In its national strategy for poverty reduction for 2005, the government of Bangladesh set improving equity as well as quality as key education objectives. However, a study on the allocation of resources in this sector found that education spending was regressive (spending more on the non-poor than the poor, even at the primary level) and thus detrimental to the stated objectives of the Bangladeshi government. This was due, in part, to an incremental budgeting process that uses past allocations as its starting point. This introduces a substantial amount of sluggishness into the budgetary process that excludes any evaluation of the fit between current spending patterns and stated policy goals. It also results in programmes continuing to receive funding long after their purpose and goals have become obsolete.

Source: A-Samarrai, S (2008) Governance and education inequality in Bangladesh, UNESCO (2009/ED/EFA/MRT/PI/34): p.6.