The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Local Government Adviser M Anwarul Iqbal yesterday said upazila election must take place before parliamentary polls even if the political parties oppose it.

"The political parties are against the holding of upazila election before parliamentary polls. But the upazila election shall be held before the national elections," he told reporters after coming out of the publication ceremony of a policy paper on 'Role of Local Government in Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)' in the city.

The Adviser made the remark a day after the Election Commission declared elections for some local-government bodies.

The Election Commission on Friday announced the schedule for election to four city corporations and nine municipalities on August 4, amid protests by major political parties who are demanding that the stalled parliamentary elections be held first.

Anwarul Iqbal also said the amendment to the Upazila Parishad Ordinance has been completed and it is now awaiting approval of the President. He wondered why political parties do not want local elections before the parliamentary one.

"The people want local-body elections before the parliamentary elections. But the political parties are saying it will hamper the roadmap on the parliamentary elections," he said.

The Adviser said political parties in public are against the holding of local elections, but "whether there is any secret in their mind I don't know".

He ruled out any possibility of the parliamentary elections being hampered, as the Chief Adviser has time and again assured about it.

"Local government polls before the national elections would not hamper the roadmap announced by the Election Commission in anyway," he said.

About the city and municipal elections, he said these are completely non-party elections as here none will take part with permanent symbol.

Earlier, speaking at the publication ceremony as the chief guest, Anwarul Iqbal said the government would withdraw 30,000 children from hazardous jobs by making alternative arrangements for them.

"Parents of these children would get micro credits," he said, adding the draft policy for elimination of child labour would soon be forwarded to the council of advisers for approval.

Jointly organised by Power and Partnership Research Centre, Unnayan Samannay, and Plan Bangladesh, the function was attended by Education Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman as special guest, while Unnayan Sumannay President and eminent economist Dr Atiur Rahman in the chair.

Plan Bangladesh Country Director Adward Thomas Espe, and PPRC Executive Director KM Ehsanul Huq, among others, addressed the function. PPRS fellow Khandaker Sakhawat Ali presented the main observations of the research.

The LGRD Adviser said the importance and necessity of pre- primary education is increasing day by day as part of Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) activities.

Stressing the need for community based initiative for spreading pre-primary education, he said the local government bodies can play an important role in this regard.

The woman vice-chairman of the proposed upazila council and women members in reserved seats can be given the responsibility of coordination to carry forward these activities, he added.

Anwarul Iqbal said it may be considered whether the country's 11,000 community clinics can provide infrastructure facilities for pre-primary education along with their own activities.

Education Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur said high rate of enrolment in schools, particularly of the girls, has brought international acclamation for the country.

The role of pre-primary education is immense to stop dropout of students. But, pre-primary education is yet to be integrated with the mainstream of education in the country, he added.

In his presidential address, Dr Atiur Rahman demanded more allocation for children.

Referring to the feeding programme for 5 lakh primary school students in three monga-prone districts, he said the new budget has proposed expansion of the programme in 10 more districts in six divisions of the country.

He demanded introduction of school feeding programme for all primary school students across the country.

Dr Atiur also demanded reduction of duty on drawing books for children. Besides, he demanded special allocations for food, education and health security of children in shoal, hill, haor and coastal areas.

According to the policy paper presented in the function, the rate of enrolment in pre-primary class in Bangladesh is the lowest in Asian countries. Shortage of classrooms and teachers is one of the reasons for this.

Only 14.6 per cent children aged between 3 and 5 years go to schools in the country.