Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said now the government’s focus is on ensuring quality education and making it multifaceted one for building qualified future leaders so that the country could cope with the pace of global progress.

‘We’ve given utmost importance to the improvement of the standard of education standard alongside making it multifaceted one so that we may have qualified future leaders,’ she said.

The Prime Minister said this after receiving the results of HSC and equivalent examinations from Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid at her official residence Ganobhaban.

Greeting the successful students, Sheikh Hasina advised them to be more attentive to their regular academic studies to develop themselves as the country’s worthy citizens since they will have to lead the nation in the future.

The Prime Minister said today’s brilliant students will one day be scientists and most renowned officers of the administration, and hold other key positions in the coming days.

Referring to the government’s aim of establishing a poverty- and hunger-free Bangladesh, the Prime Minister said an educated nation is a must to materialise the goal, as development is not possible without education.

Raising the issues of militancy, terrorism and drugs addiction, Hasina urged all concerned, including teachers, guardians and parents, to remain alert so that their children cannot get involved in any terrorist acts and in drug addiction.

She noted that children are hardly attracted to science education, the Awami League government, during its 1996-2001 tenure, had approved 12 Universities on Science and Technology to attract the new generation to science education.

‘Later, steps were taken to establish Medical University, Agricultural University and University on Textile, Fashion Design, as well as Digital University to make education multifaceted one,’ she said.

Besides, the Prime Minister said, the government introduced stipends and financial grants for the students up to postgraduate as well as for higher education in other specialised subjects to facilitate education keeping pace with the world.

Pointing at the relatively poor standard of the results of Comilla Education Board, the Prime Minister asked the authorities concerned to find out the root cause of the problem and take measures to address those.

Later, the Prime Minister talked to successful students, teachers, guardians and officials of Shariatpur and Lalmonirhat districts on the occasion through videoconferences from her official residence Ganobhaban.

Principal Secretary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, PMO Senior Secretary Suraiya Begum and Prime Minister’s Press

Secretary Ihsanul Karim were present. Secretary of the Secondary and Hgher Education Department Sohrab Hossain conducted the programme.

Earlier, the chairmen of the education broads separately handed over the results of their respective boards to the Prime Minister after the handover of overall results by the Education Minister.