The government has taken up a massive programme for primary education with emphasis on teachers' training in English, so that students can better learn the language at an early stage.

Some 130,000 teachers and 1,144 trainers will be provided training in English at British Council under the "Fourth Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP-4)".

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday approved the Tk 44,654-crore programme, the biggest-ever project in the country's primary education sector after the Tk 22,196-crore PEDP-3 launched in 2011.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the project, stressing the need for giving utmost priority to children's learning English proficiently at the primary level.

She said steps should be taken to teach students a third language after English.

The country's primary education has seen significant progress in terms of enrolment.

Now the PEDP-4, the five-year project to run till 2023, focuses mainly on quality education as a number of teachers will be appointed and provided training in different courses.

As many as 165,174 teachers will be recruited under the programme in the next five years. They will be posted in the primary schools where a vast number of posts are vacant. About Tk 2,923 crore will be spent on their salaries and allowances, according to project documents.

Besides, 139,174 teachers will be given diploma in education (Dip-in-Ed) training and all teachers will receive subject-based training. Some 20,000 teachers will also be given one-year-long ICT training and 65,000 teachers will get leadership training, the documents say.

"Except some exceptions, almost all students are being enrolled to receive primary education. But the low success rate in some subjects, lack of professional efficiency and responsibility of teachers, poor educational environment and absence of decentralisation of primary education still exist," reads the document.

The PEDP-4 is expected to be successful in solving the problems, the documents add.

Besides, 2,590 assistant upazila education officers, upazila education officers and teachers will be given training abroad. Similarly, 35,000 officials under the primary and mass education ministry will receive training abroad.

The cost for these two training programmes would be around Tk 4,000 crore.

Some 200 teachers and officials will be facilitated to obtain foreign master's degree, the documents say.

Currently, there are eight separate projects under implementation by the primary and mass education ministry.

Under the programme, new school buildings will be constructed, water supply set up, and computer and ICT equipment will be bought. Besides, around 40,000 additional classrooms will be built and a separate primary education board will be established. Fresh drinking water will be supplied to 15,000 schools.

As many as 71,805 laptops, multimedia projectors and speakers will be bought at a cost of Tk 1,759 crore.

Ten development partners have assured to provide soft loans and grants for the project. Discussion on $700 million has been completed with the World Bank, while talks are going on with the ADB for $450 million. Besides, JICA and UNICEF have also assured of funding another $45 million.