From now on, Nagad Ltd will be the only mobile financial service provider disbursing allowances from the Prime Minister’s Education Assistance Trust.
A tripartite agreement was signed at the Bangladesh Secretariat among the Prime Minister’s Education Assistance Trust, Bangladesh Postal Department, and Nagad Ltd on Sunday.
According to this agreement, Nagad, as a digital service of Bangladesh Postal Department, will solely disburse financial assistance under this trust.
The signing ceremony was attended by Honorable Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury, MP, as the chief guest. State Minister for the Ministry of Education Shamsun Nahar and Secretary to Secondary and Higher Education Division Suleman Khan also attended the event.
Scheme Director (Joint Secretary) of PM’s Education Assistance Trust Mohammad Asadul Hoque and Director General (additional duty) of Postal Department Tarun Kanti Sikder were also present, among others.
Smriti Karmakar, managing director (additional secretary) of PM’s Education Assistance Trust, Md. Abu Taleb, director (Planning) of Bangladesh Postal Department and Md. Shafayet Alam, executive director of Nagad Ltd. signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides, according to a press release.
In 2010, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took up an initiative to form this trust to support students at various levels. Since its inception, the trust has provided assistance in various educational fields and disbursed allowances to secondary and higher secondary level students.
Since 2016, the disbursal of assistance from the PM’s trust went digital. From that time until last year, a significant portion of such allowances was disbursed through Nagad, and other mobile MFS operators also performed the job. With the current agreement, Nagad will now exclusively handle the distribution of these allowances.
According to authorities of the PM’s Education Assistance Trust, Nagad has now been entrusted with the sole responsibility owing to its success in transparently distributing social safety net allowances and primary education stipends, and allowances of various ministries. Besides, managing multiple mobile financial services complicates accountability and record-keeping, so a single platform has been chosen.
Expressing satisfaction over the agreement with Nagad, Honorable Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury, MP, said, “Bangladesh has now successfully become digital. So, we want to provide all services digitally. As a service of Bangladesh Postal Department, Nagad is working alongside the government in digitalization efforts. They are successfully and transparently disbursing allowances for various ministries, including the Ministry of Education, which is why the PM’s Education Assistance Trust has placed their trust in them.”
Representing Nagad Ltd., its Executive Director Md Shafayet Alam said, “Nagad does not work solely for business. As a partner of the government, we are working to deliver digital services to the country’s remotest parts. As part of this, Nagad is successfully disbursing allowances for 27 ministries. This time, we have been given the responsibility as the sole MFS for distributing allowances from the Prime Minister’s Education Assistance Trust. We aim to live up to this trust that it has put in us.”
It is noteworthy that Nagad first began its disbursement activities with PM’s special assistance during the pandemic. Subsequently, its transparency and success in distributing social safety net allowances and primary education stipends encouraged various ministries to choose Nagad.