Govt signs 5-year agreement with Nagad for primary stipend disbursement

The Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) has signed a five-year tripartite agreement with Bangladesh Postal Department and Nagad, a leading mobile carrier in Bangladesh, to entrust this state-owned MFS with the job of disbursing education stipends among primary school students.

Nagad will successfully distribute primary education stipends in a transparent way for the next five years – from current fiscal year 2022-23 to 2026-27 – based on their previous performance, reads a press release. 

Shah Rezwan Hayat, director general (Grade-1) of DPE, Md Saleh Ahammad, director (planning) of Bangladesh Postal Department, and Md Shafayet Alam, executive director of Nagad Limited, signed the agreement on their respective sides at the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education on Wednesday.

Secretary to Primary and Mass Education Ministry Farid Ahmed, Secretary to Posts and Telecommunications Division Abu Hena Morshed Zaman, Director General (additional duty) of Postal Department Md Harunur Rashid and Managing Director of Nagad Limited Tanvir A Mishuk were also present at the signing ceremony. 

Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar at the event said, "Reaching out stipends to mothers of students using technologies is a great job. I assure that Nagad will try its best to disburse education stipends flawlessly." 

"I think if the ministry takes an initiative that school authorities alert students' mothers so they do not fall into any traps, stipend disbursements will completely be faultless," he also said. 

Mustafa Jabbar added, "It is a day of great importance for Nagad because it has been assigned to disburse primary stipends for the next five [fiscal] years."   

State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Ministry Md Zakir Hossain said, "We have signed the five-year agreement with Nagad for stipend payouts. We will evaluate them too. There will be constant monitoring."   

Talking about the agreement, Tanvir A Mishuk, founder and managing director of Nagad Limited, said, "The school dropouts have reduced significantly because of government stipend disbursements. Many students and their guardians do not even know where such financial support comes."

"On behalf of Nagad, I want to tell people all over the country that the stipend comes from the Prime Minister," he added.  

According to the agreement, the government sets a target to disburse stipends among 1.3 crore primary students every year. The money is sent to mobile accounts of students' guardians through the Government-to-Person (G2P) payment system. Every year around BDT 2,000 crore is released from the operating costs earmarked in the annual budget.