<div style="text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s leadership in Bangladesh’s "extraordinary education sector success" was praised at the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers held in London last week.&nbsp;</span><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bangladesh was commended for its recent achievements and transformations in the education sector, in particular for a stronger emphasis on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) over the past decade, leading to higher employment of young people in the private industry, greater access to IT education and lifelong learning on digital platforms as well as ensuring gender parity in primary, secondary and tertiary education.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury, who led the Bangladesh delegation at the 22nd CCEM, has recommended that it is time for the global south to make greater financial investments in both hard and soft infrastructure in the education sector.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also emphasized the need to build robust innovative partnerships with the private sector, international financial institutions, and global funds, said the Bangladesh High Commission in London on Monday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In his country statement, the Education Minister also briefed the Conference on the significant progress of Bangladesh in improving access to education, with efforts focused on enhancing quality and inclusivity across all levels of education.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said, “SDG 4 on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for our 60 million girls and boys and skill-based higher education for another 30 million has been at the heart of our Head of the Government Sheikh Hasina’s aspirations for an educated, healthy, inclusive and resilient Smart Bangladesh by 2041.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nobel Peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi addressed the event as the keynote speaker while the Education Minister provided an update of the SDG 4 progress on behalf of the Asian Commonwealth. He also co-chaired the ministerial roundtable on “Rethinking Education for Skills, Youth Employability, and Decent Work” with Gambia’s Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Minister Professor Pierre Gomez.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>