Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman speaks at a seminar on Education for Sustainable Development at BARC auditorium in Dhaka on Saturday.

Bangladesh Bank (BB), as the regulator of the financial sector, is providing necessary support mechanisms to foster sustainable and inclusive growth.

To spread the benefits of the nation’s impressive economic growth to country’s rural and lower-income population, BB is ensuring sufficient and visible credit facilities to agricultural, SME, environment-friendly and other productive sectors of the economy. It has also emerged as a lead organization in the country in implementing the government’s vision of establishing ‘Digital Bangladesh’.

Dr Atiur Rahman, Governor, Bangladesh Bank said this while speaking at a seminar on Education for Sustainable Development at BARC auditorium in Dhaka on Saturday.

The banking sector of the country is adopting IT based activities very fast. The concept of Green Banking is steadily gaining ground in Bangladesh due to policy push on socially responsible financing by Bangladesh Bank, saod the governor.

Professor Dr. Kuniaki Yamashita, Director, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), attended the seminar.

Sustainable development refers to the development in which environmental, societal and economic considerations are balanced, said the governor mentioning that people around the world now recognise that there are a lot to do beyond the conventional model of development for realizing the urgent need to recast our ways of living that continue to promote unsustainable consumption of resources, degradation of ecosystems, deforestation, and exploitation of the gift of nature.

While the need for sustainable development is clear, the ways and means to address it may not be so easy. However, the path towards sustainable development is gradually unfolding. Public awareness, education and training are the keys in guiding society towards sustainability, he added.

“We have inherited this earth from our ancestors, but borrowed from your children. So this needs to be kept safe for them. Education including acquisition, creation and adaptation of knowledge, skills and values enables people to live together in a way that contributes to inclusive development. It helps build the capacity of individuals, communities and society as a whole in making informed judgments and choices by making sustainable development understood and applied in a concrete way. Education also helps develop the capacity for critical reflection and systemic thinking as well as motivates actions that promote sustainable development,” said the BB chief.

The development of a sustainable society should be seen as a continuous process of learning, involving a variety of actors providing guidance and leadership in formal and informal learning. The young generation need to develop skills, knowledge and attitudes for today’s rapidly changing technology-driven world. This is particularly relevant with regard to developing skills like creativity, flexibility and problems solving mechanisms that are matching with the evolving demand of the sustainable society, he contimued.

With a stronger focus on sustainable human development, equity and inclusive growth; education should be at the center of the national development agenda, he stressed.