<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said changes are being made in the curriculum as the government wants to develop international standard education system in Bangladesh.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“We want our country to move, keeping pace with the world. This is why the changes are being made in the curriculum (of the educational institutions),” she said while opening the free textbook distribution among students up to the secondary level for the academic year of 2024.</div><div><br></div><div>She opened the textbook distribution programme at an event at her office through handing over books to students of pre-primary, primary and secondary levels in the morning.</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina said she considers expenses against education as investment. “We'll allocate whatever needed for education,” she added.</div><div><br></div><div>“How do the internationally renowned universities teach, and what curriculum and what method do they follow? We want to create that international standard education system in Bangladesh,” She went on.</div><div><br></div><div>She put emphasis on the practical learning-based education to create employment opportunities in the country.</div><div><br></div><div>The PM said she wants to develop a nation with modern technology-knowledge-based education and that from an early age and for this reason her government is giving importance to technical education and vocational training.</div><div><br></div><div>“We want to build a nation with modern-technology-knowledge-based education. We’ve already done everything for that,” she added.</div><div><br></div><div>The prime minister called upon the students to study attentively to develop them properly.</div><div><br></div><div>“We want to build the nation with versatile education. To build smart Bangladesh, we need a smart and skilled population the most,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Putting the importance of education to get rid of poverty, she said, “We want to make Bangladesh a poverty-free country. Only education can make a country free from poverty. That is why we have given the highest importance to education.”</div><div><br></div><div>Sheikh Hasina wished all a Happy New Year on the eve of 2024.</div><div><br></div><div>The ministries concerned have taken necessary steps to distribute 30,70,83,517 copies of new textbooks among 3,81,28,324 students this year throughout the country.</div><div><br></div><div>The textbooks have already been sent to upazilas in the country.</div><div><br></div><div>The government has so far distributed over 464,78,29,883 free textbooks among students up to secondary levels across the country since 2010.</div><div><br></div><div>Since 2017, the government has been distributing braille books among the blind students alongside distributing Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Garo and Sadri version books among the small ethnic students to study in their mother languages, reports UNB.</div><div><br></div><div>With Education Minister Dipu Moni in the chair, State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Jakir Hossain spoke at the function, while Deputy Minister for Education Mohibul Hassan delivered the welcome speech.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>