The Primary Education Stipend Project (PESP), a conditional cash transfer program, has been operating since 2003 to increase attendance and reduce dropout rates among children from poor and vulnerable households in rural Bangladesh. Since 2009, the Secondary Education Stipend Program (SESP) has prioritised poor students. Previously, stipends were distributed through state-owned banks at local branches or designated disbursement sites near schools. Since its universalisation in 2016, the SESP has utilised mobile money technology and a digital database to disburse stipends, reducing the burden on guardians. In 2020, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME) authorised Nagad to manage the disbursement of primary education stipends. Many parents have reported issues with Nagad, alleging their accounts may have been hacked. Although Nagad transfers stipend money to the mobile phones of many students, some SIM cards remain blocked in certain districts, affecting millions. This paper aims to empirically assess the ineffectiveness and challenges of the distribution of the school stipend program through Nagad. Specifically, it investigates the extent to which eligible students are missing out, the proportion of funds not received, and how these challenges vary by school level and disbursement method.
Authors: Matin, Imran; Islam, Ashik Sufi; Tamim, Sheikh Arman
Type: Report
Year: 2025
