The President of the Central Committee of the Socialist Students Front, Mukta Barai, and General Secretary Raihan Uddin, in a joint statement to the media today, criticized the proposed FY2026-27 national budget for failing to prioritize education despite claims to the contrary.

The student leaders noted that the proposed budget allocates Tk 136,606 crore to the education sector, representing 14.56 percent of the national budget and around 2 percent of GDP.

However, according to the budget summary, only Tk 122,495 crore has been earmarked directly for the two education-related ministries, reducing the effective allocation to approximately 13.06 percent of the total budget.

While acknowledging that the allocation is higher than in recent years, they argued that the government is attempting to create the impression that education is receiving exceptional priority.

They pointed out that in Bangladesh's first post-independence budget of 1972-73, education received 21.16 percent of the national budget and was the single largest expenditure sector. Since then, allocations have steadily declined, fluctuating between 10 and 13 percent in recent decades.

Citing UNESCO recommendations, the leaders said countries should allocate at least 25 percent of their national budgets and 6-8 percent of GDP to education.

They reiterated the long-standing demand of the Socialist Students Front and the broader student community for allocating 25 percent of the national budget to education, a demand they say has once again been ignored.

The statement highlighted growing inequalities in the education system, rising educational costs, and the increasing dominance of private institutions. From primary to higher education, students face inadequate access to quality public institutions, while existing government schools suffer from shortages of teachers and infrastructure.

The leaders also criticized low teacher salaries, which they said have fueled the expansion of the private tutoring and coaching industry. They further expressed concern over inadequate research funding, warning that universities are increasingly being reduced to certificate-distributing institutions rather than centers of knowledge and innovation.

According to the statement, the budget discussion fails to present any concrete plan to address educational inequality, halt privatization, or resolve the sector's structural crisis.

Instead, they argued, government proposals emphasizing industry-academia linkages, mandatory technical and skills-based education from the sixth grade, and technology-driven learning reflect a narrow view of education focused primarily on producing skilled labor for the market.

"The government's failure to generate employment is being shifted onto individuals by labeling them as unskilled," the leaders said, alleging that education policy is increasingly geared toward meeting corporate demands and producing entrepreneurs rather than developing well-rounded citizens.

They stressed the need for a comprehensive restructuring of the education system aimed at ensuring universal access to education and producing productive, creative, innovative, modern, and humane citizens capable of meeting national development needs. Such a vision, they said, is absent from both the budget debate and the allocation framework.

"Only a fundamental transformation of the entire education system, accompanied by a budget that reflects that commitment, can ensure real progress," the statement said. "Otherwise, describing education as the nucleus of national advancement will remain nothing more than an empty slogan."

The student leaders called on the government to substantially increase education spending in the revised budget and make education the highest-priority sector.

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