Dhaka, Dec 18 (DPA) The Dutch government will provide Bangladesh with 30 million euros ($42.1 million) to promote public education in the South Asian country where illiteracy is still high, the Netherlands embassy in Dhaka has said.The money will be spent for non-formal education under a project called Janashilon (Popular Education) in partnership with Friends in Villages Development in Bangladesh (FIVDB), a non-governmental organisation working in the education sector, under a five-year agreement.

The embassy and the Bangladesh government signed a deal to implement the project for a substantial scaling up of FIVDB’s work in primary education, adult literacy and livelihood training in 512 schools in 850 villages across the country.

At the end of the programme, around 81,000 poor children will be enrolled in high quality schools with 1,190 trained teachers in 10 out of 64 districts, according to the project document.

The retention rate of the students is expected to be maintained at 95 percent, according to the project, designed in collaboration with Bangladesh’s Primary and Mass Education ministry.

The programme will be implemented in communities that are particularly disadvantaged in terms of access to primary education and literacy training, said the release Wednesday.