WB moved by Bangladesh’s generosity to Rohingyas

Kristalina Georgieva, the World Bank’s (WB) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said that the support Bangladesh has been providing to about a million Rohingya refugees is extremely generous. 

Reaffirming WB’s continued assistance to Bangladesh, the CEO appeals to Bangladesh to achieve an upper-middle income status through a “green growth strategy”.

“I am most impressed by the resilience of the people of Bangladesh, and their determination to attain a better future for their children,” said Georgieva on her visit to ‘Ananda School’, a learning centre that brings poor and underprivileged drop-out children back to primary education.

“This has been the driving force that made Bangladesh a low-middle income country from one of the poorest nations at birth, only within four decades,” she added, while wrapping up the two-day visit to Bangladesh on Thursday.  

The World Bank is giving its support to the ‘Ananda School project’ in which 690,000 poor, underprivileged, and drop-out children have been enrolled; half of the students being girls. Ananda Schools, in Bengali, means “school of joy”. To cover the poorest, children living in slums in 11 city corporations have been enrolled in the project.  

In Cox’s Bazar area, the program is providing learning opportunities to Rohingya children and helping the dropped-out youths of the community.

Dealing with climate change is another development priority for Bangladesh.  

With active community participation, the country has improved preventive measures in this regard; this include setting up of early warning systems and establishment of cyclone shelters, as well as, evacuation plans, coastal embankments, reforestation schemes and increased awareness and communication. 

The World Bank has supported these measures, said a WB press release, adding: These have reduced deaths in major storms.