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School banking grows higher despite pandemic

Talukder Farhad
09 Mar 2022 00:00:00 | Update: 09 Mar 2022 00:05:13
School banking grows higher despite pandemic

School banking witnessed huge responses from students across Bangladesh in 2021 as deposits with the banking accounts crossed Tk 2,200 crore at the end of December despite educational institutions having largely remained closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The central bank’s latest data shows that a total of Tk 2,217 crore was deposited with 28.26 lakh school banking accounts as of December 2021.

In comparison, there were 10.34 lakh school banking accounts with a total deposit of Tk 844 crore back in 2015.

Between 2015 and 2021, accounts and deposit volume climbed by 173 per cent and 163 per cent, respectively.

Despite the fact that the number of such accounts and their deposit volume fell last year compared to 2020, the country’s scheduled banks continue to witness an overall improvement.

In 2020, the growth rate of new accounts and deposits was 36 and 19 per cent respectively, which declined to 7.85 per cent and 15.36 per cent in 2021. 

Talking to The Business Post, bank officials concerned said that the growth of school banking accounts and deposits slowed down last year mainly because of the pandemic.

They also attributed the general growth in school banking over the last six years to the rising student-parent awareness.

Dutch-Bangla Bank, the lender with the highest number of accounts opened under the school banking programme, has continued to keep its focus on school banking despite the pandemic, said Managing Director Abul Kashem Md Shirin.

Shirin explained that guardians deposit funds in school banking accounts on behalf of their sons and daughters with the aim of protecting them from future crises.

“Despite the pandemic, we have not shifted our attention away from school banking. We’ve persuaded the guardians that putting money in the bank will assist their children to have a good future “he stated

As per the latest data, the school banking service is more popular in the cities than in the rural areas as 15 lakh school banking accounts were opened in the cities against 13.26 lakh accounts in the rural areas.

Banking is also more popular among male students than female students as 15.53 lakh school banking accounts were opened by male students against 12.73 lakh by female students.

The central bank introduced school banking in 2010 as a part of its efforts to widen financial inclusion and make students financially literate.

The scheme aims to instil the habit of savings into students and make them more efficient in money management.

So far, 55 banks have rolled out school banking operations, allowing students aged 11 years to 17 years to open accounts.

The accounts come with a number of advantages, such as waivers on fees and charges, free internet banking, lower minimum balance requirement and debit card availability at lower costs.

Accounts can be opened with a minimum deposit of Tk 100.

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