Identifying lack of resources, opportunity and awareness as the reasons of illiteracy, she said the government is providing wealth and creating opportunity for education of all along with creating awareness to eliminate hurdles on way to progress.

Addressing the closing ceremony of National Primary Education Week--2004 at Osmani Memorial Auditorium, The prime minister, also in charge of primary and mass education ministry, said united efforts of all should be further intensified for both quantitative and qualitative improvement of primary education.

She distributed prizes among 45 primary schoolteachers, students and institutions for their remarkable performances in different fields of schooling at the elementary stage.

State Minister for Education Ehsanul Haq Milon and Prime Minster's Advisor on Primary and Mass Education. Jahanara Begum also spoke.

Ministers, diplomats, representatives of development partners, primary schoolteachers and students, government officials and academics attended the function.

Listing the government's various pragmatic policies and programmes, the prime minister explained two big steps in the second phase of a programme for development of primary education--a nearly Tk 5,000 core project and another Tk 400 crore project.

The first project aims to increase the standard of primary education, expand the opportunity of primary education for all children, increase enrolment and class attendance, ensure completion of primary schooling, and supply textbooks and other educational appliance.

The second project is titled "Reaching out to Schoolchildren". Under this umbrella programme, education centers will be opened across the country in aid of private organisations for imparting education to primary students dropped halfway through the schooling as well as those who are completely deprived of education.

Financial grants would be given to these education centers and students provided with financial supportsome 20 lakh children receiving the education incentives, the prime minister told the audience.

She hoped that enrollment of students in primary schools, attendance in classes would further increase while dropout rate in mid-course of schooling would drop with implementation of these major schemes.