Nagad to disburse primary school stipend

The Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) has signed a tripartite agreement with the Bangladesh Postal Department and Nagad, a leading Digital Financial Service, to disburse education stipends among primary school students.

Nagad will successfully distribute primary education stipends transparently for the next five years, from the fiscal year 2022-23 to 2026-27, said a press statement.

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

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

“I think, if the ministry takes an initiative that the school authorities alert students’ mothers so they don’t fall into any traps, stipend disbursements will completely be faultless,” he also said.

“It is a day of great importance for Nagad because it has been assigned to disburse primary stipends for the next five [fiscal] years.” the minister said.

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.”

“We hope Nagad will not be a reason for the pain that we previously experienced with bKash and SureCash.”, he added.

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

“On behalf of Nagad, I want to tell people all over the country that the stipend comes from the Honourable 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 Government-to-Person (G2P) payment system. Every year around Tk 2,000 crore is released from the operating costs earmarked in the annual budget.