PM Tarique Rahman announces free education for women up to honours level

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has announced that the government will provide free education to women up to the honours level, with the state bearing all education-related costs. Scholarships will also be introduced for female students who achieve good results, he said.

The prime minister made the announcement around noon on Sunday (August 16) while releasing fish fry into the Old Brahmaputra River, distributing fish fry among local fishermen and exchanging greetings with residents in the Mirzapur Chairman Barighat area of Pakundia upazila in Kishoreganj as part of National Fisheries Week 2026.

Referring to former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s tenure, Tarique Rahman said, “When Deshnetri Khaleda Zia was in charge of running the country, she made education free for women up to the intermediate level. Half of the country’s population is women. If we keep this women’s population behind, it will not be possible to take the country forward. That is why the current government has decided to make education free for women up to the honours level. The government will bear all the costs.”

He urged female students to focus on their studies so they can take responsibility for the country in the future.

“There are many sisters and daughters here. You have to study attentively so that when you grow up, you can take the helm of this country. Not only that, the government will also arrange stipends for girls who achieve good results,” he said.

The prime minister also announced plans to provide school uniforms and school bags to children from poor families attending primary schools in rural areas.

“We want to provide school uniforms once a year to children from poor families in the thousands of primary schools spread across villages. Not only school uniforms, we also want to provide school bags to around 12 million children. Alongside providing new books every year, we want to deliver new school bags and school uniforms to their homes every year,” he said.

Family Card programme

Speaking about women's economic empowerment, Tarique Rahman said the government also wants to make women self-reliant alongside advancing their education.

“Just as we want to take the women of Bangladesh forward through education, we also want to make them self-reliant. Before the election, we had said that the family card would gradually be provided to the women who are heads of households and manage their families among the country's four crore families. By the grace of Allah, work on the family card has also begun. Over the next five years, this card will gradually reach every household in the country,” he said.

The national launch of the Family Card programme will take place at 4pm at the Kishoreganj Old Stadium through a programme to distribute Family Cards, allowances, grants and awards.

According to the district administration, the prime minister will hand over Family Cards, allowances, grants and awards to 94 people at the event. Fourteen families will receive Family Cards, while 15 imams, muezzins, khadims and people working at different religious institutions will receive honorarium allowances.

According to the prime minister’s itinerary, he is scheduled to visit the Katiadi Card Hatchery Complex at 12:30pm. At 1pm, he will attend the opening ceremony of National Fisheries Week 2026 at the mini-stadium of Achimita George Institute, where the National Fisheries Awards will be presented.

At 2:30pm, the prime minister will inaugurate a tree-planting programme at the historic Sholakia Eidgah ground. After lunch at the Circuit House at 3:15pm, he will attend the Family Card distribution programme at 4pm, where honorariums will be provided to religious figures, including imams, muezzins, priests, monks and pastors. Tarique Rahman is scheduled to leave Kishoreganj for Dhaka in the evening after completing his programme.