Govt approves proposal to provide education in Rohingya camps through Unicef

The government has approved a proposal to procure education services through Unicef to improve pre-primary and primary education for forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals (Rohingyas) living in Cox's Bazar and Bandarban districts, as well as Bhasan Char in Noakhali.

The approved proposal involves an expenditure of Tk203.87 crore, which will be implemented with funding from the government (GoB) and a World Bank grant.

The approval was given at a meeting of the Advisers Council Committee on Government Purchase held at the Secretariat yesterday (3 February).

The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education placed the proposal before the committee.

The service procurement will be carried out under the SD-4 package of the project titled "ISO Component-One: Pre-Primary and Primary Education Improvement Project in Cox's Bazar and Bandarban Districts and Bhasan Char of Noakhali."

According to meeting sources, the initiative under Component-1 of the project aims to engage forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals in productive activities and help them acquire skills in their mother tongue through structured education services.

To this end, Unicef was invited under a single-source procurement method to submit a proposal for implementing the education programme.

Following the submission, the proposal was jointly reviewed, evaluated and negotiated by the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) and the World Bank's education team.

After completion of the negotiation process, a proposal was placed seeking approval to award the package to Unicef at a cost of $18.45 million, equivalent to Tk203.87 crore, based on the Development Project Proforma (DPP) exchange rate of Tk110.502 per US dollar. The committee subsequently approved the proposal.

The project was earlier approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on 28 May 2024. Its implementation period has been fixed from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2027.

Under the agreement, the World Bank will directly disburse the entire $18.45 million (Tk203.87 crore) to Unicef in US dollars.

Sources noted that while the approved DPP initially stipulated implementation through open tendering, the decision to engage Unicef was taken in line with the conditions of the World Bank's grant and loan agreements.

Under the package, a total of 256,490 Rohingya students will receive education support in the Myanmar language. To deliver the programme, 4,106 volunteer teachers will be recruited during the first 12 months, followed by an additional 3,700 volunteers over the subsequent six months.

The recruited teachers will receive honorariums at rates determined under the project framework.