutes.

In madrasah education, Tk 1,704.27 crore has been listed for qualitative improvement, Tk 741.07 crore for capacity expansion of independent Ebtedayee madrasahs and Tk 127.26 crore for regional madrasah teacher training institutes.

The university sector has also received a major push through land acquisition, campus development, building construction and laboratory projects.

The largest project in the list is Jagannath University’s second campus, with a projected cost of Tk 4,000 crore.

Khulna Agricultural University has two large projects: Tk 1,975.50 crore for its first-phase establishment work and Tk 1,581.11 crore for land acquisition and development.

The other major university allocations tracked in the ledger include Tk 3,429.31 crore for advanced research and development at Rajshahi University, Tk 149.67 crore for building renovation and structural preservation at Dhaka University and Tk 1,471.83 crore for BUET.

The other major university projects include Tk 1,573.60 crore for physical infrastructure and other facilities at Jamalpur Science and Technology University and Tk 1,297.22 crore for the first phase of permanent campus construction of Aviation and Aerospace University.

In health, planning documents show priorities beyond hospitals and buildings.

Under the “Sushasther Bangladesh” programme, the authorities plan to expand medicine and vaccine supply, upgrade upazila and district hospitals, introduce e-health cards, strengthen emergency medical and ambulance services, and improve safe water, sanitation and hospital waste management.

Planning documents show Tk 27,600 crore as a special allocation in the annual development programme for the manifesto-linked “healthcare for all” programmes.

Another Tk 7,854 crore has been proposed for a medicine and vaccine supply network, including a central cold-chain and storage system, while Tk 5,606 crore has been planned for infrastructure, equipment and furniture at secondary health institutions.

The plan also includes Tk 3,649 crore for 30,000 water sources and 25,000 sanitary toilets, Tk 162 crore for an e-health card pilot for 25 lakh people in Narsingdi, Sirajganj, Bogura, Noakhali and Khulna, and Tk 8 crore for a hospital waste management feasibility study.

The largest listed health project is the modernisation and expansion of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, with a projected cost of Tk 17,647.95 crore. Another Tk 2,987.99 crore has been listed for essential operations of the DGHS, DGDA and Community Clinic Trust.

Large medical college and nursing projects include Tk 1,408.43 crore for Naogaon, Tk 1,601.24 crore for Habiganj, Tk 1,470.83 crore for Magura, Tk 1,450 crore for Mymensingh and Tk 1,468.31 crore for Netrokona.

Major health infrastructure projects include Tk 2,727.72 crore for upgrading Union Health and Family Welfare Centres, Tk 1,329.53 crore for district-level mother and child health centres in 30 districts.