By Naziur Rahman Sohel

DHAKA, August 4, 2026 (BSS) – The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) under the Ministry of Education has launched a set of initiatives to upgrade the education system into digital, modern and international standards in line with the election pledges of the incumbent BNP government.

The Ministry of Education has taken a set of outlines to modernise the education system, ensure quality education, administrative reform, transparency in transfer and appointment of teachers, climate adaptation, technological development, provision of free school uniforms and ensure physical and mental safety of students.

It is believed that these initiatives will lay the foundation for the transformation of education into non-discriminatory and smart education in education to make the DSHE a 'centre of excellence'.

DSHE Director General Prof Dr Khan Moinuddin Al Mahmud Sohel told BSS that in light of the Prime Minister's guidance and the specific plan of the Ministry of Education, the DSHE has taken the task of quickly implementing every promise of the election manifesto.

Among those, he said, digitisation is being given top priority to bring dynamism and 100 percent transparency to administrative work.

He said these initiatives will play a vital role in improving the overall quality of schools through the ‘Whole School Approach’.
 
“Our main goal is to ensure the quality of education in the classrooms and to develop students as skilled and humane citizens through a modern technology-based world-class education system,” he said.

Digital automation & administrative reform

Officials at the DSHE said administrative and financial powers have been decentralised at the director and deputy director levels to provide services to recipients in the fastest time and speed up administrative work.
 
In addition, the DSHE has been modernised to check all irregularities and documents missing in the letter receiving branch. At the same time, initiatives have been taken to upgrade DSHE's 'Education Management Information System (EMIS)’ by migrating it to the cloud through penetration testing and security audit.

The officials said as a result, issuing the Monthly Payment Orders (MPO) to non-government teachers, updating the Personal Data Statement (PDS) of government teachers, preparing vacancy lists and creating updated reports, including information on educational institutions, will be very easy and seamless.

Also, initiatives have been taken to modernise artificial intelligence-based chatbots, digital inventory software and official web portals and social media channels through in-house education cadre officers (ICT teachers) working in EMIS.

Transparent transfer process, administrative discipline

The DSHE officials said to remove the long-standing suffering of non-government teachers under MPO, an automatic transfer process has been started through dynamic software.

Separate software is being developed to formulate recommendations for appointment to other entry-level MPO posts. On the other hand, necessary initiatives have been taken to reinstate non-government teachers and employees who were unfairly dismissed in the last 17 years and provide them with due benefits.

In addition, strict legal action has been taken against teachers and employees having fake certificates to restore discipline in the education system.

Universal monitoring and 5 crore tree plantation

The DSHE officials further said to strengthen the security and round-the-clock supervision of educational institutions, the CCTV cameras of every school in the country have been connected to a central server. It will be supervised by the DSHE and the departmental monitoring cells.

On the other hand, a five crore tree plantation programme has been undertaken through the 'One Child, One Tree' programme to increase capacity in environmental and climate adaptation and create leadership among students. In addition, 88,000 trees have been planted simultaneously in 29,000 educational institutions across the country under the 'Learning Acceleration in Secondary Education Project’, which was recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

Innovation, e-learning and 6 new schemes

Under the SEDP programme, six new schemes including 'One Teacher, One Tab', expansion of scouting, development of college teachers, establishment of 'Shikshabid Institute', construction of new DSHE Bhaban and integrated student welfare programme have been prepared and proposals have been sent to the ministry.

In addition, initiatives have been taken to change the names and re-scoping of three schemes of the previous government to provide sports, debate, cultural competitions and free school bags.

Recently, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman awarded 101 best innovative initiatives selected from 8,029 initiatives across the country under the 'Education Excellence Support Scheme (EESS).

A total of 20 winning teachers have been made master trainers of the 'Game for Girls' project with support from UNICEF, which will develop 100 teachers and 500 students as educational game developers in the next three years.

Free school uniforms and 21 mega projects

According to the DSHE's outline, 21 new project proposals and 18 concept papers have been sent to the ministry for the overall transformation of the education system.

Those include providing free WiFi in all educational institutions, setting up multimedia classrooms, learning with happiness, compulsory third language education, technical education for all, providing free school uniforms, eliminating discrimination, improving education for those with special needs, separate education channels, and providing assistance to those injured in the 2024 mass uprising and anti-fascist movement.

The DSHE officials said the 'Digital Learning System' and 'Learn Math with Khan Academy' projects have been launched with support from JICA, BUET, Khan Academy and Sajeda Foundation to make the country's marginalised students proficient in mathematics and science.

A proposal to send education cadre officials to Japan for a month-long 'Education Policy Formulation' training with support from JICA has been sent to the Economic Relations Division.

In addition, a technical capacity survey of 471 secondary schools in the country is underway with the support from Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Prof Dr Mir Zahida Naznin, Director (Planning and Development) at DSHE, said 21 new project proposals and 18 more project concept papers have been sent to the Ministry of Education after the incumbent government assumed office.
 
“Most of these projects have been prepared in line with the government's election manifesto, which will ensure quality education and play an effective role in transforming smart education,” she said.

?According to the DSHE outlines, in addition to the 'Moner Bandhu' programme to protect the mental health of girl students and prevent suicidal tendencies, two programmes have been taken to develop educational institutions as 'Health Promoting Schools' as per the UNESCO's international standards.
 
Besides, initiatives have been taken to implement the Green School Curriculum, institutionalisation of moral and humanistic education, organising the 'Prime Minister's Gold Cup Football Competition' and implementing the 'School Nutrition Programme' on safe food and nutrition in a joint initiative with UNICEF.

At the same time, with the financial support from the governments of Norway, the Netherlands, Japan and Canada and in association with UNFPA, the Concerned Women For Family Development (CWFD) is implementing three projects in 880 educational institutions in 9 districts - Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Noakhali, Cox's Bazar, Bhola, Khagrachhari, Sunamganj, Sherpur and Kurigram.

The CWFD aims to empower adolescent girls, prevent child marriage, improve reproductive health services and ensure MHM-friendly infrastructures.