Sheikh Hasina Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that eradication of poverty and access to education are needed most today as poverty and ignorance are major impediments to development. She said this in a write-up published in a European magazine which also carried articles of 75 other heads of government across the globe. According to a BSS report : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said her government is learning from its past experiences and at times from mistakes as “our past makes us stronger”. “We learn from our past experiences and at times from mistakes. Our past makes us stronger. Let’s keep in mind the lessons taught by our past and build our future based on what we have learned,” she mentioned in a write-up. “Let’s keep in mind that all that is ever important is the “now” in which we live in and all that is going to be important is the “tomorrow” that we leave for our children,” she added. The write-up titled “2015 is going to be a milestone in world history” was published in the prestigious New Europe magazine’s special edition, “Our World in 2015”, on January 7. The English-language weekly based in Brussels, Belgium is being published since 1993. Sheikh Hasina said: “As we are stepping into the New Year, we need to have an image of 2015 and also beyond.” The Prime Minister said the future is not entirely unpredictable and the best way to predict our future is to create it ourselves. “Our world in 2015 and post-2015 will be what we now dream it to be. How it will look will depend largely on what our actions are now. Our actions should therefore reflect our words and that is the only way we can predict and build a tangible future,” she said. Sheikh Hasina said: “Our vision for the world beyond 2015 should focus on people - on the aspirations and hopes of the people - in a just and a fair world. “This is largely steered by promoting a culture of peace, right to development, right for equal future, empowerment of people particularly women and the underprivileged, access to education for all, health and greater economic opportunities - thus ensuring a secular, progressive and democratic human society. Realising these visions depends on every human being of this world, public and government alike,” she said. “Poverty and ignorance are the greatest impediments to development and therefore eradication of poverty and access to education should remain at the very heart of contemporary development debate of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. With 60 million children still remaining outside schools, 75 per cent of them girls, and 1.3 billion people still living in extreme poverty, we can never really attain sustainable development unless we address these issues,” she added. The Prime Minister said her government has integrated the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) into the national five-year plans and also in its “Vision-2021”. “This people-centric vision aspires to transform Bangladesh into a knowledge-based, technology-driven Middle Income Country by 2021. We have already met or are on track to meet MDGs-1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Poverty has been reduced from 57 per cent in 1991 to below 25 per cent today,” she said. Sheikh Hasina mentioned that although the MDGs have been the most successful global anti-poverty push in history, the progress is uneven and unequal within and among countries and regions. “Over 1.3 billion people still live in utter poverty. As we reflect on the newer development challenges, poverty alleviation, therefore, should be the cornerstone of the Post-2015 Agenda,” she said. Acknowledging the fact that girls’ right to education is mandatory to combat different forms of discriminatory and harmful practices against them that are still prevalent in many societies in our world, she said every policy of the government is targeted towards removing obstacles to girls’ education and empowerment. “We made education free for our girls up to Grade Twelve and have plans to take it to graduate levels. Stipends and free meals for female students from poorer families have helped achieve gender parity in primary and secondary schools,” she said. She said in 2014 out of the 12.8 million stipend recipients including from the Prime Minister’s Education Trust Fund, 75 per cent were girls and 60 per cent positions in primary schools are reserved for female teachers. The Prime Minister said non-formal education measures have enabled girls who have dropped out of school to continue education and education receives the highest importance in our Women Development Policy that was formulated in 2011. “We have taken measures to set up six technical educational institutions only for girls. In addition to self-employment, skills training, collateral-free small loans are being offered to potential college-going women entrepreneurs,” she said. We have established in Chittagong the first Asian University for Women to promote higher education for girls from Asian countries. We have taken these measures keeping in mind our vision of the post-2015 world and our mission to play an active and equal role in the coming decade,” she added. In Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina said, the percentage of women is rising fast in all professions including politics, civil service, judiciary, armed forces, technical profession, aviation (pilots), sports including cricket, football and even mountaineering, as our girls have conquered Mount Everest. The Prime Minister noted that Bangladesh today is perhaps the only country in the world that has to its credit a female prime minister, female speaker of parliament, female leader of the opposition and a female leader and deputy leader of parliament. “Many western societies may not be able to match this. Our female workforce has risen from 24 to 36 per cent in the last three years contributing to our 6.2 per cent growth rate. Bangladesh is the second largest exporter of readymade garments in the world and 90 per cent of that entire global sector is laboured by our young energetic female workforce,” she said.
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